I'd like to use some sort of ceramic coating on the exhaust manifolds of my bird. Anyone have something to share about trying this Jet-Hot thermal coating? Sometimes another guy's personal experience is the best information you can get. I'm sure it will be expensive - but will it stay on the cast iron parts like it apparently does the tube headers?

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I had HPC in Oklahoma City do the coatings on the cast iron intake and exhaust manifolds for the 272 in my ’55.  The intake and one exhaust manifold has over 100K miles on them.  The other exhaust manifold has about 55K miles on it due to the original exhaust manifold cracking along the way and having to send off another for coating.  The intake manifold has held up very well at this point with very little signs of deterioration.  The exhaust manifold with over 100K miles on it is now showing signs of flaking but considering the amount of heat soaking this manifold took early on, I’m not surprised.  The exhaust manifold with 55K miles on it still looks very good but this manifold did not see some of the extreme temperatures or heat soaking that the other manifold did.

 

Before sending the parts off for high performance coating, I did go over them with a grinder and sander and smoothed them out which makes a big difference in appearance after coating.

 

For my headers, I’ve been using Jet Hot but their coatings are also sensitive to heat soaking and will tend to dull the finish if temperatures are allowed to get to the extremes.  Dyno testing takes its toll on these coatings due to the lack of air movement so when possible, I have the headers coated after testing and not before.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Hey Steve, I've seen a lot of the headers and such come from the place that Ted speaks of in OKC and all seems good I also think Jerry Christianson has his stuff done there. I agree with what all Ted said though about it's so-called permancy.



While you're at it - are you considering extrude honing of the manifolds? Seems like this would be a perfect application. Bone stock stock on the outside but slippery on the inside.



I have also used The Hi- Temp exhaust Manifold paint that eastwood puts out which is a much cheaper alternative And you can always touch up. That way, we can spend all your cash on extrude honing!

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK    

Thanx for the replies guys - from the sound of it, Ted's gotten some pretty good use out of the ceramic coating on his 55. Right now I have the two manifolds cleaned up and wiped down with "Calyx" cast iron dressing which is a kind of graphite and wax mixture. Cleans up nice and re-news pretty easily (it has done well for what it is) - but I was thinking I'd like to have some heat reduction without going to headers. If I could get "looks great" and heat reduction in the same deal it would be good.

I got some price quotes back - looks like $200 - $220 for a pair (plus shipping). There is an HPC location 80 miles up the road from here at Chandler, AZ and a Jet-Hot at Tempe. 

It also looks like I'd better clean them up real well and dye penetrant check for cracks before spending anything extra on them.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Ted when you have a minute or two could you put a snap shot of what the intake looks like? Thanks. Gerry

Lake Forest California  5th inf 77 Armor Div. VN 68/69

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Here's a pic of the intake and exhaust manifold with the HPC coating.  Like I said earlier, lots of miles so it's no longer pristine under the hood.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Anyone have experience with High Temp powder coating? Isn't this the same type of thing? I have a powder coat setup and was going to do my exhaust with their High Temp stuff. I'm wondering how the durability compares with Jet Hot and MPC types of coatings. Unfortunately I only have an old wall oven to heat in so I can't do large parts. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Powder coating and ceramic coating differ by lieu of the composition of the material being applied.  Ceramic coating is more metalized in nature thereby making it more heat resistant.  Whereas the least expensive ceramic coatings can withstand 1300°F temperatures, standard process powder coatings will not even come close to this.  I’ve had the opportunity to examine the cylinders of an engine that was run with headers that had been powder coated and they were badly scored due to the powder coating on the inside of the tubes deteriorating upon heating up and being sucked back into the engine during the scavenging cycle.  That was enough for me to be leary of powder coating for headers.  I am aware of some powder coatings that are designed to withstand exhaust system temperatures but I’ve had no experience with these.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted - Many thanks for the engine photo - you personally may not think that your 272 motor is too pretty after some years of use ......... but I think the "thousand words" is saying the HPC silver is pretty tough stuff and things are working fine. I keep looking at my own handiwork and wondering if its going to stand the test of time - there is a local plating shop guy here that was laughing (at or) with us a couple years back - he claims that if ordinary assembly line practice was good enough to get what we've got (running cars and trucks that are 50+ years old)....... then all our fine finish details are basically art work at this point.

I have personally worked on large scale mining machines that have operated in excess of 140,000 hours - they have been rebuilt many times, sometimes with care and sometimes not. With a little "art work", maintenance and common sense improvement, they perform just as the new ones (only smaller). We are doing the same thing with our toys on a different scale .....

You mentioned having to use a bit of grinding and smoothing prior to coating - is the "tooth" of the cast iron exhaust manifods a basic part of the flaking problem? Or was it the initial high temps you mentioned? Or both? I can understand that "high points" are going to be hard to get a coating to stay on. I'm not really looking for (or expecting) a "chrome" like finish on the exhaust manifolds - more like dull brushed aluminum. If it starts out shiney and dulls down I won't be disappointed. I'm just looking to stave off the rust and maybe get some cooling effect out of the fancy finish at the same time.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Yes Ted thi motor looks great for thi time nand milage. Also  looks like it would clean up really good.  Gerry

Lake Forest California  5th inf 77 Armor Div. VN 68/69

If you put your town and state in your signature

help might be closer than you think.