Thread: Sanderson limefire headers rusting

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I bought the pair on my car over 20 years ago and I swear that at that time they came with a "lifetime warranty". I find that Sanderson has now reduced that to only five years. It doesn't matter - I lost the original receipt years ago, anyway.

The reason this matters to me now is that they started rusting through the ceramic coating in small spots about ten years ago. I had stopped using the car and just let it go, but now I'm getting the car back on the road and would like to refurbish the headers. I don't think the condition has worsened in storage, but it didn't heal, either.

Before I contact Sanderson about re-coating these, is there anything I can do, or any product I can use to restore them to the unattractive dull shine they originally came with? Yes, that's a bad attitude, but even the dull shine is an improvement to the rusting I now have.

I've tried various "chrome polishes", metal polishes, and rust removers, including EvapoRust, to no avail.

These headers have been fine otherwise, even if I was disappointed with the original finish (my fault, not theirs). They fit tight and even, don't leak, and solved some clearance and overheating problems I had, so I'd like to keep them.

i buy SS headers now. every pair of coated headers i ever had rusted.

I searched the forums prior to posting to see if I could find an answer. What I found was that many people reported being very happy with ceramic coated headers, Sanderson in particular, some saying theirs are still like new 15+ years later.

The reason I didn't go with chrome was that I remember from my motorcycle days that they turned blue almost immediately, and I thought that looked worse than the ceramic semi-shine.

This car as always been stored indoors and under cover, and only driven in the rain three times (by accident) in the 25 years since my wife and I built it, so the rusting surprised me.

stainless steel last forever. even if blued it beats rust .

That's true, but it doesn't answer my question.

Originally Posted by Dorsey

That's true, but it doesn't answer my question.

Have had many and I mean many set's of Sanderson Lime fire's and never had a problem. You solution would be to pull em off send them out and have reecoated. Many shops out there to do so. Like HPC etc. These have been on car for 10+ years and still look new

Thanks, that's pretty much where I was heading. Sanderson suggests using fine steel wool and/or grey Scotch-Brite to remove stains, but that seemed severe to me. However, this is their product. The worst that will happen is that I'll have to send them off for re-coating; the best is that they'll actually clean up.

Originally Posted by Dorsey

Thanks, that's pretty much where I was heading. Sanderson suggests using fine steel wool and/or grey Scotch-Brite to remove stains, but that seemed severe to me. However, this is their product. The worst that will happen is that I'll have to send them off for re-coating; the best is that they'll actually clean up.

Yep Dorsey, had 1 set I thought was starting to rust, turns out that a mild mist of tree sap was on them and when they got hot the first time the sap burned. Took sum 0000 stainless steel wool and chrome polish to it, and Viola all gone and looked great until I sold the car a year and many miles later.

Sanderson is a pretty good company, worked quite a bit with me on the 460/48 ford f1 build. I too would try what they suggest. They like to keep us happy !

Using 0000 steel wool and Simichrome, I was able to clean one side of the headers as an example. Here's the before (passenger) side: (I hope the images resize to something smaller)

before cleaning.jpg

Here's the after (driver) side:

after cleaning.jpg

I think that it's worth removing the headers, or at one bolt at a time, so I can detail this a little more, not just the headers, but the engine, too. There are still black spots where the rust was, but there is a marked improvement. Thanks to DA43GUY for the advice.

Looks great!

Glad I could help Dorsey