Great video - what you can also do is make a make-shift oven, large cardboard box lined with tin foil, small hole for the heat gun at the bottom, close the lid and make sure you have a decent size vent hole. many people use this technique for splitting headlight cases and it works!
I literally just did this to cure High Temp 2000°F paint on an AR-9's receiver & handguard set. Heavy Duty cardboard box reinforced (on the exterior) with double wide gorilla tape, and double lined the interior with heavy duty commercial kitchen foil. Cut a hole for the Wagner digital heat gun in the bottom panel of the box so the heat gun could stand in it's "cool down" position on the little stand feet built into it's design (had the box hanging slightly off the table so the heat gun could be on a stool slightly lower and the nozzle would be at the right height to to be pointing upwards and go inside the hole in the bottom of the box), lined the hole with extra foil, and wedged the nozzle securely into the hole. Inside the box I had a steel pipe running horizontally through to hang the parts from. My heat gun came with nozzle attachments for different heat gun applications. One of them is a sort of 2"×2" 90° angle elbow curved metal plate that sort of redirects the heat away from the direction the heat gun is pointed towards. I attached that to the gun after it was in place so that the heat isn't directed right at the parts but more across the bottom of the curing chamber towards the opposing wall near the corner to try and get maximum ricochet and to create a sort of hot air vortex. This ensures that all sides of my hanging part have hot air moving across them but none have hotspots of super hot air directed right at them. To monitor the progress I used a digital meat probe that hangs at part height and the wire runs out through the top seam in the box to the digital read out sitting on the table. To make sure my cardboard exterior isn't getting too hot i have a infrared thermometer gun that shoots infrared light and instantly reads the temp of any surface it's pointed at (super cheap at any restaurant supply or big box hardware store). It can be used to take a snap shot temp but quickly pulling and releasing the trigger or as a realtime fluctuating temp reader by holding the trigger down. The closer the gun is to the surface it's reading will be for that smaller pin point area but if you take the reading from a farther distance the infrared beam spreads out and takes a surface temp average of a larger surface area. Anyway.... Just my own experience with the DIY cardboard & foil curing chamber. Worked great and didn't have any issues really.
Another good way to reach your 200* temp is to use a radiator type heater and just sit the manifold right on top of the fins of the radiator heater. Works really good on projects I've done.
I just painted my header and b pipe yesterday and just used the cardboard box’s they were shipped in as my oven. Just left the box open a bit to let out any off gassing. Great video with great information. Thank you.
If this were an Exhaust Manifold, the high temp paint instructions for those usually states to just cure the paint after its reinstalled on the engine. So by using a heat gun to blow the hot air into the inside of the manifold, it would basically be doing the same thing.
Interesting one. But here's a thought and no one has pointed out? IF you use your heat gun, either inside or outside, does it not have a heat sensor built in the gun to shut off if it gets too hot? I am doing my bike pipes shortly and have decided to use the cardboard lined aluminum theory one. But also< I am going to do two interior ones with the ends closed off with stuffed foil inside. Then will see... all good comments by the way.
The more I watch these videos - the more I want to build an 2002 WRX Subaru project with my sons. I am very tempted to. I just have to find one that is a semi rough shape, but not too bad, so I can have a reasonable project. A ground up project might be a little too steep for me right now, but a motor build and some minor body work would be ideal.
Totally! And there should be lots of options out there - the 2002/2003 Bugeyes are still pretty cheap, especially if it needs a new head gasket, which is pretty common! And it’s a good investment, get one of those running well and the car will only increase in valve each year. I think these models have definitely bottomed out as far as market value - 10 years from now people will see these as collectors vehicles. Especially, since the bugeye is a really unique design within Subaru model family. I say go for it!
Not 2 b a hater, but it's a thermometer, not a thermostat. Thermostats are regulators, not measurement devices. And yeah that oven thermometer totally isn't giving you an accurate reading of the metal. You need to consider losses due to surrounding air temp through the material itself. Good idea though. Blowing through the manifold itself is much better way. I would block off all ports but maybe a small one (like a temp sender or water port, to use a regulated exhaust ) and theb thre manifold will maintain an even temp throughout
I’m just doing art projects but want to quick dry my primer mainly on plastic and also on paints. If my dry time is 24hrs normally do you think I can sand and work it much sooner?
Your concept is ok but your application is way off. lf you created an aluminum foil bag that covered the part to trap the hot air then the part would uniformly heat up and cure the paint. In this situation you could close off most of the holes and blow the heat inside.
