Painting Ceramic Header

Hey, I have an Airmass 4-2-1 header, ceramic, comp blue, and i'm wondering if it is possible to paint it with high temp paint, i want to do it red to match the rest of my car. thanks

Yes you can paint it with high temp paint ...

There are decent hi-temp paints out there, but I've most often seen them in white, black, and various shades of silver and grey. You should also make sure to call the paint mfg to make sure it'll stick well to the ceramic coating; I suspect that most are formulated to stick to iron and steel.

Even VHT hi-heat, Rustoleum hi-temp, and Jet-Hot ceramic coatings don't come in red. It must be a tough color for some reason. You need to find something that claims to withstand at least 1000 degree F. Some "hi-temp" paints are only good to 500 F or so, and I guarantee you they will discolor or flake off a header.

For instance, I've heard Aervoe makes a really good hi-temp paint (but it doesn't come in red :( ):
http://www.aervoe.com/aervoe/shopping/PaintsAndCoating/Heat_Detail.asp

Good luck. And if you find one, let us know! :cool:

What about having the header powder coated....they can do that red.... think that would work?

thanks

Originally posted by soul180
What about having the header powder coated....they can do that red.... think that would work? I doubt that most typical powder coats can withstand much above 300 F. Most the stronger ones cure at around 400 F for around 20 minutes, and have massive adhesion problems if they are "over-baked".

The "ceramic coat" like Jet-Hot and Swain is pretty much just a powder-coat process, but with aluminum-ceramic particles. Someone may do this with a red pigment, but I just don't know whom.

Good luck. :cool:

I found a couple of possibilities:

Here's an aircraft company that claims a red ceramic coat for exhaust systems, but they don't say much about it. You could email them for more info.
http://www.mcleodperformance.com/exhaust_tech_info.htm

And Techline coatings ( http://www.techlinecoatings.com/BulkExhaust.htm ) offers "Dark Red" in a 1000F version - but it's a three step process - one layer of heat-barrier ceramic, then a layer of red pigment ceramic, then a layer of clear ceramic. Sounds pretty expensive to me....

:cool:

thanks for the help fritz, but i don't think i'm going to bother doing it anymore, i'm doing a swap to a b18, so i'll need a new header anyways. if you can help out, please check out my other thread, called b18 internals, becuase i odn't know what parts to buy for the b18 build up. thanks a lot