What would you do to these headers? (1 Viewer)

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Pullling old motor out to be replaced with a new motor. These headers look like garbage but have been welded all the way down to the tailpipe. The truck is a frame off restoration, so “while I am in there” what should I do to them to make the engine bay nicer? I do host car shows at my place of business every month, so I would like for the engine bay to look presentable.

Sand down and paint with high temp black. Or buy new headers and tailpipe assembly?

6F8EF6A6-8ECC-46D7-BB99-C917ED22ED84.jpeg
 
I’m thinking I’d sand down, then paint with the 2,000 degree heat paint, no to be confused with the poo poo 1,200 to 1,600 degree paint.
 
Our local powder coater sandblasted and cold ceramic a couple of sets for me....cast iron and tube headers. It looks good, just don’t know How Long? Note on tubing headers...one set he did for me ‘flaked off’ an outer layer of their coating, brushed off the flakes and look good, not sure if he double coated or what....

I’d recommend at least looking into it.
 
i’m not a purist my any means but if you’re doing a true restoration you should go back to a manifold. if it’s a restomodish kind of restoration ceramic coating is pretty awesome. you do have ford shock towers welded to the frame too so i assume it’s not a perfect restoration your going for. ceramic coat will help them last longer
 
I went thru my header stage back when horsepower was needed. Since I have a number of modern vehicles I with plenty of horsepower. Have a few earlier Land Cruisers with a replacement 2F but those came that way. One thing I see it appears you do not have a heat shield for the steering box. Doubt the steering box likes that pipe so close. Stock exhaust is routed further away and the steering box still had a heat shield.
 
Problem with ceramic coating is if it is not coated to military spec the coating will be different thicknesses in different areas, soooo then it discolors (turns white) and eventually peels off in the thin areas. When Downey was in business we always used Engineered Applications in Vernon, Calif because they coat to military specs, but have since lost contact with them.
 
i’m not a purist my any means but if you’re doing a true restoration you should go back to a manifold. if it’s a restomodish kind of restoration ceramic coating is pretty awesome. you do have ford shock towers welded to the frame too so i assume it’s not a perfect restoration your going for. ceramic coat will help them last longer
I am not wanting to 100% restore it to original. Maybe 80% original.
 
I went thru my header stage back when horsepower was needed. Since I have a number of modern vehicles I with plenty of horsepower. Have a few earlier Land Cruisers with a replacement 2F but those came that way. One thing I see it appears you do not have a heat shield for the steering box. Doubt the steering box likes that pipe so close. Stock exhaust is routed further away and the steering box still had a heat shield.
Interesting catch. I never paid attention To that. I do pan on doing Power steering before long. After 2 torn rotator cuffs and a torn labrum(all still existing), PS would be nice.
 
So they could look like this:

324HeaderComp20_01-big.jpg


This is SOR's latest item, yours appear to be pre ceramic coating.

As previously mentioned, when done right ceramic holds up better than ANY of the other paints. I used Jet-Hot to coat the primary pipes on one of my motorcycles back in '06, they still look good. They offer a lot more options now a days.
 
Get the original manifolds. Those headers are not worth the hassle. They leak and they tend to melt the wiring on the back of the alternator.
 
Jet hot is an easy coating to apply on a new Header, older takes some prep, but the biggest advantage is radiant heat reduction. it keeps the heat inside the header and outer temp is reduced by 100 degrees without wrap. I have it on my R header, looks like polished stainless, but that is the actual coating.

Their site:


SMSP.jpg
 
I'd be surprised if they were in fine shape to run, as is, but... There is no shame in the headers the way that they are. For an F or 2F, or just an early Land Cruiser, they almost always get attention, admiration.
 

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