engine paint didnt work

I power washed my engine and shot it with ford blue ceramic engine paint from wal mart. It stuck to the head and block fine and hasnt showed any problems but it all burnt off of the exhaust manifold in a matter of minutes and left it looking like white chalk. The only reason I ask now is because its comming up on my "things to fix list". Im guessing I failed in prep some where or is that stuff just crap? There is a pic of a header right on the can so I assumed it would hold up an exhaust manifold

 

I thought that paint was only good for the motor...somewhere around the 500* range....I am thinking that header/manifold paint needs to be around the 1200* area?

 

you should use VHT 1400 (i think it is called) on the manifolds

you also gotta spray at least 3 coats min.

 

I have had good luck with the VHT Flame Proof Coating rated to 1500 degrees. But follow the curing instructions.

 

Engine paint is not for exhaust manifolds .... .... you need exhaust manifold paint for them ...

 

...and a good manifold paint at that - not all of them work that well.

 

Eastwood has some good stuff

 

IF you don't mind the manifolds being black in color, John Deere "muffler black" is the hot ticket. Stuff even stayed on a turbo manifold for a while in my old Mustang. It's still stuck to the headers in my Maverick....3-4 years later they still look great.

I've used all of the above mentioned paints (eastwood, VHT, krylon, autozoo special high heat paints) and none of them worked. I work for a JD dealer and saw the paint listed on a parts update CD...so I tried it. It works great and is about half the cost of what VHT and Eastwood get.

 

You're not supposed to paint exhaust manifolds with engine paint. I've never seen blue exhaust manifolds. I used Eastwood's 1500 degree Cast Iron Gray (after having them sand-blasted). The key is that they must be absolutely clean, and to heat them up first to evaporate any condensation. Moisture is your worst enemy when painting exhaust manifolds. When they cool enough that they don't burn you when you touch them, spray the high-temp coating. It's better to have it thin than to spray several coats. It will stick better when it gets hot...

 

In my recent trip to home depo i noticed a can of rustolem black paint for cooking grills, says its good up to 1500*F, they also had the same paint in a spray. anyone ever try this?

 

BBQ black I painted my car with that, I can cook eggs on the hood