VHT Engine Paint

[BossHogg69]

Just wanted to share my experience with VHT's line of 'High Heat' Engine Enamels. Painted a new McLeod scattershield and my old TKO trans today. Scuffed them both with a red 3M Scotchbrite and then hit them with some aerosol wax/grease remover. Then blew off the parts with some compressed air to make sure everything was dry and dust free - then 3 coats of VHT High Heat Engine Primer, waiting 10 mins between coats. Once that was good and dry (to the touch), I shot on 4 coats of VHT High Heat paint, waiting 10-12 minutes between coats.

Once I get this stuff road tested, I'll follow up with some opinions on how it holds up to some hard driving. Until then, all I can say is that is lays down really well and looks pretty decent sitting in my garage. I have used the VHT Roll Bar & Chassis paint before with good results, so I figured I'd give their engine paints a try.

[Gumby]

Its very forgiving, originaly painted my T5 with cheap blue 99c paint, some off comments on why bother, so I hosed it down with neon green VHT engine paint. 10+ years later, still green.

[bigmac73]

well the high heat paint is garbage, i sanded and cleaned my headers for hours
and applied the primer and paint, the stuff melted off like a birthday candle after a few hours of operation, now i am stuck with rusty ,burnt looking headers

[Gumby]

rub your rusty headers with silver anti-sieze, use your hands to really rub it in good and spread it around well.

stinks for a few, don't come off.

[bigmac73]

Originally Posted by Gumby

rub your rusty headers with silver anti-sieze, use your hands to really rub it in good and spread it around well.

stinks for a few, don't come off.

i take that it will bake in??

[Gumby]

oh yea, its an old trick all over the web, it doesn't come off once baked in.

[mitch1965]

I used VHT primer and paint on my exhaust manifolds 15k miles ago, and they still look good. I was really thorough about cleaning with alcohol first, but only wire brushed them to prep.

['68OrangeSunshine]

I had some 25 year old Clifford L6 headers hot tanked and bead blasted then hit them with VHT Cast Iron Grey hi-heat paint. Still good, since 2005.

[cableguy0]

Headers are tricky. The big issue is that they get so hot. The other problem is that if the headers have been run on a vehicle there are combustion gasses and soot trapped in the metal. The best method for cleaning them is in a hot tank a machine shop. That will remove all the contaminants. If your engine is running a bit lean or even a bit rich the headers will get super hot and most paint cant survive.

[bigmac73]

I agree i have a few quarts of Heat Resistant Aluminum paint I got from work ( standard naval issue), i used that first and it only last a few months under the heat and i sanded and cleaned for days doing the prep

[BossHogg69]

VHT has a line of high heat header paint also, but it has a much higher heat rating than the engine paint. I used the VHT high heat engine paint on the brakes of my '05 GMC (front calipers and rear drums) and it still looks good and hasn't peeled off after a year.