Got this HKS Sport Exhaust.
Previous owner painted it black.
Now, well...she's not exactly cosmetically sound!







Time to get to work!

Things you'll need:

Aircraft Paint Stripper (also available in rattle can version)


High Temp Primer


High Temp Paint (I chose flat black!)


600 grit Sandpaper or lower for primer prep also see yoshimitsuspeed's input below


2000 grit sandpaper for prep polish


Aluminum Polish


3M low adhesive painter's tape


Random rag


Decide what you want to do. Remove a desired part of paint, and or in this case...
my goal is to remove old paint, and add a fresh new one!

Here we go!

Step 1
Spray Aircraft Paint Stripper on the spot or in this case the entire muffler.
Wait 10-15m and you should see the old paint bubbling up, and being lifted off the surface.
Wipe off with rag, and then.....

Step 2
Wet sand surface to be painted with 600 or lower grit sand paper, until old paint has been stripped completely!
Wash and let dry.

Step 3
Wet Sand the area you want to prep for polish with the 2000 grit sandpaper. In this case, I want to polish the Tip, and the Jasma Plate.


Step 4
Cover up area(s) you don't want to paint with the painter's tape.
In my case, I covered the back pipe, Jasma plate, and the muffler tip so I can polish it later!

Step 5
Spray area with High Temp Primer.
Let it cure for a day, if no time, 45m-1hr is okay.

Step 6
Spray Primered area with High Temp Paint.
Let cure for 24hrs. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Step 7
Polish the Stainless Steel area with Mothers Aluminum or similar polisher.

And....you're done!










Pat yourself in the back and have an Ice Cold Draft beer, or coffee/tea for you hipsters LoL!



Special thx to Paul (Nameless) for being awesome!

For the painted portion a bead blasted surface will bond to paint much better. If you are stuck with using sand paper 2000 is too fine. To rough up paint or bondo 320 is a good grit to get good paint adhesion. For metal you can even go 220 or 180 since the scratches won't go very deep in the metal.
Anything finer than 400 and you are actually making too much of a polished surface that the paint won't stick to as well.

yoshimitsuspeed wrote:For the painted portion a bead blasted surface will bond to paint much better. If you are stuck with using sand paper 2000 is too fine. To rough up paint or bondo 320 is a good grit to get good paint adhesion. For metal you can even go 220 or 180 since the scratches won't go very deep in the metal.
Anything finer than 400 and you are actually making too much of a polished surface that the paint won't stick to as well.

Excellent point!
I forgot to mention that I used a 600 grit sandpaper for the sanding, may not have been enough but I worked it with what I had, and 2000 grit for the prep polish of the tip and the Jasma plate. Thank you!

nice peter looks like new

ga_goosh wrote:nice peter looks like new

Thx mucho Sean!

Awesome write up man!!
keep up the good work peter!

UUhm.. regarding primer prep/wetsanding. I've work in the auto refinishing industry and I can say (from experience as well) 400 grit might be too rough on primers even if using it as a wetsanding application. I usually wetsand with 600/800 grit (depending on the type of top coat). Then again, I'm talking about highend primers, topcoats and clearcoats we use in the refinishing world.

Just chiming my 2 cents. 400 grit might be too rough and may leave fine hairline scratches on the primer which may show on the topcoat.

Anyways.. I digress.. this is a rattlecan project... totally different from HVLP.

That came out nice.