Having fabricated an exhaust system for the Purple Pig '49 Chevy project car from mild steel mandrel bends, it would have been a shame to leave it naked and susceptible to rust. Sure, I could have sprayed it with high-temperature paint from rattle cans, but figured it deserved something more substantial after all that hard work! As the Sanderson headers and Patriot VaraFlow mufflers have thermal ceramic coatings, it made sense to use a similar finish for the tubing.
Here's where we left the Purple Pig's exhaust last time, with the system tack-welded, some MIG and some TIG, depending on whether I could access the tubing that snaked around the ShockWaves and over the rearend. In some places it was all I could do to sneak the MIG gun between components to tack-weld the joints. With the axle removed, it was time to drop and remove the exhaust system before Jimmy White at Circle City Hot Rods TIG welded it solid.
Embee Performance is a company local to the Rod & Custom offices, and offers ceramic coating, powdercoating, nickel plating, and anodizing, plus they just happen to be one of the sources Patriot uses to coat its headers, as well as the preferred powdercoater of many top motorsports industry manufacturers. So I paid them a visit to discuss my options. A quick perusal of the ceramic coating choices on display on headers in their showroom made the choice easy, and I left the six sections of my system with them to be coated in a titanium color.
A number of colors are available, including polished silver, matte silver, satin black, titanium, gray metallic, blue, and white, and Embee guarantees components coated will not blue, stain, or rust. Such coatings will increase the efficiency of an engine by increasing exhaust velocity and improving airflow, resulting in reduced underhood temperatures.
Embee also offers sulfuric, chromic, and hard anodizing as well as multiple color options and Teflon impregnation to enhance lubricity, nickel plating to produce an extremely durable surface, similar to high-grade stainless steel, which is both wear and corrosion resistant, as well as a thermal dispersant coating for crankshafts, connecting rods, valvesprings, and oil pans. They also coat pistons from manufacturers such as J-E, CP, Arias, and Ross. While these processes are aimed at motorsports applications, the thermal ceramic coatings and powdercoating will be primarily of interest to hot rodders.
I took a number of pictures like this for reference when it came time to re-fit the system. There was a definite order in which it had to be removed, and hence re-fitted, and such pictures were invaluable.
Though unable to photograph the actual application process in the booth, I spent some time at Embee's impressive facility while they sprayed my tubing first with a primer, then with the thermal barrier, and removed them from the booth for me to photograph before they headed to the oven, where they were baked at 500 degrees F. The following day I was able to collect and install my parts, and despite taking care I still managed to get greasy fingerprints all over the tubing, but was pleased to note that they wiped off with de-greaser and left the exhaust looking like it had when first coated.
As I am using VaraFlow mufflers from Patriot Exhaust on this project, I called Don Lindfors at Patriot to enquire who applies the ceramic coating on all their headers, only to discover, amongst other coaters, they use Embee Performance, located very close to the Rod & Custom offices. I'd assumed this was a new business when it opened alongside the freeway recently, but it turned out Embee acquired this building for its freeway frontage, while retaining their huge facility a few blocks away.
Though I'd welded a couple of mounting rods to each side of the system for rubber mounts, I'd not as yet mounted the tailpipes. For this I used billet aluminum hanger/clamps from Deeds Engineering, which proved ideal to secure the rearend of the system in precisely the position required, while allowing for necessary minimal movement. They also look good, though in my case they're almost hidden from view under the back of the car.
