Any luck painting exhaust?

[johnk]

My car is stripped and ready to be media blasted next week. My original thought was to replace the exhaust but I am finding it to be very solid end-to-end along with the original Mercedes muffler I added two years ago. It's a full rotisserie restoration so I don't want to put a solid but rusty exhaust back on it, and I'm not too excited about the cost and time to put a new system on it when the old one is solid and sounds great.

Anybody have any luck with repainting their existing exhaust? I was going to have it blasted next week along with the chassis and paint it then, but what I am reading is the quality exhaust paints require baking at various temperatures.

Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

thanks
JohnK

[hauser]

This may be a better option than painting.

https://www.jet-hot.com/

[thelews]

jet hot is good for the exhaust manifold.  I just used BBQ flat black from beyond the manifold.

[johnk]

How long did the BBQ paint last?

The shipping cost of Jet-hot would be prohibitive unless I cut my exhaust apart.

[wwheeler]

You just need to find a local powder coating shop that can ceramic coat something as long as an exhaust system. They do exist and I had mine done with satin black. I welded my entire system and it looks unbelievable and will last a lifetime. I used a time valve stainless exhaust but wanted the correct black look. It is even easier if you clamp the system together because of the shorter lengths.   

If you plan on keeping the car and you ceramic coat the exhaust, I would use a new system either factory or stainless. The exhaust rusts from the inside out. While it will look pretty on the outside, it will be rusting on the inside and you can't stop that.

[johnk]

Thanks Wallace. I didn't realize you could powder coat an exhaust. A friend of my son has a commercial powder coat business. I will see what he quotes to see if its worth doing now or if I should just wait until I need a new exhaust. I probably should just put a new exhaust on given everything else I am doing. Just hate to through away what appears to be perfectly good when a new one is a lot of work to assemble.

[wwheeler]

It is a similar process as powder coating but it is called ceramic coating for the higher temperatures. Powder coating is only good to about 350*F or so. Ceramic is good to at least 1000* I believe.

For the actual manifolds, you can use this:  http://swaintech.com/race-coatings/race-coating-descriptions/white-lightning-exhaust-coatings/ It is a very durable finish and has a whitish color which resembles the factory exhaust manifold color.   
 

[johnk]

Thanks Wallace. I was planning on having the manifolds ceramic coating. Perhaps the entire exhaust is next, but only if I go new.

[thelews]

I've only done it once on my 190 SL.  That was a few years ago.  I drive it a few hundred a year.  It's so easy to do, just slide cardboard between the exhaust and floor pan, that recoating is not an issue.  Like I said, Duplicolor engine enamel is nice stuff too.

[Tomnistuff]

I used brush-on Rustoleum BBQ paint on the exhaust pipes.  It was semi-gloss black and stuck really well to a stainless steel exhaust system that had simply been rubbed down with lacquer thinner (in a well ventilated area).  Baking it in an oven wasn't necessary since I had a 320 HP 4.4 Liter three-carburetor Columbo V12 Ferrari engine baking it between Maryland and West Palm Beach, Florida.

The paint lasted very well for at least 3,000 miles and one year, then I sold the car.  It was also good enough to fool the Ferrari Concours judges (stainless steel is against the rules).  I just polished the last foot of the stainless pipes and put some little stripes of red vinyl Dollarama electrical tape around the pipes between the black pipes and the polished stainless tips and then stuck some ANSA stickers on the polished tips. 

If I hadn't been so cheap, I would have jet-hotted them.

Tom Kizer