Leistritz Muffler Paint or not?

[67rustavenger]

I picked up a Leistritz muffler from the classifieds for an SP engine I'm building.

It cost more than many would spend. Buy once! Cry once!
But I figure that my time is worth more than the price increase versus fitting a Jopex muffler that many vendors are selling these day's. Many here have complained that the Jopex mufflers are terrible to fit-up. Right out of the box.

So my question is...
What to paint it with, or is paint really needed? The muffler gets hot and burns off the paint anyway.
I have painted headers in the past with VHT high temp header paint. The paint curing process involved baking the headers in an oven. That was easy. But a complete VW muffler will not fit in an oven for curing.

What would you do?

Thank you for reading.
_________________
I have learned over the years.
Cheap parts are gonna disappoint you.
Buy Once, Cry Once!

There's never enough time to do it right the first time. But there's always enough time to do it thrice.
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!

[mukluk]

I'd run it as is. Mufflers normally rust from the inside out anyway, so stripping and painting it won't make much difference in the long run.
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1960 Ragtop w/Semaphores "Inga"

[TDCTDI]

Run it. It will burn the paint off in short order, then wire brush it off & paint it with some VHT or other header paint.

The VHT instructions also include a run on car cure process.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[67rustavenger]

[FL-Frank]

Have you considered ceramic coating?
_________________
“Tinker Toy” 1967 Savannah Beige Beetle Sedan...........Mostly Original Survivor
“Fritz” 1964 Gulf Blue Karmann Ghia Coupe...Complete Pan-Off Restoration SOLD

[calvinater]

Would it fit in your barbecue for curing?
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"Albatross"!

[cyclehobby]

Though I don't know the brand, during my rebuild last winter I thoroughly wire brushed and sanded my stock muffler, then painted it with silver, VHT paint.

Because the rebuilding process took some time, the muffler had a month to sit and cure on it's own. I think that helped. Once I installed it, it must have cured some more while being used because it still looks good overall.

Over the last driving season for this NOT DAILY driver (in NJ that's Spring through Fall), I've touched up a couple spots with a hit of spray paint after a quick wire brushing, but it still looks pretty good.

Any muffler paint is going to hold up better on cars that are not daily drivers. Clearly, driving in the rain/snow is sure to make exterior muffler paint much more susceptible to peeling and rust.

In my opinion, paint or not, it's up to you.
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1967 Beetle
Northern NJ

[bruce jones]

I like to use VHT Grey Engine Primer. It's pretty close to the original color on these mufflers, readily available, pretty durable, and easy to re-touch.

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Driving in the slow lane since 1969.

[heimlich]

I'd paint it.
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[KTPhil]

This stuff has been hard to find in stock, and many won't ship to California, but at one time I bought this at a Pep Boys and it's worked great over the years. It's pretty close to the flat dark gray they came painted with.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Rust-Oleum-High-Heat-Flat...lsrc=aw.ds

[matthew henricks]

For those of you who used the high heat primers did you overcoat the primer or run it as is? Was not thinking it could be used as a top coat.

Thanks

[rcooled]