Been a while since I've done anything to the hawk other than regular maintenance. So after I pulled the wheels the throw on some fresh tires, the headers really needed some TLC. I'm not much on chrome either so after a lot of prep work cleaning the pipes, some high temp black went on...

 

i like it

 

That looks great! Nice choice and well done!

 

That's just solid great! Whether it's red or it's yellow or blue - it should never be more than two colors - greater than that sucks. Factory could never figure that out.

What a beautiful example. Bravo!

 

Those look nice however I think I am going to jump in with some ceramic coating for durability and to reduce some heat off of them.

 

thats exactly what im thinking,i may do that than wrap them,just be using the ceramic to protect from rust and such.

 

Good idea. I really like how the black turned out and there is a place close that does coatings so eventually a ceramic coating will be in the works.

 

I'm really glad he painted those so I could see how it would look!

@ Saige-with the ceramic coating you don't need to wrap them. You are supposed to get a significant heat reduction from just the coating.

Sorry for the thread hijack and they look great.

 

Damn, that looks awesome!

 

I agree, that does look good - whose paint did you use and is that a satin? semigloss?

 

I used gloss black 500deg engine enamel with "ceramic" or whatever variant of real ceramic it is. I doubt it will last too long but I wanted to see what the black would look like. I spent good time prepping the surface wet sanding and using a wire brush to remove junk and rust, taped off the ends, and then applied two coats allowing time in between to dry. It is now curing but should be good to go in a day. I'll sandblast and have a local place ceramic coat it when this wears off.

 

by my understanding the plating doesn't occur in inside the tube due to the magnetic field. I don't recall the details, but I know thats the cause.
I know that you have the same problem with peices that are v shaped or have a deep groove or valley. I have talked to the guys at the chrome shop a few times over the years.

 

**UPDATE** Let my stupidity be your guide. Washed and started the hawk today. First time sense painting. Lets just say the paint didnt make it. Smoke and close to flames. So this week I'm taking it to be nitro plated. I'll post a follow up.

 

Since the stock pipes wont rust anyway, that seems like a waste of money... Stick to "paint" or heatshielding paint instead...

 

bummer the paint didn't hold up as they came out really nice... there is always JET-HOT coatings as they do inside and out.

 

I'm glad you updated the thread with the poor performance of the paint. I really like the look of the the black pipes, now I know I need to get mine ceramic or JET -HOT coated.