Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 07:12:57 EDT
Reply-To: THX0001@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: George Goff <THX0001@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: exhaust / Rust Prevention
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM wrote:
> Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2003 01:19:37 +0000
> From: Mary Barbara <marybiba@HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject: exhaust
>
> Has anyone used a ceramic coated or powder coated exhaust system? . . .
I've just rusted out
> mine (lasted 4 years) and am looking for options.
> Mary
Mary, dear lady, try peanut oil. When you stop laughing, you can read the
whys and wherefores of my odd recommendation.
In my burg, there is only one other brilliant soul who is astute enough to
drive a Vanagon. We'll call him The Tube Guru because that is his professional
handle. In all things he is the most fastidious person I have ever met and he
shames me by running a pristine '84 daily on our salt soaked highways of
western PA. Preventative maintenance is an obsession for him and his van shows
the result of his efforts. As a kid, he rust-proofed cars, so he is ever
diligent with all aspects of keeping a car rust-free, no mean feat where we live.
Tube recently had an exhaust system installed (before it broke anywhere, of
course) and while coveting the stainless steel tailpipe I had fabricated, he
expressed his dismay with how quickly the exhaust system starts to rust. I
related my experience with various painted exhaust systems on bikes and explained
the best thing I had found was to coat them with hydraulic oil. That trick
came from a sprint car owner I knew and probably the only reason he used
hydraulic oil was because he had a bucket of it sitting around. The exhaust pipes
have to be oiled as they cool, not when they are hot and it has to be applied
several times.
This discussion eventually led to a thought I had about using peanut oil on
exhaust headers. I use peanut oil in a cast iron Dutch oven for deep frying
and long ago I had noticed the impervious coating which eventually formed on all
surfaces of the pot that did not see the cooking flame directly. Since I am
too undisciplined to endure such a regimen, the idea always resided in the
future, but, Tube glommed on to it. I gave him a gallon of spent peanut oil
which he has experimentally applied to his tailpipe and J-pipe. The preliminary
results are promising enough for him to start coating the rest of the system.
A dark charcoal gray coating has formed on the treated parts and as wet as it
has been, there is still no rusting. We'll really see what comes of this all
when spring arrives.
One precaution: Tube applies the oil with a brush and, knowing him, I'm
certain he is quite neat about it. The oil could wreak havoc with the OXS if it
finds it way into a leaky exhaust joint.
George