Exhaust pipes cleaned and coated:

As you can see in the "before" pictures, several sections of the exhaust piping were beginning to rust because they are not coated. Since this is not good for the piping, longevity of the kit, underhood temperature, performance, and general aesthetics of the car, I have cleaned them and am waiting to have them coated.

As you can see, the pipes needed a lot of work. A few hours of time and a wire brush attachment on a high-speed drill made short work of the surface rust on the pipes. This was necessary before coating and totally worth my effort as the pipes now look brand new.

I have been in touch with JetHot and found their prices for coating everything a little much....almost $500 for the headers, collectors, and downpipe. That was for their 2000° coating. Since that would clearly put me over-budget, I opted to try Black Satin. Black Satin is an exhaust coating available to the public (as opposed to shops) that is air-brushed on and then cured on the car with the motor running. It is substantially cheaper ($15/ 4 oz. can at Summit) than JetHot coating and is obviously not as good. The Black Satin is a thermal barrier, not just a high temp coating. It handles temperatures up to 2000°, but unlike the JetHot, I can only coat the outside. This is a big difference, but one I'll live with to save over $400 for everything.

As mentioned, I purchased the Black Satin from Summit and was waiting until the day before the install to coat the pipes since they need to be cured on the car.  The instructions specify that the coating is to be sprayed on with a detail gun, airbrush, or other similar low pressure (35psi) device and left to dry at least overnight and then cured on the running car for 30-60 minutes. 

My first hurdle was applying the coating.  I loaned my compressor to a friend 3 years ago and it somehow it never returned.  I wasn't about to track him down to do a 30 minute job, so I looked high and low for an alternative.  What I found was a device that allows you to pour your own paint into a jar and use it like a can of spray paint.  Interesting.  This is reusable and new aerosol cans can be purchased to replace the empty ones.  Total cost?  $3.89 at Home Depot.

The little can next to the sprayer is the Black Satin.  4 oz. is a small can, but I did do all of the headers, collectors, and downpipe with only one can.

I had to re-prep the pipes by lightly sanding them and cleaning them with mineral spirits since it had been 3 weeks or so since I de-rusted them.  After that, I hung all of the pipes to be coated from hooks in the garage ceiling.  This made things much easier.

Once I started spraying, I did all of the pieces until they were completely and evenly covered.  All of the piping just looks 100% better.  A silver color would be nice strictly for aesthetics, but the black is nice also.  Below are photos of the headers (note that the header on the right is the one that was repaired) and a close-up of the collectors to show the coating.  Black Satin....exactly what it is.

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