The motor I plan to use is coming out of a 78 f100 ( 302 ) My question is my headers have rust on them, other then that they appear to be in nice shape. If I pull them off can they be sanded and painted with high temp paint?

 

Yeah, you could hand sand them or even get a cheap syphon sandblaster with gun and blast them off with play sand. I used VHT ceramic header paint on my headers and baked them in my oven to get them to cure. You can just cure them by bolting them on your motor and starting it and letting it run for certain increments of time which would be easier but my engine is being built right now and it will be a while before I would get to start it so I just went to stove route. I have herd a lot of good things about VHT paint if you follow the instructions right on the curing process. If you have the dough, it would be good to step up to polished stainless steel or polished ceramic coated headers.

 

Yeap, sandblast them then use a high temp paint like what they seel for the BBQ its cheeper then the hi-temp paint at auto store

 

I wouldn't mind buying a new set but right now my budget has been put on a wait and see. The company I work for announced they were selling the plant I work at.( GSK ) They had a plant up your way in Bristol,Tn not sure if its still open are not.

 

I just googled it and it says there are 2 locations near me so I would think at least one would still be open lol not sure though. I'm sorry to hear about that with your job, I know all about the "wait and see" budget lol. I would use holidays lol you know... birthday, fathers day, Christmas, and income tax time if we had any left over. I bought some raw steel block hugger patriot headers from summitracing for about 130 bucks. Washed them and dried them real quick and then put the ceramic paint on them.

 

I just picked up a pair of headman headers that are rusty for $10,i wanted to
use them on my 51 f1 with the 302 but the steering is in the way so i am going
to put them on my 53 merc convertible that has a 5.0 in it i think that i have
enough room to make them fit.where do i find that ceramic paint & how much
does it cost.how long do you put the headers in the oven & what temp do you use?

 

HILLBILLY BOB, It has the instructions on the can but if I remember correctly its 250 degrees for 30 minutes and let cool, 400 degrees for 30 minutes let cool, and 600 degrees for 30 minutes let cool. The can costed about 8 bucks I believe.