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Tips

Finish on TR exhaust manifolds

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Tinkerman

Tinkerman

Darth Vader
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Hi All:
I'm about to bead blast the manifold for my TR3. It will come out back to the cast color. Is there anyway I can put some sort of finish on it that will ward off the utimately rusty look? Oh, and not burn off?
Thanks, Tinkerman
 
Seymour Cast Blast manifold paint is a wonderful product. One spray can will do your whole manifold and it won't rust off. Amazing product for about $10.
 
Thanks Bill:
Where do I get it?
Local auto supply I frequent has nary nothing but hi temp paint.
 
I just saw some on Ebay. Google the name and some Ebay sites will pop up. The fellow that turned me onto it years ago used it for restoring his antique Cadillacs and swore by it. I ran it on my TR6 for 3 years after having the manifold blasted and never saw even a hint of breakdown or rust. It is an old restorer's trick.
 
If money isn't a real interest you could have them ceramic coated. It helps keep the temp down also.
 
Hi Tomster:
Just concluded an order with them for several items. They have all kinds of nifty stuff, including wrinkle paint at a reasonable price. Thank you bill for the tip. Gotta love the Forum. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
Tinkerman
 
Eastwood sell a product called Calyx.
I saw a manifold that was coated with it. Looked pretty neat. Not pricey, and rubs in like shoe polish.
 
See the attachment how the Hirsch paint still looks on my cast iron exhaust manifold after 15 years and 85,000 miles back in 2005. Before painting it with a small brush, I had sandblasted it clean.
 

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Tinkerman, glad you got thru.
My "Northern" ( /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/canpatriot.GIF )accented e mail went either astray or just unanswered.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Hi Tomster, I used their order system on their web site. Got two confirmations (hope I don't get two orders) perhaps you should try again. The wrinkle paint is $4.40 per can, Eastwood is $10 or $12 per can. Anyhow good luck.
Tinkerman (Canadian ancestry by the way)
 
Went to a local Powder Coater yesterday that also does ceramic coating (chrome finish for $120.00).
So now the mind wanders:
a) What was the original factory colour if there was one?
b) If heat painting what colour?
c) If powder coating, what colour?
d) Will chrome ceramic finishing just not look right?
Information, comments and opinions please.
 
Gloss black ceramic coating. Oh! TRs are not Jags. I think it was the pre-rust color. No coating at all.

Everyone, jump in here and set me straight.

Phil
 
Tom(I Gather) here is a shot of my 71 manifold. I had it coated silver. Changed my mind and went with a later year and coated it black(it's on the car now) and hooked to SU's
carbs2.jpg
 
When the TRs left the factory they were bare or just starting to turn brown with surface rust. "Originally" when they came out the sand mold, they had to be blasted to get all the sand out, milled for the flat mating surfaces and tapped for the exhaust studs. I assume they looked like what I have on my TR3A. (See attachment above). No judge at TRA or VTR ever told me it was wrong. Clean cast iron is usually a grey colour. Chrome or black would be wrong. If you can be sure to get a ceramic coating that is grey or towards a dull silver and not too glossy, that might be an answer. I know a TR4 owner with a restored concours TR4 in Hong Kong who painted all his cast iron parts with dull gray spray paint to make them look like the fresh casting colour.
 
Everything I have seeen and read about the exhaust manifold is that they were as it came out of the casting shop. No finish. They then got rusty as the years went by. I'm building a concours car so I want to retain the drive out of the factory look. Near as I can tell the TRA judging and standards guide book has nothing about the exhaust header. I'm going to bead blast it and paint it with the cast blast from Seymore and call it a day. If a judge doesn't like it he can give me a better idea. If you are building a daily driver then I would bead blast it and paint it with some hi-temp black or charcoal color, just to control the rust. Course they are so thick I wouldn't think they would rust out. If I were not going concours with this car I would put a set of headers and a Monza exhaust system on it, just cause they sound really neat.
Cheers, Tinkerman
 
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