polishing headers

[nick_sixx]

hey im currently trying to polish my headers before they go back into my car next week, but im having trouble getting them to get to toda-esque mirror finish. so far ive : orbital steel wool thinged them, dry sanded them, wet sanded them (rough), wet sanded them (fine), polished and buffed. they look like 100 times better than they did before, but theyre still like a tiny bit lumpy all over etc. any ideas?

[bennjamin]

please dont even touch your header. Spray it with ceramic cover etc ~ but dont sand it back etc. Its not designed to take such a buffering because it will heat up and remove any previous "shine" :)

[Limo]

hey im currently trying to polish my headers before they go back into my car next week, but im having trouble getting them to get to toda-esque mirror finish. so far ive : orbital steel wool thinged them, dry sanded them, wet sanded them (rough), wet sanded them (fine), polished and buffed. they look like 100 times better than they did before, but theyre still like a tiny bit lumpy all over etc. any ideas?

looks like its already too late. you will probably find that you will get all little marks on them once they heat up and cool down again.the only thing i can reccommend is to rub a coat of engine oil to give it a even finish and get rid of any finger prints etc. nothing worse than finger prints on your shiney new headers.

[nick_sixx]

so should i be rubbing engine oil on it? or ceramic cover? i havent stripped any metal as far as i can see, just the rust/grit etc off the surface.

[nvdvtc]

wouldnt they burn to a different color after a while?

[bighaks]

mate ceramic coating these days come out awsome and keep under bonnet temps down.

[nick_sixx]

can you diy it? cause while i was searching for tips on this forum, i came across somebody who does it for $300, and no way am i paying that much for a set of second hand headers that cost me $150

[SeverAMV]

can you diy it? cause while i was searching for tips on this forum, i came across somebody who does it for $300, and no way am i paying that much for a set of second hand headers that cost me $150

couldve been worse, you could have paid that much for someone to ceramic coat $17 ebay extractors.
i think vht have extractor paint that has a little ceramic in it, which should do the job. not as good as a pro ceramic job, but it will help to reduce temps a little.

[nick_sixx]

alright ill look into it, you can get it from supercheap cant you? well at least my mind tells me ive seen it there

[SeverAMV]

alright ill look into it, you can get it from supercheap cant you? well at least my mind tells me ive seen it there

yeah, they sell it.

but safety wise, if you've got xforce extractors, you could replace them with the $17 ebay ones. they have the same design, dimensions, and material strength. this is safer because in a d series, exhaust velocity at the extractors can reach about 0.8mach, and exhaust temps can reach 1000 degrees celsius (found this out when my 700 degree paint melted off), so it will do a lot of damage if your extractors shatter from all your sanding.

[90LAN]

nick dont coat them they will look ugly
just give a sand back to the stainless and it will look fine
they are fujistubu headers for a d series they are quality not shit like others have mentioned

[nick_sixx]

^^ thanks lan. yeah ive got them back to the stainless, without stripping any metal so far. hopefully they will burn a nice colour