What's the best way to smooth out, prep and paint these things? Might as well do it while the back end is getting repaired...Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

DIY, sand and refinish with hi-temp paint.

No aggravation method: take it to a powder coating shop, they'll media blast it and finish with a high temp ceramic.

Do you use a sander, elbow grease, etc.? (Media blast vs a tool, etc. was where I was going) - don't want to damage anything. Lots of the engine parts and tins were powder coated or otherwise finished nicely, this was just kind of left.

Get it glass bead blasted and high temp paint or ceramic paint/cerikote.

+1 on ceramic coating, looks good and lasts long.

I second the cerikoat or ceramic coating for a no fuss, always looks great, finish. Get that baby bead blasted and take it into the shop. Also a great time to check for any pinholes that might be developing and address them before coating.

Well, jumping into the deepe nd with blasting, powder or ceramic is one option. All I know is that when we refurbed the -6 almost seven years ago, all I did to my decades old OEM muffler and OEM heat exchangers was powerwash them, a little elbow grease with steel wool, then sprayed with a high temp paint that after heating up mimicked the light grey finish originally on the heat exchangers. Still looks damn good after several thousand miles, other than a couple of spots where some oil drips are baked in.
Sometimes there's a tendency to over-think/over-engineer. More power to those who have the time and inclination. Just didn't seem necessary in my case for my intended uses.

There's also an advantage to living in the dry Colorado air. Anything on the east coast will rust before you put down the stripping wheel.

I had a set of stock heat exchangers ceramic coated. They came out well, and there are supposed to be thermal benefits as well. Most cerakote vendors seem to focus primarily on firearms, so if you go that route it may take you time to find a service provider with an oven big enough to fit exhaust / HE components.

I've often blasted and then heat painted my HEs and mufflers with good
results.
I want to explore a more permanent finish.
Anyone know of a Cericote provider in North Jersey area ? ......or good results
anywhere .....typical cost for HEs and OE muffler ?

Rory - You can buy Cerikote direct. You can order sample colors directly from their website. You just spray it with a regular spray gun. It's expensive but a little goes a long way. You have to wear a proper respirator when painting. I'm pretty sure you can get by without oven curing, just by running it on the car.

Does Cerikote bake at PC temps?

Cerakote now has some high temp finishes around that can handle 1600F that are Air Dry. No need for oven curing.

The "C" series is one of the them.