My Mac Long Tubes HAVE CANCER(rust)....depressed....

[Blakers01GT]

well, last summer I got LT's installed, spent about 800-900$ total with parts, labor etc. I loved the sound, the performance gain. no real rust in the summer. but a few times in the snow here, rain, sleet. I didn't run it too much when it was snowy, only when I HAD too. well sure enough, a few months later I get my car jacked up today and from where the headers connect to the X-pipe, it's just pitting with rust

it's not bad from the middle up to the shortblock, but the end of them, the last 10 inches is just NASTY. I got mac to send me a whole new exhaust system because of rust about 2 years ago, I wonder if they will do the same for my headers. my father said he thinks they will be fine even though they are rusting and said they won't get any worse from the summer. But by looking at them makes me want to cry. if it's ANY other part I wouldn't be so depressed, BUT HEADERS which i have only had for 1 year! that i paid 850ish$ total, the labor and hassle is too much. guys have any ideas?, I am gonna call mac and send them pictures of the headers and see if the are gonna help me out like they did last time. But im not banking on it.

 

[CottonBurnerz]

sorry to hear man.. did you get the ceramic coated ones?

 

[SonicBlue2v03GT]

Thats a bummer Blakers.

Is your car a daily driver? you must be cruising around on the salted a** roads. Not much advice to offer other than contacting MAC.

 

[JonJon]

Is it possible to just buy spray can stuff (some kind of high temp rust preventative) and spray it on non stainless steel stuff?
Too late now in your situation, but for future reference...

 

[Blakers01GT]

sorry to hear man.. did you get the ceramic coated ones?

I don't know, I mean, i made the mistake of not getting them JEt hot coated or coating them myself, BUT comon ,it's barely been a year and they lool like crap. I personally don't care if they chip, crack etc. BUT i didn't think it would be this bad, this fast. and yes it's my daily driver, it's probaby due to salt more then anything

 

[ASilver2001GT]

my prochamber is a nice burnt orange...the thing is going in the garbage this weekend for a Dr. Gas X

 

[Blakers01GT]

my prochamber is a nice burnt orange...the thing is going in the garbage this weekend for a Dr. Gas X

see, I hear ya, if it was my x-pipe, ok, i could do what you did, swap it out, whatever. but these our long tubes. I don't feel comfortable taking them out. am not gonna pay for a new set of headers and then pay another 300-500$ labor to get new ones put on it just sucks. NOW i might be jumping the gun, im gonna try to scrape the hell out of them tomorrow and spray them with something for the time being, see how much metal is actually left.

 

[COramprat]

Probably just a light coating of rust and no problems in just the short time you have had them on. I would bet they would last a good 8-10 years with nothing further done to them. But you would be right to clean them up and then coat them with a ceramic high temp spray. I did that with the Mac H I put on last year and it has held up pretty good. An old trick is to coat them with tranny fluid. It will smell all to hell for awhile but once they heat up they will take on a black sheen. Not sure how long it will last but it looks good. I'm not sure why people get so uptight about the way the exhaust looks unless you have a show car. The extremes that it goes through is not very conductive for good looks.

 

[CottonBurnerz]

a picture would be very helpful.. by the sound of it, it's THAT bad eh?

 

[Blakers01GT]

Probably just a light coating of rust and no problems in just the short time you have had them on. I would bet they would last a good 8-10 years with nothing further done to them. But you would be right to clean them up and then coat them with a ceramic high temp spray. I did that with the Mac H I put on last year and it has held up pretty good. An old trick is to coat them with tranny fluid. It will smell all to hell for awhile but once they heat up they will take on a black sheen. Not sure how long it will last but it looks good. I'm not sure why people get so uptight about the way the exhaust looks unless you have a show car. The extremes that it goes through is not very conductive for good looks.

well im gonna see what i can do to clean them up.

a picture would be very helpful.. by the sound of it, it's THAT bad eh?

screw it, i'll be back in 15 and post pictures, i aint got crap to do. but yes its bad, gross.

 

[Chico01]

after a year it should only be surface rust on it, and that's pretty common for non coated headers. the metal is pretty thick and should take a few years before the rust goes right through. never heard about the tranny oil trick it worth a shot but it sure gonna stink your car up for a bit

 

[COramprat]

never heard about the tranny oil trick it worth a shot but it sure gonna stink your car up for a bit

I saw this done on a friends car in the early 80's. He had new headers on his 70 GSX and coated them with fluid before they installed them. Looked nice after they heated up a few times but yea...a nice burnt oil smell for a while. Some of the 'older' car guys may be able to pipe in.

 

[Blakers01GT]

ok boys, here are some pictures of how they are rusting down towards the end of them.....

http://drterb.sytes.net/linpha/img_...=Mustang&filename=IMG_0194.JPG&page=1&alb=sec that is a picture from the hood, not bad, don't mind that, but it gets worse...

http://drterb.sytes.net/linpha/img_...st_name=&sec_name=&page=1&exif=&&photo_query=

http://drterb.sytes.net/linpha/img_...st_name=&sec_name=&page=1&exif=&&photo_query=

http://drterb.sytes.net/linpha/img_...st_name=&sec_name=&page=1&exif=&&photo_query=

http://drterb.sytes.net/linpha/img_...st_name=&sec_name=&page=1&exif=&&photo_query=

there ya go, what do you guys thing, it's very thick, do i still have hope to put them through radiation?

 

[01'TRUE BLUE GT]

Those things need chemo AND radiation. That's only from one year??????

No wonder everyone rips on Mac's quality all the time.

If you don't have stainless then Jet-Hot is the only way to go.

Send those pics to Mac and see what they say.

 

[Beau]

holy **** thats rusty!

 

[Blakers01GT]

Those things need chemo AND radiation. That's only from one year??????

No wonder everyone rips on Mac's quality all the time.

If you don't have stainless then Jet-Hot is the only way to go.

Send those pics to Mac and see what they say.

Yeah im gonna do that tomorrow. last time they sent me a whole new cat back system, no charge, no questions asked, I was pleased. and they were not as bad as this. So i hope it works out, in the meantime i am gonna try to scrape that off as best as i can and coat it the best i can.

 

[White360RFnSwee]

Just sand it down, and paint it silver...

after you paint it, apply a coat of that spray on high temp stuff.. it wont look NEARLY that bad, but it will eventually turn brownish

 

[Blakers01GT]

Just sand it down, and paint it silver...

after you paint it, apply a coat of that spray on high temp stuff.. it wont look NEARLY that bad, but it will eventually turn brownish

so you think I can save them? i know those things are very thick, but after only a year of driving, it's depressing, im gonna steel wool, sand etc, wish me luck.

 

[Blakers01GT]

I just emailed them with the pics i posted on here. pretty much saying i have only put 7k miles on them, avoided the snow and was wondering what they could do for me. also pointed out I have their MAC CAI, white face guages and flow path mufflers. hope they can cut me some slack, IF NOT, i am gonna pray they make it through some serious header radiation!

 

[pony_vert02]

If they replace your headers, ship 'em out to have someone CERAMIC coat or JetHot coat them.... you'll be much happier..