Cleaning Headers

[409T]

Once a year the So-Cal T's members are invited to bring their T-buckets to the San Diego County Fair to show them for a day, and in return we get free admission to the fair. This year we parked in a different area than in past years, and to get there, the fair official had us drive on the race track (horse racing) for 1/4 mi. or so. The track surface is a new composite material (read crap) that I'm told is made of carpet fibre mixed with rubber. It is lying loosely on the dirt or whatever the base surface may be, and is easily picked up by the front tires and thrown onto the hot headers. The rubber then bakes nicely onto the ceramic coating creating an absolute cobweb of black goo which is now scattered over much of the header and turn-out surfaces. Needless to say I am thrilled.

I have tried to remove the stuff with paint thinner, lacquer thinner, acetone, toulene, xylene and numerous metal polishes. None of those will work. Easy-Off oven cleaner gets rid of the stuff, but it makes a mess of the ceramic coating. Fortunately I was smart enough to try it on the bottom of one of the pipes where the damage doesn't show.

So my question is simple, anyone have any suggestion as to how to remove this stuff?

 

[RPM]

Very fine steel wool?

 

[Swampdog]

409T

How about some pictures and spec's of your 409. I messed them in the mid 60's. Had a 62 and a 65. Worked on a lot of my friends. Aw, the days of A-Stock. Funny thing is the 409 was a truck engine adapted to the passenger cars while the 396/454 series was first a passenger car engine that became the backbone of the truck line. It blew my mind that a relative short stroke could make so much torque. Up till then I thought long strokes equaled torque.

Swampdog

 

[Swampdog]

My Grandson is a jockey. He rode at Chicago and Keeneland where they use artificial surface. The jockeys hated it. It stuck to there faces and clothes and stung as it hit there faces. It was sold as an improvement for the horses safety (not breaking down) but the real reason was reducing the labor for track upkeep.

Swampdog

 

[benT]

I've found that you have to clean the headers when they are hot. Its obviously more dangerous to your fingers and arms, but if you heat up the goo, it will come off much easier from ceramic coating.

 

[409T]

I've found that you have to clean the headers when they are hot. Its obviously more dangerous to your fingers and arms, but if you heat up the goo, it will come off much easier from ceramic coating.

Thanks Ben. Any idea what cleaner to use when the pipes are hot?

 

[old round fart]

Try Go-Jo. I have also had luck with water base citric cleaner. Can't remember the name but it did a good job and clean up with water. Green-Weenies love the stuff!

 

[BOB S]

I actually took my spoke rims that were rusty and soak them in a product called metal restore it took about two days and there wasn't a speck of rust on them when I took them out.
There's also another product called oxalic acid I took an old 427 head that looks like it should have been a paperweight I soaked it for about six hours in this product and it came out looking brand-new.
In the old days after running the race car at the drag strip for the weekend I took a can of Coke poured it onto a rag and wood rub the quarter panels to remove the hot rubber that stuck to them . I got a little smarter now I rub my quarter panels down with Vaseline and the rubber doesn't stick to it anymore .

bob

 

[fordsbyjay]

When I had a plastic bag stuck to my headers I cleaned it hot. The bulk of it came off but there was still a black mark. You can try mothers aluminum polish or a product called White Lightning from Advance. I would try it underneath first. From what I read the White lightning takes less elbow grease.

There is also supposed to be a product called header chit you could try.

A while back I opened the hood of my car to find that one of the black plastic spark plug wire looms had come in contact with my ceramic coated headers and melted itself to the headers. I tried to pull it off, but it was stuck on so tight, I was afreaid I'd pull off the ceramic coating. I started the car, let the headers get nice and hot, then pulled off the plastic wire loom. It left a mess of melted black plastic on the header, but while they were still hot, I tried to wipe it off with a clean cloth. I'll be damned. It came right off and didn't even leave a mark. That was way too easy. Don't know if that'll work with a plastic bag, but its worth a try. I've also used some ceramic header polish called "Header Chit" from Olympic Coatings at 800-630-9899. That might get any residue off. Let us know how things turn out.

 

[Keeper]

When I ran into crap stuck on my headers I just used a rag soaked with water.

Start the T, let it warm up the headers, grab your towel that is not dripping wet, but pretty wet, this will help protect your hands from the heat.
Wipe the headers with the cloth, it should take off most of the crap.

Once that was done, I let things cool down and used some brasso to take out the rest. After brasso, some more cool water on a rag to get the remaining brasso off.

 

[john dioli]

Wait a minute here I was suppose to have been cleaning my headers?
next you'll say i need to change my oil hahaha

john

 

[409T]

In addition to the stuff in my first post, I have now tried water on very hot headers and waterless hand cleaner on cold ones. Also OneShot reducer and urethane reducer. So far no luck. The thing that really irritates me is the headers on the 409 T-bucket were (are) new and had just come back from ceramic coating about 2 weeks before.

 

[Keeper]

ouch...that sucks.

Last thing I was going to recommend was the hand sanitizer as its mostly alcohol, but that reducer is a bit stronger.

 

[Bigfoot21075]

What about Goo Be Gone? You can get it at Lowes or Home Depot

 

[Quezzmo]

A polishing wheel on a die grinder and experiment with different grades of rouge?

 

[409T]

What about Goo Be Gone? You can get it at Lowes or Home Depot

I tried that as well, forgot to add it to the list.

 

[409T]

A polishing wheel on a die grinder and experiment with different grades of rouge?

That was my next thought.

 

[Ttownbucket]

They make a wheel for removing pinstripes. You can mount it in a drill or die grinder. If it will remove pinstripes and adhesive form paint without damage, it should be safe for coated headers.

 

[baddawgcustoms]

Second what ttown said. We use those wheels at my truck shop to remove old faded decals and then put new ones on. Doesn't hurt the paint, you just can't dwell in one spot too long. Most paint supply stores have them as well. Looks like a big round eraser that goes in your drill. They work fantastic. Be with a try.

 

[Speccobra]

In addition to the stuff in my first post, I have now tried water on very hot headers and waterless hand cleaner on cold ones. Also OneShot reducer and urethane reducer. So far no luck. The thing that really irritates me is the headers on the 409 T-bucket were (are) new and had just come back from ceramic coating about 2 weeks before.

You might want to ask the folks who just did the ceramic coating for you what they would suggest.