How do I "polish" cast iron?

Looks like I'm stuck with the cast iron manifolds on the challenge Fiero. How does one make rusty cast iron look good? I'll assume a good cleaning and blasting will get them to a cast gray color, but how how I keep them that way? I'd rather not coat or paint them.

Eastwood makes a fine coating in the original "cast iron" color.

Anti-seize.

I came across this a couple of months ago. Seems to work, but I haven't tried it yet. Other than that, ???

Gearheadotaku wrote: I'd rather not coat or paint them.

Without coatings or paints, the only way to keep things that want to rust from rusting is keeping them 100% dry. Seems like paint or coating is more feasible...what's the concern with paint/coatings?

Bryce

Poor luck with paint, good ceramic coat not really challenge priced. That Eastwood gray looks interesting however.

I used Eastwood's stainless steel exhaust manifold paint with pretty good results.

Eastwood also makes a coating that you brush on cast exhaust manifolds with a toothbrush. You need to touch it up every two years or so.

Duplicolor high temp gray, silver, or black will last through the challenge if you..
1. Clean the surface really well.
2. Paint the inside and the outside of the manifolds. Don't paint the insides on a turbo car.
3. Bake it in the oven at 425 or whatever it suggests on the can. You can do this in your home oven when the wife is gone, but don't do a pizza right afterward. Do another cycle with the oven empty afterward.
4. Don't touch, scratch, or get a coolant leak on it while its hot. Once it cools back down its a lot more durable.

I would do all my test n tune with ugly manifolds, then swap on my nice ones before I depart for the challenge, or clean, prep, and paint them DFL before I departed.

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp then bake at low heat an paint. Anti-seize will continually rub off on you when working on the car, works yes but not on a fixer upper.

What about those rust converter products? I wonder if you applied them to the rusted header and then polished the black result if it would cook off.

93gsxturbo wrote: 3. Bake it in the oven at 425 or whatever it suggests on the can. You can do this in your home oven when the wife is gone, but don't do a pizza right afterward. Do another cycle with the oven empty afterward.

Somedays it's good to be single.... However, my oven doesn't work. See it's good to be single.....

i used por-15 on my daily backm in the laye 90's. held up beautifully for a few years. follow the directions exactly. this was their manifold cast iron grey paint.

i used por-15 on my daily backm in the laye 90's. held up beautifully for a few years. follow the directions exactly. this was their manifold cast iron grey paint.

powder coat can be challenge friendly if done in a DIY manner using the harbor freight kit and an old oven out in the garage, not a food oven.