Make exhaust stack looking nice again

[frtrkap]

Hi,

My exhaust is a bit brown/black and I was wondering if there was a method to bring it back to what it was when new? Not polished, but nicer looking. I'm talking about the letter "F".

Thanks!

 

[bluerooster]

Yes, replace it. While you could probably polish it. If your time is worth anything at all, it would probably be less expensive to replace it.

 

[Dana]

I used silver high heat paint (made for barbecues) in a rattle can to paint the exhaust a few planes back and it came out looking great. I either sandblasted or wire brushed them first, don't recall which. No idea how long it would last, but it still looked good a couple of years later when I sold the plane.

Before:


After:


Of course this was an experimental, dunno what the rules are for certified, I would think it'd be under preventative maintenance touch up painting if nothing had to be removed. I had the exhaust off to patch a crack anyway, so it would be silly not to clean up the whole thing.

 

[Kenny Phillips]

Ceramic coatings certainly work well; I don't know how they fit with the regs. I'd just call it 'painting'.

 

[frtrkap]

Ceramic coatings certainly work well; I don't know how they fit with the regs. I'd just call it 'painting'.

I think the commercially available ceramic coatings (e.g. VHT) which are sold in rattle cans are probably considered "paint". It's high temperature resistant to 1300F-2000F and appears to look great. I'll have a chat with my mechanic. Thanks

 

[Dan Thomas]

That black stuff is chromium carbide and is very hard to remove and keep off. It's from the chromium in the stainless reacting with oxygen and CO2 or whatever. Good luck.