[go2toa]

I have a freshly built engine (less than 2 hours). In the past, I had oem exhaust manifolds. Now I have Hedman headers. The factory painted the headers and said the paint was temporary.

Lately, I noticed quite a bit of smoke that seems to come off the headers. There is no visible oil on the headers. Does header paint burning off make significantly visible smoke?


Thanks,

Steve

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

yes.

Bogie

 

[ExcellenceAuto]

Did it smoke before you installed the headers?

 

[go2toa]

Did it smoke before you installed the headers?

I did have oem manifolds but sold them years ago, so I can't switch them on to look for smoke disappearing.

 

[chasracer]

Header paint is curing - it'll stop after a bit of time.

 

[curtis73]

Header paint is sacrificial unless it is a special coating (like ceramic). It is designed to keep them from rusting between when they are manufactured and when you install them. It will all burn off in a short period of time and the smoke will stop. There is currently no known paint technology that will withstand header heat... at least none that wouldn't cost 5 times the headers themselves.

Even ceramic-coated headers can smoke for a bit. The first few heat cycles are critical to cure the ceramic.

 

[go2toa]

Thanks guys! This forum is awesome. Now blisters are clearly visible in the header paint so it makes more sense.

 

[BogiesAnnex1]

Yeah, unless you swing for ceramic or chrome eventually the natural header color in rust will develop.

Bogie