How do you get your headers back to shiny?

[Tippy]

My engine leaked really bad onto some places on my headers and baked on the oil but I have gotten rid of that with some not so Earth-friendly chemicals (pottassium and sodium hydroxides).

But, how do you get the stainless steel back to shiny using chemicals?

Is it caustic you use, or acids, or just plain ol' solvents? I would assume heat would be in order too.

My thinking was probably a mixture of either a caustic or an acid using heat for a nice long dip.

Whats the trick? Hand rubbing with a scothbrite and mild acids is not going as fast as I like but is givng me desired luster.

[BeemerMike]

Originally Posted by Tippy

But, how do you get the stainless steel back to shiny using chemicals?

My understanding is you don't try. The SS headers/HEs will discolor from the heat of engine operation, and the only way to avoid it is to not drive the car. My suggestion is to learn to like the color.

[Tippy]

Originally Posted by BeemerMike

My suggestion is to learn to like the color.

No way, I do not like milky, brown on my headers.

[tom1394racing]

Tippy

Remove them and have them soda blasted.

[Tippy]

Originally Posted by tom1394racing

Tippy

Remove them and have them soda blasted.

Thought about it but didn't think it would be worth the cost.

[BeemerMike]

Originally Posted by Tippy

No way, I do not like milky, brown on my headers.

Well, all I can say is good luck. I have a garage full of motorcycles with single-wall SS exhaust systems. The ones with bare SS (the Ducatis) are both the dull, medium brown color. The ones with chrome-plated SS (the BMWs) have a "blued" look. Harley-Davidson and the Japanese bike makers avoid the blue discoloration by using double-wall tubing for the exhaust headers. I suppose you could have a set of double-wall SS headers made for your 911 . . .

[Tippy]

I know what causes the discoloration, I am simply trying to figure out the easiest and cheapest way to get them back to gleaming without a ton of elbow grease.

I am rebuilding the engine and want the headers to look nice.

[BeemerMike]

Originally Posted by Tippy

I know what causes the discoloration, I am simply trying to figure out the easiest and cheapest way to get them back to gleaming without a ton of elbow grease.

I am rebuilding the engine and want the headers to look nice.

Tippy, I don't want to get into an endless back-and-forth on this, but if you know what causes the SS discoloration, then you know that what you want to do cannot be done (i.e., having shiny SS headers on an operating 911). Even if you found a way to get your headers back to "shiny silver" on your rebuild, as soon as you start the engine and drive the car for awhile, the SS will return to the dull medium brown color. It is not caused by the oil leaking on the headers (although that certainly makes it more messy), it is just the inherent nature of the SS. Sorry.

[bavaria911]

Tippy,

Please post your method to the board. If you solve the change in apperience of the SSI's, while under daily usage -- we'd love to know the secret.

Bavaria911

[Plays with cars]

I bought a bottle of stainless steel BBQ cleaner at Lowe's hardware that was supposed to clean SS discoloration. Didn't think it would work, but was hopeful just in case. Well surprise surprise, it worked, and with very little elbow grease. Even worked on my SS stove top.

Now granted BBQs and stove tops are operating at lower temps than your exhaust system, but this stuff took the heat discoloration out of the SS on them quite easily. Might be worth a trip to the hardware store to pick some up and give it a try.

[Tippy]

Originally Posted by Plays with cars

I bought a bottle of stainless steel BBQ cleaner at Lowe's hardware that was supposed to clean SS discoloration. Didn't think it would work, but was hopeful just in case. Well surprise surprise, it worked, and with very little elbow grease. Even worked on my SS stove top.

Now granted BBQs and stove tops are operating at lower temps than your exhaust system, but this stuff took the heat discoloration out of the SS on them quite easily. Might be worth a trip to the hardware store to pick some up and give it a try.

Funny you say that, I just bought Zep BBQ cleaner today and tried it. That stuff has the pottassium hydroxides in them.

It did not do too well for me.

That's when I got out the Easy-Off (sodium hydroxide) but it too just couldn't get the metal shiny again.

The best thing so far has been Bar Keepers Friend, scothbrite, and elbow grease.

[K24madness]

I hated it to. I had them ceramic coated black. Always looks good now.

[jpnovak]

The caustic materials (sodium or potassium hydroxide) materials will remove the oil and other carbon materials from the SS. However, it will also react and pit the stainless. Usually this is in the form of creating iron and nickel hydroxide materials that then quickly oxidize to rust. The gray appearance is most likely a mixture of the SS ingredient oxide materials.

The only way to remove this is to mechanically abrade the surface. Take your pick. Sanding, grinding, blasting... Either way, the surface is pitted. You can restore some of the luster by sanding progressively from coarse to fine grit and then polish as necessary.

All of the SS treatments are just fine polishing compounds. They lightly remove the surface oxide/nitride coatings while using the elbow grease. Mark said it best, The headers are subject to much higher temperatures and thus the depth of the oxide/nitride coatings is significant.

Of course, the first few times you drive the car they will turn that brownish(or maybe bluish) color indicative of the reaction of the metals with the oxygen and nitrogen in the air. There is no way to prevent this except for dual layer designs which insulate the outside.

[Tippy]

Originally Posted by jpnovak

The caustic materials (sodium or potassium hydroxide) materials will remove the oil and other carbon materials from the SS. However, it will also react and pit the stainless. Usually this is in the form of creating iron and nickel hydroxide materials that then quickly oxidize to rust. The gray appearance is most likely a mixture of the SS ingredient oxide materials.

The only way to remove this is to mechanically abrade the surface. Take your pick. Sanding, grinding, blasting... Either way, the surface is pitted. You can restore some of the luster by sanding progressively from coarse to fine grit and then polish as necessary.

All of the SS treatments are just fine polishing compounds. They lightly remove the surface oxide/nitride coatings while using the elbow grease. Mark said it best, The headers are subject to much higher temperatures and thus the depth of the oxide/nitride coatings is significant.

Of course, the first few times you drive the car they will turn that brownish(or maybe bluish) color indicative of the reaction of the metals with the oxygen and nitrogen in the air. There is no way to prevent this except for dual layer designs which insulate the outside.

Great post.

I feel there has to be a caustic or acid that will attack/remove the oxide of the SS and leave a nice, lustery surface, no?

I figured with guys like Weiner and Schmidt, they must do something with the headers of customers cars to make them nice looking (for a short time of course). It must just be the mechanical sanding/polishing method.

My wife's Mother is a chemist, I gonna ask her and report back if I can find out anything worth doing.

[Flieger]

I thought the blueing was from a change in the crystal structure/temper of the steel due to the heating and cooling cycles from the exhaust.

[304065]

Jet-hot coating.

[tom1394racing]

John's right...I jet hot coated the headers, muffler and muffler straps on my RSR four years ago and they still look fresh.

[Tippy]

Originally Posted by K24madness

I hated it to. I had them ceramic coated black. Always looks good now.

Nice!

Originally Posted by 304065

Jet-hot coating.

Didn't want to go that route, just want to make them look nice again. After awhile it wont matter again to me. I just didn't want ugly headers on a fresh rebuild.

Originally Posted by tom1394racing

John's right...I jet hot coated the headers, muffler and muffler straps on my RSR four years ago and they still look fresh.

I bet those look sweet!

[azasadny]

I use Krud Kutter and 00 steel wool, followed by 0000 steel wool...

[HFR_Racer]

I use a 3" dia. Scotchbrite type pad that is 1 inch thick that you can purchase at Sears in the tools department. The pad has an integrated drive arbor so you can use several tools to drive it.





I high temp paint my stainless headers though. I plan to wrap them this winter.