Rust on my ceramic coating?!?!?! How to clean???

[Matt Golden]

Anyone have any suggestions for how to clean the rust that has adhered to the ceramic coating on a Poston header?

I had one sittin up next to a rusty ol stock header and after moisture introduced itself....it seems the rust decided to attach itself to the coating. I know for a fact the header was not rusty before hand. I've not had problems with any of this particular type header before.

Any suggestions? I don't want to hurt the coating, but I would like it to appear clean...Kind of worried that taking a wire brush to it might eat through the rust into the coating.

Anybody dealt with this?

 

[novaderrik]

real fine steel wool and a polishing compound is what the directions from Jet Hot said with the Dynomax small block chevy headersi bought..
of course, within a couple of years the coating started to fall off in large chunks with only a little bit of cleaning on my part, so i don't know what to tell ya..

 

[Red C5]

I'd give someone that does the coatings a call or send them an email. Novaderrik's idea seems like a pretty good one.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

My coating guy uses Mothers metal polish on ceramic coatings, after he goes over them w/ fine steel wool.
I doubt the rust "migrated" to the coating. If it has, it should come off easily.
I'd be more inclined to think the moisture has gotten under the ceramic, and the rust is coming from the inside out.
Coating adhesion failures are possibly caused by:
1. Improper prep. [Blasting w/ glas beads, instead of alum oxide].
2. Greasy finger prints.
3. Insufficient cure time/temp.
4. Coating that's not rated for the temp it will be seeing.
5. Physical damage, allowing rust to begin.
6. Starting a new engine, and having excessively hi egts.

Just some ideas, gathered from working around my bud's shop for 20 yrs.....

 

[Matt Golden]

Thanks Chuck. Yeah...this is a Poston header. It was fine until stored next to a rusty factory header. Moisture was introduced and voila! Rusty coating....I doubt it's coming through the coating. Possibly though. I dunno.

I contacted PerformanceKote and I'm contacting a few other guys to see what they can offer, but I believe the steel wool and Mother's is going to be the solution.

Seems to be the unanimous verdict!