Cleaning Headers

[Jeanius]

I just got some used stainless steel borla headers, and i was wondering if anyone had some good suggestions on how to clean them up real nice

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

What's on them, and what kind of finish do they have - Shiny or blasted? You know the best thing you could possibly do with them is make sure they fit & then send them out to get coated. Then they will look like new and keeps the engine compartment cooler as well.

We just had a post a couple days ago by someone wondering about Borla headers for F-Bodies - What year is yours made for?

[Jeanius]

yea i was the one who put that post up, they are actually for the impala with the lt-1 but are fully compatible with the LT1 in the T/A and Camaro, Do you have any idea of how much it costs to get some shorties jethot coated? I thought about using easy off and steel wool to clean them up

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

I tried to look up the price I paid in my files, but the stark horror of my receipt pile was just too much for me to bear. Anyway, here's the cust service number for Jet Hot - 610-277-2444. As I remember - they have a flat rate for shorties & have a per/ft rate for Y pipes.

Some guys have a line on better coatings companies - maybe you will hear from them.

[Jeanius]

So if i send them out to a coating company i can send them as is with surface rust and all?

[DeWynter]

Even if you clean them most companies will still insist on either blasting them or some kind of dip. I have friend who does it and he soda blasts most of them to remove all rust inside and out, then he treats them to a chemical dip then coats them. Rusty or not, its the only way to make sure the coating will stick, especially with a 10 year warrenty. He assumes the headers are painted at the least, so he has to clean them all. Dont think he charges any more. But I know he reserves the right to not coat them if they are in to bad of shape. Im sure most companies are the same.

[Jeanius]

Thanks alot for your guys' help!

[Injuneer]

You might want to look around at other sources of cera-metallic coatings besides Jet Hot. I've seen far too many posts on the various F-Body boards over the past two years, complaining of rust, flaking and other problems with Jet Hot. They guarantee the coating and will replace it, but that means you have to remove the headers and send them back.

I've had very good experience with Airborne and HPC coatings. Swain also has a high tech cera-metallic, but its a flat white, that many people don't like. The best appearance seems to be the ones by Paul Barry, but a friend of mine had problems with his 2000-deg high lustre coating.

The typical cost is about $200, and includes coating both the inside and the ouside of the tubes.

[soCalTA]

Do headers lose their coating and thus their ability to keep the heat from getting out?

[Injuneer]

My HPC coated AS&M's are now about 7 years old.... I bought them used 5 years ago. The coating is still intact on the outside. No way to tell what the inside of the tubes looks like. I do have some small dots of rust around the connections to the main flanges, on the weld spatter.

Interestingly, an EGT bung was welded on the #7 tube after the headers were coated, and there is minimal disturbance of the coating, even after all these years. The headers have been used only on very high temp applications... my buddy's almost-1,000HP blown 383 and my 381 with a 300-shot of nitrous. As best I can tell, the headers are still holding the heat in like they are supposed to.

This picture was taken recently... you can see the primaries and the flange at the bottom of the picture, and they look pretty decent for 7 year old headers.

[soCalTA]

something must be up with mine then .... I have had to get heat shield wrap and wrap the steering shaft, brake booster and some of the wiring. I have had to replace the brake booster twice because the diaphram gave out. Not a good thing to happen .. especially since I was on the freeway one time. On the sterring shaft side .. that plastic union which melted twice.

I have thought about taking them out and gettin them recoated....

[Injuneer]

Who coated your JBA's? I had a set of them for about 2 years. Mine were coated by Airborn. They looked great when I got them, and just like new about 2+ years later when I sold them.

[soCalTA]

I honestly don't remember. Its been about 6-7 years since they went in.

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

My Jet Hot coating applied to SS SLP headers has lasted well, but turned from shiny silver to shiny grey the first year and has stayed that way for the last 5 years. Like Fred says, who wants to pull the headers back off to get them redone?

Some of the issues with coatings are when a car runs lean during breakin, first startup, and tuning, it can damage the coating. The ideal thing would be to get it tuned & running right, then get the headers coated,

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

something must be up with mine then .... I have had to get heat shield wrap and wrap the steering shaft, brake booster and some of the wiring. I have had to replace the brake booster twice because the diaphram gave out. Not a good thing to happen .. especially since I was on the freeway one time. On the sterring shaft side .. that plastic union which melted twice.

I have thought about taking them out and gettin them recoated....

Everything is worse with the dual cat 96-97 cars cause they got the headers sticking way up there in the engine compartment cooking everything. I hate that setup.