Michigan Tacomas

Do you guys think a few coats of a rust inhibitor wax on a stainless steel exhaust will keep it from rusting? Or should I prime it and paint it with high temp paint? I literally would put a coat on every wash, At least once a month but probably twice a month.

 

if you have a true stainless exhaust like 304/316 stainless, fluid film or woolwax is the best thing to keep it from rusting. Painting it will not. More often than not, stainless exhaust cracks before it rusts. If you have 409 stainless, it will rust much less than the others. So, it depends on what your exhaust was built with. That all being said, fluid film and woolwax will help greatly at stopping rust from starting.

 

Thank you, I’m soaking up all of the Michigan knowledge I can get and I appreciate it! I painted the welds that aren’t near any polished pieces just as an added layer of protection, but won’t bother with the rest until I can’t stand it.

 

Primed and painted the hangers actually and the tip weld.

 

Keep in mind fluid film and woolwax smell funky when they get heated up on your exhaust. Nothing to worry about but you will wonder wtf the first time you smell it

 

Lol.

You got that right!

FF smells like a cat litter box 3 days past being scooped out!

I use Fluid Film pretty regular.

I go out of my way to avoid spraying the exhaust system.

I think the Fluid Film stuff works great, but I can't say I'd be in love with a "hot cat shit" aroma.

Find out if your exhaust is truly stainless by trying to attach a magnet to it. Stainless will have small amount of attraction to the magnet. I'm betting the exhaust is "aluminized" steel. Just a fancy name for a coating that reduces corrosion. I bet a magnet sticks pretty good.

With that said, I can't see Fluid Film sticking very long to the exhaust. The system just gets too hot.

The best recipe for a long exhaust system life is longer trips.

I'm talking 50 miles or more to completely dry out the exhaust system between shut downs.

Remember your high school chemistry.

The main byproduct of any combustion process is water.

Heat things up completely and the moisture will cook off.

Good conversation.

 

The magnet sticks to the pipes but not the resonator, tip or the muffler. It’s getting nice and shiny… Hopefully the Rejex helps. I still have some woolwax left, but I think I’ll hold off until it starts to look bad. I know I don’t need this exhaust system but I feel like the price was too good to pass up in the twilight zone we currently live in.$500 for a Magnaflow cat back. As somebody else on TW said, “it’s about smiles per gallon.”

 

Looks really good. Well done.

 

Rejex is good stuff and I think it was developed to protect paint and polished aluminum surfaces aft of aircraft engine exhaust stacks from exhaust soot sticking and staining the surfaces. You should let it cure for 8-12 hrs before raising the temp over 85°, though. It won't bond to the surface well or at all if it's applied to a hot surface or heated shortly after application.

 

Ive noticed a lot of your posts in all sorts of threads… and you always seem to be very well informed on metallurgy and chemistry. I’m curious if you were a machinist or something along those lines in the past? I believe you told me when I met you that you were retired now but I could have that wrong too.

 

Close.

Retired water tech. Dealt a lot with boiler waters and cooling tower water.

No real certifications, just 25 years dealing with basic water treatment chemistry.

 

In addition, I've ran my hobby fabrication business this whole time. (Wife says it's full time).

I build and repair utility trailers.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/6-x-10-utility-trailer-build.657781/

 

Interesting

 

do you also build drift boats?

 

Yes. Been planning to.

Gonna build a couple in the near future.

 

Woolwax has much less of an odor (from what I'm told). I use it every year and haven't noticed any smell from the exhaust. Although I do try to avoid spraying it since it's just going to burn off anyway.

 

I did the same. 3 coats of Rejex on the aftermarket exhaust and 2 coats kbs high temp primer, 2 coats paint and heat cured the hanger welds hangers + tip weld, and where it mounts to the cat. Tried to leave wax residue on the welds intentionally. Anti-seize on the bolts. After time tells, I might take a rag and “clear” woolwax a thin layer wipe down. Noticed it does saturate the high temp paint on the cat. No funny smells though… yet.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/drift-boat-build.511287/

 

This truck is too clean underneath

 

Can’t find the graphic for elbow grease.