diatibe24

I figured this could be helpful for people who are running a cast iron manifold and are tired of having a nice looking engine bay with a rusty looking manifold, killing the mood. This stuff cost around $20, you don't have to take the manifold off the car and can do a decent job in like 30 min. I just used rubber gloves and 1" foam brush. This is a pet peeve for a lot of people running cast iron.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Calyx Manifold Coating

For anyone curious what it actually is...

diatibe24

LOL yea that would have been helpful, thanks man.

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

looks promising.

for those thinking about doing legit ceramic coating cerakote has come out with some new products that do an amazing job and last forever

wantboost

iTrader: (2)

I know TheShodan has experience with Calyx. Personally I'm always a little skeptical of brush/spray on thin film coatings like this though.

If your cast iron manifolds are clean and free of any dirt or oil you can wire-brush off the loose rust/scale, Calyx will work pretty well for a few months. If there is oil on the part, the Calyx will flake off with any touch/rubbing at all, once it cures from the header heat.

If you don't want to remove the manifolds, Calyx is a viable option. It is easy to do with a very stiff bristle brush and if you allow for a sore back from bending over that much. You would have to use some sort of solvent like brake cleaner, acetone, toluene, and such along with a good strong steel or brass wire wheel.. Depends on the surface finish of the manifold and what sort of chemicals and fluids have come into contact with the manifold. Typically any cast iron manifold, especially the knock offs with low casting quality, are very porous.

The oils and greases will leach into these pores and when the manifold heats up the oils will typically expand and coat the surface... So you have to be super diligent about surface prep if you're using any type of coating like VHT or Calyx.

If you remove the manifolds, wire-brushing or bead blasting, using tack rag to get loose stuff off, then professional ceramic coating or shooting with Seymour Cast-Blast ceramic paint will give you the long-term good, cast iron looks that you are after.

It is basically a step above VHT spray coating. You just had to make sure you properly prepped the item. Just like painting a car, coating a manifold is 99% prep work. If you do a shitty job prepping the part then the longevity and efficiency of the coating will suffer. Like I said it's still not as effective and durable as proper ceramic coating or wrapping but it's better than nothing and more than anything it's simply an aesthetic step that will prevent the manifold from oxidizing/rusting