Paint for cooling rails

General Discussion
#1

I looked in the book and i caint seem to see any thing about the kind of paint too use for the cooling rack, will regular oil base paint work for the sides ,or do i need exoust paint up by the heat exchanger, i bought some xo rust black gloss too bump and paint up a little,need some idea of whare the high temp is needed,Thanks,

#2

You can use oil base paint on the entire unit. No high temp paint is needed at all

#3

HI Joseph thats good news,the high temps must be on the internal probes mostly, Thanks

#4

Kevin, I took it out for a spin the other day and it ran great however I am going to have to build up my char bed a little tighter. Going to be putting some miles on it this holiday weekend if all goes right. Going to use some smaller wood.

As for the regular paint, Wayne states a few times (not sure where) that if your temps are hot enough to burn off normal paint, anywhere on the unit that means you are having a heater mode effect in that particular area. In otherwords, it should never get hot enough to blister the paint. However, I would def. recommend black paint.

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#5

Good luck with your learning curve, with driveing and watching all the gauges,a warning would be nice on hopper temp sounds like a must have soon as posible for me for sure.I aint as young and atentive as you though, Enjoy your ride you earned it,Thanks
SWEM.

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#6

Cooling rack size, my cooling rack is 70 feet counting the vertical pipe,is this enough cooling,my pipes are over 2" for my 1985 2500 truck 305 motor. THANKS

P1010017.JPG1280Ɨ960 276 KB

I got some white primer on it till it gets heat tested before painting.Working on truck, mig a few holes in tin before painting,its been in michigan 10 years too long for my idiot bondo stick.solid texas truck otherwise.IF MY PICS ARE TOO BIG LET ME KNOW, I will try and down size, or just delete after judgeig the cooling area,THANKS

#7

Looks good Kevin, the pics are just the right size. Remember, all the paint you put on the rails will act as insulation. Iā€™m going to sand mine back to the galvanize. This last week I was limited by not enough cooling in the rails. (Black paint + sunshine) The rear PVC fittings would go over 200F, so I would back off, and add a little gasoline.

#8

Thanks carl on the paint thickness, I may have too burn some off before painting,couldent stand the rusty pipe,and the shiny galvinized,maybe silver paint would work ok too transfer the heat out.and add pipe too back of the box, WHAT footage of pipe on your dakota,THANKS

#9

I sure would like to find some aluminum pipe. I have 4 across the front, 3 down the side, stepping down to 2 to the back.

#10

If i run acrost any 2 or 2 1/4 aluinum ,i will let you know,havent seen any yet,but soon i can goo geen fuel driveing, I dont know if they can be cleaned out how or for long,any weight we can save will help the milege and power i am sure i wont be worrying on wood milege here and there hauling wood or scrap metal with the old 2500 truck if i got 50 mpg dino at mostly 50mph that wood beat 9 or 10 too gallon by a bank load. I may have too add pipe on the back end.THANKS BBB

#11

Looks good Kevin. Do you have a way to clean the rails?

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#12

Not yet still gathering varios size fitings, i like the srew in type fitings other than the hay filter check port.THANKS on the looks good,I think its close too welded,but not without a lot of scribeling, by the time i found the loose switch wireing i had the rack finely welded.welded good than cool, then good and so on,BBBBBBBBB.

#13

I found some rustolium barbique paint at hardware for $10.29 one quart can,good for 1000 f degrees, might work in hotter areas when needed .

#14

you really dont need high temp paint

#15

Thanks joseph, i heard that, i am just a little hard of hearing,and liked the price, same as for regular paint,for some of the in between hotter areas,since mine is a little out of spec.or rust proffing,and its satin in coulor so it would be a good match for the bottom of my truck,before melt down,or not so high gloss, for the half assed body job its getting for now, hopefully its not as bad as XO RUST, although i did add the wrong thinner.it only works with tini bit of zyoline,THANKS

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#16

HI joseph,H I wonder what the temp rating of regular paint is,it must be actualy quite high temp rated,as the cooling rails run 500 too 600 f in the front of the cooling rack in small area, how is your wood truck working,you must be enjoying the capeabilitys of travel, You probbly need a chunker too keep your wood dry easyer.Thats my next after these projects are done,before winter.SWEM