Home-built Header finish-ATF!
Just to wrap up the header I built for my car (Pikesan’s garage) I thought I’d post a few pics and the video of the car running.. you can hear what it sounds like!
I build the header with help from Schoenfeld Headers and my friends at Nissan with the TIG welding skills. When I finally got it assembled, the next question was what do to for a coating? I media blasted the header and it was a shining clean silver color that looked really cool but I knew it wouldn’t last. So I took the advice I got from Schoenfeld and used ATF, yea, Automatic Transmission Fluid! I’d never heard of that, but they said it would turn the header a really cool BLUE color. Hmmm… Here’s how everything turned out.
Here’s the header I had on it before… I tried to paint this one red… I didn’t do a very good job and it turned black then white, quickly until it looked like this (Click on any image to see it full size):
Here’s the 1st video of me running the car for the first time with ATF generously rubbed on with a red rag (use something else, the rag rubbed off a little) Yea, it’s smoking! Didn’t smell too badly though…
Here’s the second video. Note that the color is starting to appear as I applied more ATF (while it was still kinda hot) and the header got hot. I was afraid it would be unevenly blue, but it’s not.
Then, here’s a couple pics of the finished header with the cool blue color… its a little darker now like a blue titanium color… I love it.
I reapplied the ATF about 3 times, then I haven’t done it since. I’ll do it again when I start driving it more… it’s a little cold here in AZ!I think this is a GREAT, cheap alternative to other coatings and looks better than I expected. I couldn’t have ordered that color if I had to. Let me know if you have any questions.
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nice pics on the headers, my question involves the front suspention on that rat rod. it has been my intention the last year or so to build affordable every day driver 4 cyl replica ratts on the OR coast. and was wondering if you could pass on any rescources in the way of websites for clean bolt-up systems like i spied in your pics?
or if you have the time thanks ,craig
Hi Craig,
That’s my name too!
I’m glad you noticed the suspension. I had several people tell me that wouldn’t work before I did it. Glad I didn’t listen cause that was 3+ years ago! The main problem was that the shock/headlight mount is cantilevered, meaning it’s not supported correctly or triangulated as a good frame would be. But, it works!
I built it and I’ve never seeing that exact setup anywhere. There are alot of pictures in my garage here to see what I’ve done. The only thing you can’t see is the bolts that hold on the mount also attach the spring. I should write a blog about that but I’ve already done so many about my car!
Shoot me another message if you have more questions. I’ll help you as much as I can.
pikesan
Looks like a great idea, I’m getting ready to fab a new set of tubes and will try this out. I assume that you have to coat the pipes after each use to keep down the rust. If not get back to us. This should make crack repairs doable without the pain involved with coated headers.
Hi Gary,
I now think of the ATF coating as a temporary solution. I ended up getting the header ceramic coated because with normal driving duty, including a trip to Bonneville salt flats, the header rusted and looked pretty nasty. Look at this story. Maybe if I was more diligent about re-coating with ATF it would have been better?
To allow you to repair cracks though, this might be the way to go? Just make sure to re-coat after welding, and I’m sure you know, to clean the area you’re welding before hand. If you want to chat about my experience, shoot me an email: pikesan at myrideisme.com.