Dry Graphite on Exhaust Manifolds

[Chatt69chgr]

I have been looking at various methods of coating my new repop exhaust manifolds for my 440 that I got from YO.  I see some have painted them with hi temp paints, some have had them jet-hot coated, and some have painted them with manifold gray from Eastwood.  Someone told me that you could get a can of dry graphite and spray it on the manifold and then smear it in with a rag.  They say that this will protect the manifold from rusting.  Has anyone heard of doing this?  My thoughts would be that it would be pretty messy.  I recall that when I used some of this on door lock cylinders, it ended up getting all over everything including my pants after I inserted the key and then removed it.  So I am leary of this method.  Just curious if others have heard of this.

Right now, based on what I have read on here I am leaning toward the Eastwood gray spray coating.  What are your experiences with this stuff?

[Rolling_Thunder]

Eastwood Coating goes on all the resto manifolds we put on cars at the shop...    maked them look nice and pretty   

[John_Kunkel]

I'm not a metalurgist but I would be leery of coating cast iron with graphite; something about cyclic stress corrosion cracking.

[mopar-or-no-car]

I saw a guy at a show that had his exhaust manifolds enameled! it looked really neat BUT he said he has to be VERY careful with tools around them because the enamel will crack VERY easy! also have you thought about powder coating them? I have also seen that and it looks nice too!
just some thoughts there for you!! good luck! also alot MORE durable than the enamel!!

[68 RT]

You can buy a graphite paste called calax. I have used it on a corvette it looks great. But if you wrench on you car alot it will rub off on anything it touches. But not too bad. For a car all done It should do well. I went with por15's high temp cast iron paint, usally have to repaint once a year. and one samll can lhas lasted me 3 years so far. Looks good too.

[is_it_EVER_done?]

Chatt: I guy I know does ultra high end restorations on "Pebble Beach" type cars (Dusenberg's and the like). What he does is sand/media blast the stock iron exhaust manifolds so that they are ultra clean and raw -- Yours are new so I would think they are clean to start with.

Next he treats them the exact same as "seasoning" a new cast iron frying pan by placing them on a cookie sheet and heating them in the oven to max temperature for about an hour.

After they reach full temperature he moves them outside and hangs them so that they can be "painted" with Crisco vegetable shortening. He also uses a soft brass bottle brush to coat the inside also.

After they cool a bit, they go back in the already pre-heated, and still on oven for about a half hour then the shortening coating process is repeated, then they are allowed to cool completely.

The process is repeated once again, usually the next day, and they are then beautifully seasoned, and impervious to most anything they will ever encounter. The seasoning is actually stronger than Teflon, and as easy to clean.

They do smoke for awhile after installation and engine running, but that goes away quickly. If you are familiar with cast iron cookware (in your part of the country I'm sure you are), you are probably aware of just how tough they are as the seasoning actually bonds and/or changes the molecular structure of the iron.

I've never done it because I don't live in an area that is prone to rust, and frankly, I couldn't care less what the manifolds look like on the only car I have that has manifolds, but some of those concourse cars get driven quite allot and the seasoned iron holds up well, but I have no idea about the longevity on a driver type car.

[1972Rallye]

I had mine coated with Performance Chemical Coatings at Automotive Machine in Fraser, MI.  From their web-site (www.automotivemachine.net):

"Now, in addition to our full line of internal coatings, we offer an external coating for exhaust manifolds and headers. The process will include degreasing and media blasting of the parts. Then an internal Thermal Barrier coating is applied. Next, two coats of "Cast Iron Gray" are applied to the outside of the parts. No more flaking paint, or rusting parts! And they look great as well!"

Basically, they look awesome and help keep the engine compartment cooler.  The thermal barrier makes sure the heat goes out the way it should. See pic of the manifolds on my '72...

[Bluestar]

A buddy and myself both used the Eastwood stuff way back in the day and it looked spectacular.  However, my buddies Challenger had a radiator hose let go and where ever hot coolant hit the hot exhaust manifolds, the paint turned white and I don't recall it coming off.  My 2 cents and memory from a long time ago.

[whitehatspecial]

http://www.calyxmanifold.com/

Looks natural , not like fake cotings.

[Chatt69chgr]

Everyone has sure given me plenty of interesting ideas to consider and I really appreciate it.

Is-it-ever-done's idea is particularly interesting as I live just up the road from the Lodge Manufacturing Company located in South Pittsburg, TN which I believe is the largest manufacturer of cast iron cookware left in the United States and I sure do like cast iron cookware---particularly for making a pan of cornbread.

The dry graphite material that my friend is playing around with was purchased off ebay;

http://cgi.ebay.com/DGF-Dry-Graphite-Film-Spray-Lubricant-aerosol-3-cans_W0QQitemZ130125906990QQihZ003QQcategoryZ1267QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

He claimed that after he sprayed it on a manifold, it wasn't messy. 

[resq302]

Figured I would put in my findings...keep in mind everytime I put some kind of new coating on, I had the manifolds blasted down to bare cast iron:

The Eastwood exhaust manifold paint went on nice and was able to be brushed and touched up if needed.  The only problem was that it rusted through from the inside out and the paint had to be reapplied every 6 mos to a year.

The POR 15 I have never had any luck with.  Everytime I put it on something, it flaked right off.  This was even after using their Marine Clean wash and Metal Prep self etching metal cleaner

Calyx was nice but the problem was if you rubbed up against it, you ruined your clothing and it also transferred onto other areas such as vavle covers and such causing extra cleaning.  It would also flash rust on me in some spots but it was easily fixed with just rubbing some more on.  Problem was that if you had the manifolds mounted onto the engine, there were some tight spots that you would not be able to reach.

I have recently used VHT Nu Cast engine manifold paint which is good up to 1500-2000 degrees.  Recently when my car was running hot, my exhaust manifolds turned white in some spots but no rust in over a year since they were mounted onto the engine.  They did turn a bronze color in some of the hotter areas but that could have also been from the engine running hot.  The only problem I found out with VHT paint is that the nozzles of the cans sometimes clog like the old MP engine paint.  The VHT Nu Cast - Cast Iron gray color is a dead on dull looking gray paint that matches cast iron dead on in my opinion.

[Chatt69chgr]

I see that they sell the VHT paint at O'Reillys Auto Stores.  Might have to play with some of that.  Thanks for the benefit of your experience with the various materials. 

[resq302]

No prob.  I just hated having to pull my exhaust manifolds almost every 4 months to repaint or coat them.  I was first told of the VHT paint by Chuck Hanson, formerly of Horse Power TV at a Chevelle meet when he did a feature on my fathers el camino for the monthly Chevellle World magazine.  So far, that is the best stuff I have found.  I told Ron (firefighter) about it when I was having my over heating issues and the paint did not blister or peel, just turned a bronze color.  Almost looked like aged cast iron.  Prior to the over heating, the paint remained looking like freshly cast iron.