im having a valve job done on my 87 300e. anyway, i want to clean up the engine compartment a little. i want to paint or coat the headers to make them look new.
dose anyone have any suggesions on what to coat them with and procedures to take to make this work?
thanks,
adam

How about a set of performance headers. Check out http://www.oberklasse.com/ On the left hand side of the screen, click exhaust systems, and then on the exhaust page click headers. They have a really cool looking set for the 300E. Not only would it look great but you'd likely get some more vroom out of your hot looking machine.

that would be nice but i couldn't imagine spending $1000 bucks on headers thanks for your suggestion though.

I think you can have them ceramic coated or something so they look like chrome. I have seen it on TNN on a mechanic show called shadetree mechanic. Try looking up the show shadetree mechanic on TNN's website, and look for the show from last sunday. They had the headers on a hotrod coated and all so they look like chrome just about.

looked very good, maybe you can have that done to yours.

Alon

Just finished the engine on my sons' 190E & had the exhaust manifold powder coated. Looks great!!

Try using high temp engine paint. Its funny though because I was watching motorvision on Speedvision, last night and they showed the Glowing exhaust headers of that new Porsche GT. These headers were literally glowing red!

COATINGS
 

When I built my 190/5.0 I sent the headers out to be coated in a high luster silver finish that has held up very well. To remove it you almost have to use a hammer and chisel to chip it off.
Mine were done by a company called Jet-Hot Coatings and there are three locations that provide a 72hr turnaround service. One is in Tempe, AZ, one in Bridgeport, PA and one in Pascagoula, MS. Their phone number is 1-800-432-3379 and their tech line # is 1-610-277-5646.
The colors are available in the silver, cast-iron gray, black and all look terrific. The newest is a Bronze 2000 which shields metals above 2000F.

Good luck,

TobiasMB
C280Sport, 300CE, 400E, 190/5.66

Go w/ceramic or jet coat and forget the cosmetics, the two aforementioned coatings w/reduce the temp of the headers and the engine compartment. I had normal chromed headers on my forerunner and switched to ceramic after the chrome ones cracked and the motor temp was visably lower after putting the ceramic on, besides headers get so hot that even if the finish holds any water or oil or anything will become imediatly backed on and discolor. Just my opinion.
Good luck wayne

i have done reasearch on jet hot coatings in the past. i like the fact they have a 3 year warranty on thier coatings.
i am interested in thier pricing. how do they charge for this procedure?

I'm going to try painting mine with some high temp engine paint one of these days. No fancy colors just plain black.

i did 5 minuites worth of reasearch this aftermoon. i called Jet Hot and they wanted $175+ $20 shipping for the job. next, i called a local sandblasting shop so they could clean my headers up before painting. turns out they also do ceramic and powder coating. they are finishing my headers with a aluminum/ceramic coating for only $125. plus, i'm having my valve cover powder coated silver for $60.
i am glad i found this guy, his work looks really impressive.
thanks for everyones suggestions. i will post some pics when the job is done.
thanks!
adam

Adam or Anyone,
The jet-hot/ceramic coating is great. I've been around the hot rod/muscle car scene for a while. They have been using that type of coating for years. Another aproach would be Eastwoods high temp. coating. It costs $15 a pint. They have several colors including cast iron,stainless steel,black and silver. I used it on a set of headers for my Chevelle and it worked great. I just coated the exhaust manifold on my 220 diesel with it. I had a friend sand blast them first. The ceramic coating is great, but if you want a nice coating on a budget the Eastwood product is really good. andy

NO NO Paint
 

Most manufactures of exhaust manifold paints do not recommend painting the European exhaust manifolds.
Check Eastwood.
Metalurgically it has to do with the percentage of carbon in the castings.
MB may offer thier paint from the parts department?
To really improve the engine compartment relative to the exhaust manifolds, you should wrap them with an insulating material.
This not only keeps the underhood cooler and keeps us from being burned; it also improves the engine performance.
By maintaining the hot gases in the manifolds, it excellerates these into the expansion chamber, the cat converter.
To see this, look at Donalds Ram Air pictures in this P/P forum.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from hot pipes Houston!!!
Donald, El Cheapo

Yep, the thermal wrapping will also cool things down, but as far as looks (if this is waht your after) will not look as cool as the ceramic. If you do thermal wrap DO NOT over wrap or leave any portion of the pipe surface unwrapped or any air pockets, doing so will distort or even melt the metal -I know this from first hand experience-. Personally, go w/ceramic or jet coatl, If you do go JETHOT ask the if their still coating piston tops -just curious-.
just my opinion
good luck bud
wayne

Wayne
 

Your words are well recieved.
Anyone wrapping thier manifolds would not make the mistakes you apparently made.
As to melting the OEM cast exhaust manifolds resulting from sloppy wrapping, impossible if you check on the melting point of Cast Iron.The wrap would burn away.
The temperature of the manifolds don't change, just the radiant heat is kept from the engine compartment.
As for over wrapping. that would just be a waste of insulating material.
Follow the instructions.
Again, check with the suppliers about the European manifolds. Be very carfull about painting your manifolds.
Years past we Hot Rodders painted the combustion chamber portion of the cylinder heads. we used 1000 & 1100 degree paint.
That portion of the heads temperature is well below those temperatures for it is water cooled.
As for painting the Aluminum piston top, no advantage could be gained in the engines we tried it on.
The advantage to cylinder head painting was to minimize carbon formation.
Another area you may consider Hi-temp painting is the inside of the exhaust pipe. Stops rust from the inside. Then paint the outside with Rust-o-leum Bar B.Q. black. Stops rust from the outside.
Last but least about engine painting.
Paint the inside of the engine block using Glyptal.
This remove the friction between the oil and the iron block. Making the oil drain faster to the sump.
This prevent crankcase oil misting that reduces Horse Power.

Happy Trails Beep Beep from old rodder Houston!!
Donald, recycled rodder