What is this stuff on my headers?

[Damien8086]

There is white stuff on my headers that will not seem to wipe off.

Does anyone know what it is? If so then does anyone know why it is there and how (or if) I can clean it off?

Thank you!

[MySons68C20]

Did you run these out of the box with the factory paint?
If so they need to be removed, sandblasted and painted with the hi temp paint.
The factory paint is to prevent rust but not meant to be run afaik.
I always do this to mine and they last along time and look great.
Hope this helps
Blake

[Damien8086]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

Did you run these out of the box with the factory paint?
If so they need to be removed, sandblasted and painted with the hi temp paint.
The factory paint is to prevent rust but not meant to be run afaik.
I always do this to mine and they last along time and look great.
Hope this helps
Blake

No idea - someone else installed them. They don't appear to be preventing rust either though as there is some rust building up on them.

[MySons68C20]

The factory paint is to prevent rust in the box.....once you run them that quality goes away as they paint over the smooth steel without any appreciable prep.
This is just my experience but after seeing many "hedders" turn white or tarnished this is my belief.

[Damien8086]

Any idea how much I should expect to pay to have a mechanic remove everything, send it for jet coating and then reattached?

[jocko]

No idea. I'd recommend using the opportunity to learn how to remove/reinstall them, you'll pay a lot of money for someone to do it for you - and to leave it at a shop while they are out getting coated. It's not a difficult task usually, unless you have tons of accessories overlying the headers, which really just means more time, that's all. And they look like nice headers, so probably worth getting this done. Having said all that, I've never seen factory painted headers painted silver. Are you certain they aren't coated already (and, granted, it's not holding up very well)?

[Damien8086]

Originally Posted by jocko

No idea. I'd recommend using the opportunity to learn how to remove/reinstall them, you'll pay a lot of money for someone to do it for you - and to leave it at a shop while they are out getting coated. It's not a difficult task usually, unless you have tons of accessories overlying the headers, which really just means more time, that's all. And they look like nice headers, so probably worth getting this done. Having said all that, I've never seen factory painted headers painted silver. Are you certain they aren't coated already (and, granted, it's not holding up very well)?

Is it pretty much just a matter of unbolting them? Should the exhaust just disconnect or will it likely need to be cut?

[Mbeef61]

Should unbolt on heads and below at collector. Depending on the motor and headers etc will dictate whether they will remove from above or below. My 350 the drivers side was removed from below. and passenger from above. You need to have a decent amount of space below the truck to remove.

Install in Reverse. Might need new gaskets when you reinstall

[Mbeef61]

Also you may need to remove some other things. I have heard sometimes an ac compressor. I don’t have it so I don’t know. Sometimes the alternator. I had to remove my clutch linkage.

[Damien8086]

Thanks for the info, I’ll take a closer look at it tomorrow to get a better idea. Would you guys recommend sending the whole exhaust system to get the ceramic coating or just the two header pieces?
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[Mbeef61]

Just headers. Pipes and mufflers are usually aluminized steel or stainless. Headers you can do ceramic coating or high temp paint.

[jradford]

Are you sure that these aren't ceramic coated headers? I have a set of Hedman ceramic coated headers on my truck and they look identical. I wouldn't want to remove the coating. Looks to be just road grime splashed up on the headers and baked on them. Since baked on at a high temp(truck running) You might try a spot not readily visible and see if maybe oven cleaner or some other high temp cleaner will take it off with out damaging the coating.

[Damien8086]

Originally Posted by Mbeef61

Just headers. Pipes and mufflers are usually aluminized steel or stainless. Headers you can do ceramic coating or high temp paint.

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

I tackled the driver-side this morning. I am doing all of this in my garage so no lift or anything which makes it a bit difficult. I was a little surprised by the six bolts as they weren't too terribly difficult to loosen. I did not need any PB Blaster or anything or even much torque to get them off. One in fact seemed a little loose from the start. They were still a huge PITA as they are right against the pipes and a socket or even the ratcheting side of the wrench wouldn't fit so I had to hand wrench them off. I am not sure how you'd go about putting them on with a torque wrench given the tight space.

Quick background: These headers were put on about 2-3 years ago, but the truck probably has less than 100 miles on it since this was done. It has just been in the garage mostly sitting. I am surprised by how worn they look given this.

