Engine Paints

VHT

The American aerosol range from the Dupli-Color stable: two products that are easy to confuse, a cure you can't skip, and how to tell a real VHT can on a UK shelf.

Updated 2026-09-18

On this page
  1. Who they are
  2. Two products, easy to confuse
  3. The colours, and the UK look-alikes
  4. Buying it in the UK
  5. Sources
  • VHT is a brand, part of Dupli-Color and owned by Sherwin-Williams. In the UK trade "VHT" is also loose shorthand for any very high temperature paint.
  • Engine Enamel is rated to 288°C and is for blocks and covers. FlameProof is rated to 1,093°C and is for manifolds and exhausts.
  • Both need a heat cure before they perform as rated.
  • A real VHT can is 312 g, the American 11 oz fill. A 400 ml can is somebody else's paint.
  • None of the colours is British.

Who they are

VHT stands for Very High Temperature. The brand's site describes it as a division of Dupli-Color, which belongs to Sherwin-Williams, and it arranges its range by heat, from about 120°C up to 1,093°C.

Dupli-Color is the older name. Sigmund Edelstone, an army lieutenant colonel, started it in the late 1930s to sell touch-up paint that matched the factory finish. The first bottles were filled from bulk paint bought from car makers' suppliers, Sherwin-Williams among them. The touch-up business and the high temperature business still share a roof, which is why VHT aerosols handle like car refinish products and not like industrial coatings.

Neither the VHT site nor Dupli-Color's says where the cans are filled.

Two products, easy to confuse

Engine Enamel is rated to 288°C intermittent. VHT describes it as a blend of urethane and ceramic resins. It is tack free in 30 minutes, handleable in an hour and dry in 24, but it doesn't reach its rated properties until cured. Bake it at 93°C for 20 minutes or let the engine do it over the first few runs. VHT's full system is its SP148 primer, the colour, and SP145 gloss clear on top. The listed uses are blocks, heads, water pumps, starters, brackets, valve covers, inlet manifolds, gearboxes and diff covers. Whether the clear is worth having is covered under clear coats.

FlameProof is the exhaust product, rated from 704°C to 1,093°C intermittent. It comes in flat finishes only and goes over SP100 FlameProof primer. Its cure is a schedule. On the car: idle for ten minutes and cool for twenty, idle for twenty and cool for twenty, then drive normally for thirty. In an oven: 121°C for thirty minutes and cool, 204°C for thirty and cool, then a final thirty at about 340°C. VHT also says it doesn't bond well to stainless, and that aluminised or galvanised pipe must be blasted first.

The usual mistake is spraying the 288°C enamel on a manifold because the can says "high temperature". A manifold needs FlameProof.

The colours, and the UK look-alikes

VHT lists 24 engine enamel colours. The named ones are American: Chevy Orange Red, Chrysler Hemi Orange, Old Ford Blue, Ford Light Blue, GM Satin Black, Grabber Green, and cast iron and cast aluminium finishes, plus plain colours in gloss, satin and flat. There is no British engine shade among them. UK sellers carry a shorter list, and Car Builder Solutions stocks twelve.

British suppliers fill that gap themselves, and the name gets muddled in the process. Rimmer Bros sells a "Very High Temperature Engine/Exhaust Paint" in MG Engine Maroon as a 400 ml aerosol and a 500 ml tin. The listing names no maker, and 400 ml is not a size VHT sells. On a British shelf, "VHT" sometimes means the brand and sometimes just means the type of paint.

Rimmer's own listing says colour match testing should be done before use, because your car may not be the shade the name suggests. That caution applies to every marque-named tin from every seller. The name printed on the can is a claim by whoever filled it. How we judge a match explains what we do instead, and the measured records are in the colour reference.

Buying it in the UK

VHT's retailer finder covers the United States and Canada only. Genuine cans reach Britain through restoration and kit car suppliers. Frost lists FlameProof in the 312 g can. Car Builder Solutions lists Engine Enamel in the same size and quotes VHT's own rating and bake schedule.

Size is the quick check. A 312 g can is the American 11 oz fill. A 400 ml can was filled in Europe, whatever the shelf label says.

Aerosols travel as hazardous goods. Rimmer, for example, sends paint aerosols by UPS to mainland Britain only and won't export them, so expect similar limits from any seller.

Sources