Long story short I made the mistake of painting over the original shipping paint on my headers for lack of a way to easily strip it, and well it flaked off taking the high temp paint with it...now my new, 300 some dollar headers are completely covered in rust, and it didn't take very long...should I be worried about their longevity or do I have a couple years to wait to strip them of rust and have them ceramic coated when I swap heads? They're pacesetters for w/e thats worth.
I obviously don't want them to rust out, but I would much prefer to coat them when I have to modify them anyways(for my head swap) than sooner, don't have the cash to deal with it atm and have a plethora of other issues with the car. But if they will rust out in the year or 2 it will probably take me to redo them, then I will resort to pulling them and removing the rust and painting them for now, but only if its a necessity to preserve their integrity.

I know cast iron manifolds will last for centuries no matter how much rust they are covered in, but the headers are steel and much thinner, hence my worry, not to mention cost..

 

they'll be fine for awhile. That header paint they came in would have burned right off after 5 mins of running anyway. They sell a paint stripper you should have used then some VHT header paint and you would have been set.

 

Think they will hold up 2 or so years alright as is?

 

Yes they should. I didnt do anything special to my headers and im approaching 5 or 6 years

 

Ive had headers for years rusted shitless. Metal is think on headers, takes forever to break through. Unless your run stock mounts and have **** tons of power to slam the header into the strut tower i think your fine

 

yeah pretty much haha

 

A messy trick folks use is to rub the pipe with anti-sieze compound.

As its a hands on job, needed rubbed in good, so a brush won't do.

 

Mine came in the mail rusty as well. I had them sandblasted, then i took 80 grit sandpaper and sanded the crap out of them until they were as smooth as glass. Then i got black VHT header paint from advanced auto. THe instructions say to spray the header completely then essentially cook the paint on at like..400 degrees? Something high. Anyways,i set them in the grill for about 20 minutes. THen after the paint cooked on,i did one more coat. Then used anti seize on the bolts and vuala

 

a lil off topic. did you run your car in the 1/4 mile yet dylan?

 

Nope! not yet! dads being a stickler. As soon as im on break im taking her! Ill let you know the results for sure

 

cool thanks buddy. good advice on the header.

 

would that be called medium well or well done?