Attn: Companies that make Painted Headers

"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword) 04/22/2016 at 12:07 • Filed to: headers, paint, hooker, frustration

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Why?????

For anyone who hasn’t bought these, Painted headers are for poor people. the idea is, you get the header and drench it in high temp paint to prevent them from rusting, rather then spend an additional 300$ for a heat resistant ceramic coating. when they ship it to you, they ship it in this black paint that is designed to prevent them from rusting, but will flake off after a heat cycle. You must then remove this coating in order to put on high temp primer.

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Pictured are hooker competition headers. This is the result of four hours work with aircraft remover and various wire brushes and scrapers. I gave up, and am getting them sandblasted. My question is, “Why not ship them in primer in the first place?”

Because that would make too much goddamn sense that is why.

Birddog > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:15

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Stainless or Ceramic coated or blow!

I hate headers on street cars to begin with so take that with a grain of salt.

jimz > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:18

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even if it’s high heat paint, brake fluid (DOT 3 or 4 glycol-based) should make short work of paint.

My bird IS the word > Birddog 04/22/2016 at 12:19

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But the flow man, THE FLOW! Its an old American v8 it needs headers. also I didnt want to spend the same amount on 2 sets of downpipes, since my manifolds have 2 different bolt patterns. also, I didn’t find out until after I bought them that they do in fact, sell a 2 and 3 bolt downpipe combo.

My bird IS the word > jimz 04/22/2016 at 12:21

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I just can’t imagine it would be more effective than an actual paint remover. Also doesn’t really help with the hard-to-reach places.

Party-vi > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:21

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1) Jet-Hot sucks

2) Heat cycle them and then spray them :3

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:22

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In no way am I against you using them, just saying I got drastic more exhale from my motor just by going with bigger pipes and a true dual set up. And it’s loud as hell and sounds amazing. Stock manifolds. 1968 302

My bird IS the word > Party-vi 04/22/2016 at 12:23

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I would have, but I have to unbolt and jack the whole engine up to get them on and off. Barely enough room for these suckers.

jimz > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:25

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paint removal products seem to be more or less effective depending on the type of paint. I’ve seen e.g. Citri-strip make short work of paint one time, but be totally impotent against a different paint.

brake fluid is indiscriminate.

Birddog > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 12:26

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You’d get better low and Mid range torque from a set of earlier Olds HP manifolds.

But I get it. Headers are cheap and that makes them an attractive option.

My bird IS the word > jimz 04/22/2016 at 12:27

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Ill have to keep that in mind when I do my wheels. the tubes are just too close together to get certain spots on these.

My bird IS the word > Birddog 04/22/2016 at 12:29

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With how bad the emissions garbage was on these cars, Its gotta be an improvement from what I have. I’ve heard some of the ram air manifolds are better than headers for the poncho engined cars

Speed > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 15:04

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A die grinder and wire wheel would make short work of that. The same Milwaukee grinder we use to port and match I also use on paint/rust removal. I don’t even use brake cleaner/remover most of the time with paint because it just gums up.

Good to see another birder around these parts.

Speed > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 15:06

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I also forgot to ask.. Olds or Pontiac powered?

My bird IS the word > Speed 04/22/2016 at 16:03

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Olds 403. an old broken wheel is stuck on my grinder and I cant use it unfortunately. Nice formula btw.

traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn > My bird IS the word 04/22/2016 at 18:14

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Is ceramic coating worth the $140 on 304 SS headers? I’m thinking about getting a set of Kooks later in the year.

My bird IS the word > traderQAMobileTestAutomationMobileBoostOn 04/22/2016 at 18:22

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So. I havent done any longterm on the painted myself, but see if this breakdown is worth your time:

sandblasting: $30-40

High temp primer/paint: ~20$

+ it is reccomended you “cure” the paint, which involves either the correct method of putting it in an oven (I have no idea where you would find an oven that big) or another method which I am going to use, which involves heating the metal with a torch. +15$

the time it will take to do this yourself: depends on how much you value your time.

my choices were significantly more expensive with ceramic than yours. I have heard of paint failing, I have also heard of ceramic coating failing. if my paint flakes off, I just repaint it, if ceramic flakes off you are going to have to take it to a shop. Ceramic has the added benefit of lower underhood temperatures since it “traps” the heat in the exhaust itself.

Hopefully that helps in your decision.
Edit: stainess steel doesn’t really rust, so it might not be worth it. The ones I have are regular steel.

Speed > My bird IS the word 04/23/2016 at 01:10

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Thank you! Grab a cheap Harbor Freight one FTW. I prefer the Olds powered stuff. We build them.

My bird IS the word > Speed 04/23/2016 at 10:28

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Nice! What's crazy is how this engine stood up to abuse. Doesn't smoke, doesn't really leak, clearly an underrated engine. Performance wise I think they are fine out to 400hp before you start running into strength problems. Should send it to you guys when it needs done.

Speed > My bird IS the word 04/23/2016 at 12:01

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Definitely! If you ever want to build it up, remember Dick Miller Racing. The black one I posted should do around 700 once we get it back on the dyno. Once you fix the oiling issues and put a girdle on the bottem end, they’ll reliably hold a ton of power.

The 403 itself is questionable when built, but the stronger blocks are easy enough to find that it’d be silly not to swap it out when wanting serious power (like 500 or more).