I've attached some more pictures. I am concerned about the scratches on them. Do you think the ceramic coating process will be able to fix these or should I maybe consider just starting over with new ones? The bolts also look pretty powdery whitish. Are the bolts or the connection plates usually done too or just replaced?

[Damien8086]

Originally Posted by jradford

Are you sure that these aren't ceramic coated headers? I have a set of Hedman ceramic coated headers on my truck and they look identical. I wouldn't want to remove the coating. Looks to be just road grime splashed up on the headers and baked on them. Since baked on at a high temp(truck running) You might try a spot not readily visible and see if maybe oven cleaner or some other high temp cleaner will take it off with out damaging the coating.

I am not too sure if they are coated already or not. I unfortunately wasn't real involved in the selection when they were done. I just dug up the invoice in hopes that it would have a part number on it, but no luck.

The invoice does show it was done in 2015 so even longer ago than I had thought. Still less than 100 miles on them though. Looks like I was charged $639 for the headers, $56 for SS bolts which look like ****e now, $42 for "header bracket", $45 for header gaskets. $600 for installation, also a separate line item for flowmaster exhaust for $835.00.

[Mbeef61]

Those almost look ceramic coated but if they were it was thin. Those look fixable. Just find out how much it will be to repair. I wouldn’t worry about torquing them. Just get them snug. Drive it and check them periodically

[Mbeef61]

$600+ headers should be ceramic coated. If they only have 100 miles on them and they were new then the place that installed them really beat the hell out of them putting them on

[Damien8086]

It took about 2 hours, but I finally got the passenger side header off. I have AC so getting to the bolts without taking it all apart was quite the challenge. The only parts I ended up removing in the process were an AC rear bracket that was bolted to the passenger side header and the rear 2 spark plugs on each side because I was afraid I may accidentally hit and break them otherwise. I pulled both sides through from underneath, jacking a corner up at a time just enough to pull them through.

I have added some pictures of my "S/S" bolts that apparently cost $56. Very frustrating, but a good learning experience as I have never done this before. I am a bit worried though about getting these things back on without scratching them in the process.

The last picture is of a bolt between the AC compressor and the valve cover that was an absolute bear to remove. No room at all to get to it. I probably should've just removed the compressor, but I was a bit worried about whether or not I'd be able to get it back on. Haven't done anything with belts before either so that part scared me a bit.

[Mbeef61]

Good work. Might be worth looking into removing stuff to get them back on easier. Hopefully you have some extra hands. It’s a juggling act trying to get them into place. Getting the gasket on and starting bolts without scratching them.

Those don’t look stainless. I would avoid that shop in the future.

At the end of the proverbial day, they will degrade just from use. Get them cleaned up how you want but but the exhaust system will never stay pristine.

[special-K]

By the look and the price I'd say those are ceramic coated and it is beginning to fail. The bolts look stainless, much better than steel would look after getting that hot. This is an exhaust system which takes flaming hot gases passed constantly through it ever second the engine is running. You see show vehicles with beautiful exhaust because they push those things as much as the run them... shop to trailer and trailer to show floor.

[Mbeef61]

Originally Posted by special-K

By the look and the price I'd say those are ceramic coated and it is beginning to fail. The bolts look stainless, much better than steel would look after getting that hot. This is an exhaust system which takes flaming hot gases passed constantly through it ever second the engine is running. You see show vehicles with beautiful exhaust because they push those things as much as the run them... shop to trailer and trailer to show floor.

Well from his story they have less than 100 miles on them so still not a lot of use

[NGN]

I recently got my stock exhaust manifolds ceramic coated for a $150.00. They where sand blasted then heated up nice and hot to burn off any residue before being coated, they coat them then heated again to dry to hard finish, used the original manifold color. He did mention that the ceramic coating is very thin. They look very good but still yet to install. O yeah he did also mention that removing ceramic by means of sand blasting take a little more time. Your headders do have more surface then my stock manifolds, can be a price difference.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Mbeef61

Well from his story they have less than 100 miles on them so still not a lot of use

I don't know about all that. Looks like ceramic coated headers and low grade stainless bolts to me. The rust comes from sitting and ambient moister once gotten heated up to running temp. Steel would be rusted more from sitting than running daily. Kinda like moss on a rolling stone . With the rust bleeding through the coating that much, I'd expect the bolts to look much worse, if they were also steel.

Oh yeah, the white stuff is oxidization. I think the ceramic coating has aluminum in it.