since at least one other person was interested in this:

my FZR's black exhaust pipes are rusty and i researched getting them repaired.
yesterday i bought a can of VHT 1500 degree black header paint and spent an
hour sanding two of the header pipes by hand.  sprayed on paint.  thought
about how clean i was able to get the metal with sanding and determined that
i wouldn't be at all suprised if the paint wore/chipped off in a month.

soooo call a couple of places up in minneapolis and discover that powder
coating, while extremely durable, will not handle over ~600 degree
temperatures.  the place i talked to said they were experimenting with
some new powder that is supposed to handle 1100 degrees but that it wouldn't
be available for months at least.  they directed me to another shop that
specializes in header coating.

the other shop said they have 2 coatings available.  one is aluminized that
can do 1200+ degrees and is "comparable" to powder coating for durability.
the other is silicon (i think) based and can do 1800+ degrees (!) but is
thinner and not as durable.  both coatings have a textured finish (not
super smooth) and should be cleaned with hot water and a brush.

price for 4 1-foot header pipes and a 2-foot 4-2-1 collector was ~$100.  i'm
planning to take the parts up friday and get them back (UPS) next week maybe
wednesday.

sounds to me like this kind of coating stuff should be way better than paint
considering how much abuse the pipes get from road crap/rocks.