am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

ok heres the deal, im on a slow junkyard build in my spare time cause i have no money.... so to keep me busy i started grinding down my std manifold .....

basicaly ive been grinding the exterior down, all the little bumps and ---- to make it smooth ... the bit has been taking pretty good chuncks out of it ... im mean grinding it down well...... pretty much just doin it for fun and to look better than the piece of ---- it was...

what i want to know is if u guys think that this bit of griding and smoothing is going to ---- up the structural rigitity of the manifold??? do u think it will be more prone to cracking, or less prone to cracking ..

also, will the cast iron rust really fast and just ---- up my work again???

what about high temp paint??? i hear alot of people using it saying it chips off, but would it be less prone to chip off if the manifold was smoothed and cleaned first.... id asume most of these people are srpaying the paint over manifols with rust and grease on them, making the paint not adhere very well ...

what u guys think about all this???

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

I sand blasted mine to bare metal and left it in my garage for a month. In that time, it was rusted again. I'd highly recommend blasting it and hitting it with a coat of ceramic based high temp paint.

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

I dont' think that any paint will last on the manifold. You can try the BBQ high temp paint you can get at the harware store. 98ctr

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

I don't think any kind of paint will last on a manifold that glows red every day.

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

well theres got to be something that can coat this thing so it doesnt look like ass all the time ..... and i dont want to spend alot of money for it .... hmmmm ... what about some sorts of clear spray on adhesive?????

theres got to be something out there!!!!!

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

use WD40

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

WTF???

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

i painted my manifold & turbo center section and exhaust housing with a stainless steel colored paint from JCwhitney
look under my post for a picture of my set up it's there i posted it 1 month ago. paint has held up beautifully til now. it smoked like crap though after the first boosted run
cause i gave it too thick a coat. the paint didn't fall off though and it looks good. bad part= $25 quart + shipping. outta that 1 quart though you can get 50% more cause it needs to be thined out with toulene.

You can brush the paint on & when it heats up it'll dry flat.

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

a manifold isn't for bling blingin, it's for getting exhaust gasses to the turbo, who care's if it looks like ----?

Re:am i fucking up my STD manifold????
 

really depends on what exactly you are grinding off but most of those things that you are "deburring" are casting marks, I would say if it's just a cleanup then it should be safe.. they make those manifolds a little bit above spec so as long as your car isn't leaning the ---- out it can ride out being a little thinner.

sandblasting pretty much is the only true method to get something clean, on my sbc I took out every little bracket and pully and sandblasted it.. then I painted it with a high temp black.. shows some pitting from rust but overall it looks clean (now if only the truck wasn't rusting bad in a few areas).

tunertoys suggested tractor muffler paint from a john deere shop.. look into that, the only real way to get a clean manifold is to have it ceramic coated.. why don't you call your local community college and see if the pottery class teacher could hook u up

just some ideas, let me know what route you go and how the shaved manifold works out for you

-ryan