Ok so what the heck did i mess up now i recently painted my flow tech shorty headers using vht high temp and dupi color with ceramic coating both rated for over 1000 degrees i first had them sand blasted to bare metal at machine shop. When i picked them up they were pretty pretty so i scratched them up with very rough grit sand paper then started priming with rust olem 1200 degree primer let for dry for a hour did at least 2 coats. I then laid the vht and dupi color about 3 coats of each and let dry over night. Next morning i bolted them on the car wearing rubber gloves of course so no oil would get on the paint once they were bolted on i finished doing the whole cat back thinking hey this is gonna sound amazing (borla cat back) started right up and notice a whole ton of smoke coming from under the hood thought maybe a fire happen so i looked under the car no bright flame so i knew it was ok to open the hood still had a extinguisher just in case. When looking around i saw that the headers were smoking like h*** and it gave a really bad smell with also eyes burning is this normal or did i mess something up

 

Totally normal, painted headers smoke a ton and smell really bad for a bit the heat cures the pain well beyond normal driving.

 

I personally have not used that exact product but every time I have painted headers they stunk and smoked for a bit while the paint baked on.

 

it's just the volatiles getting cooked out of the paint.. nothing to worry about..

for future reference, i've used the cheap flat black bbq paint that they sell at Wal Mart on headers, and it didn't smoke as much as the VHT header paint, and i've never used primer on headers. i got rid of all but one car that i put the painted headers on shortly after doing them, but the one i kept the headers looked damn near perfect after 3 years of hard driving. the only thing the paint did was fade a little bit to more of a dark gray once the paint cured.

 

I was never a fan of painted headers. Especially on inexpensive mild steel headers. The paint will eventually burn off and the mild steel headers are going to rust out anyway.

Although it's more expensive, take the headers off and get them ceramic coated with something like Jethot coating. They get coated inside and out. The outside gets polished which will look much better and they should last at least 2-3 times longer than uncoated/painted headers. The ceramic coating will also contain the exhaust heat inside the tubes.

The other option is stainless headers. They'll turn brown after many years of use but they won't rot out.

 

Yup, just wasted time and money..

 

use good paint and the headers look good for years- and the cheap bbq paint that i mentioned earlier seems to be better than the purpose made stuff that costs more.

 

Picked my 2460's up at the Daytona Turkey Run for next to nothing. Looks like the previous owner bolted them up put never ran em. I sandblasted them my self then gave em a light sanding. No primer. Shot em with the VHT, 2-3 coats, waited 5 days, then Baked em in an out door oven I got outback. Followed VHT's baking instructions. Smoked a bit, but nothing dramatic. I've done this before.. they'll hold up nicely!



Booth I got em from..





As bought.








Bear after sandblasting..





Them sitting on top of the oven after there last bake.

 

I heard they smoke a lot worse if ya don't bake em, idk? This is just one rednecks adventure, lol



Them today.

 

Yea just hoping that it actually stays on for a good while this car is only going to be a spring to fall car since i live in mass it wont see snow and all so mostly summer hot driving etc etc

 

Ah, you should be alright man. Mine are weekend warriors, yet it's year round summer down here so every weekend, lol I picked the oven up off craigslist for $100. I use a lot of VHT, some colors wear different than others (header paint) idk, maybe it's in my head.. But I always bake everything to the instructions on the can. Keep in mind I live in hillbilly heaven to though, no H.O. on my back or Code Enforcement. Parts cars and ovens in the back yard are the norm, lol.

 

Yea i didnt end up putting mine in the oven (that would lead to angry wife) unhappy life so i just let them dry over night and installed them next day i then let them sit for a couple of days on the car then finally started following the instructions let run for ten minutes cools down start for 20 minutes let cool down then let it run for a half hour