New to me: Stock Exhaust

[WMarshy]

Hey guys, check it out. Found this baby for $150 on craigslist, put it on and runs great. Man these things are heavy though!





Someone got ham handed and decided it would be easier to dent the muffler in to remove the rear axle than use the proper cable.











I also got my seat recovered by a local who's been doing that stuff for years. I had her add an inch of foam under the passangers seat. Looks good to me and for $75 ya cant beat that with a stick.

[crazy steve]

For $150, that was a pretty good deal, even with the rust/dent. Looks very solid and some serious elbow grease with a wire brush/chrome polish should go a long way...

I also notice this has the long/short exhaust flanges.

Nice score!

'78E original owner

[WMarshy]

Yeah Steve, I ran into that problem. I cant imagine why they would make the flanges like that. With that amount of rust Im not sure if there is any chrome left under there, its just surface though, they are really solid still. This winter Im going to try and get that rust stripped and have just the down tubes coated with 'chrome' ceramic (looks like dull chrome). That way I dont have to worry about rust coming back in that area. The double wall on these pipes keeps them hot for a long time, they probably had that in mind when they designed them...

[crazy steve]

Yeah, with the rust you have, there's no doubt there's no chrome left in some places. But would you be able to ceramic coat only the downtubes? The outside pipes are one piece all the way to the mufflers, and if you masked off some parts, I'd wonder how the remaining chrome would do under the cure temps for the ceramic.

I've wire-wheeled rust off and 'blended' silver paint over the bad spots before with decent results; it'll never look new again, but this method has the benefit of being cheap...

'78E original owner

[WMarshy]

Thanks for the tips Steve, anyone know for certain what temperature chrome can withstand? I cant imagine the cure temp for the ceramic coating being more than 400 deg F. With that said, Im not really sure what temperature chrome is stable at, I will have to take that into consideration. I did take a brass wire brush to the rust last night and I think they look a lot better with just the rust removed. The only problem is it will just keep coming back, which mean I will have to keep brushing them. I even considered doing some header wrap on just the down tubes. That way I wouldnt have to look at the rust. If I went that way I would paint them so they dont rust away under the wrap...

[TADracer]

Here is what I know about Ceramic coatings and in particular, CermaKrome, which is what most of header coating the shops use.

To apply the finish so that it will last (especially on rusty parts) it is a multi-step process and you must:
1. Blast the parts with 80-100 grit Aluminum Oxide to bare metal.
2. Clean all traces of oil and contaminants away with Acetone or MEK.
3. Apply the finish in a thin, even coat to a thickness of .001" - .015" using a detail spray gun.
4. Force dry the finish at a temp of 150F before handling the part.
5. Repair any blemished spots in the finish immediately.
6. Within 3 or so hours, bake the part at a minimum for 1 hour after the part reaches a temperature of 500F. The part will cure to a very hard, chalky white color.
7. Polish the part in a vibratory polisher with Microbrite media for 20-30 minutes to get a very high shine.

Since only a professional shop will have a large vibratory polisher, you can still get a shine that approaches that by doing a low pressure, 25-30 psf blast with #10 or #12 glass bead to peen the finish and then polish using white polishing compound.

If you donot have a way to blast and bake the part you cannot apply this finish. The picture below is one I did using the glass bead/compound method. it is not an easy finish to apply and is alot more than just painting the part but the end result is a finish that should last for years. This header was almost totally coated with surface rust through the chrome and had some pits in a few places so there are a few bumps in the finish. Still, it is leaps and bounds over what it was and the very expensive part was saved.

[WMarshy]

Thanks for the insight Mike. I know a guy that does powder and ceramic coating. He already quoted me on a 4-1 like you have. I don't know the brand of coating he uses but the process is the same. One thing I was not aware of is how to get that nice finish like you have. Also, I'm. Not sure if his price included the finish work to make it look so damn nice, I would have to make sure he would do the finishing. Anyone know if the chrome is capable of that kind of temperature?

[cywelchjr]

Thanks for the insight Mike. I know a guy that does powder and ceramic coating. He already quoted me on a 4-1 like you have. I don't know the brand of coating he uses but the process is the same. One thing I was not aware of is how to get that nice finish like you have. Also, I'm. Not sure if his price included the finish work to make it look so damn nice, I would have to make sure he would do the finishing. Anyone know if the chrome is capable of that kind of temperature?

Since chrome blues at around 900 deg I would think that 500 wouldn't bother it any. I know that 500 deg high temp paint won't stay on these headers, so they have got to significantly exceed that under normal operation. I know at least 1500 deg paint is recommended for painting them, and I would probably use 2500 deg paint when/if I do mine (unless I can find a place to have them done up in the nice ceramic.)

[foreda]

Originals

Definitely a nice find. My 79 Standard has the original pipes and I love the sound and performance these old pipes give. You may experience some vibrations in the foot pegs at certain rpms but it is tolerable.

[WMarshy]

Definitely a nice find. My 79 Standard has the original pipes and I love the sound and performance these old pipes give. You may experience some vibrations in the foot pegs at certain rpms but it is tolerable.

Yeah, I noticed a vidration, more on decel than acceleration, and I wasnt use to it. The Jardine I had didnt make any. I was suprized the stock pipes vibrated like that, I expected there to be nearly none. Its mainly around 3000 RPM...

I wire brushed the rust off yesterday and they look nicer. Im going to end up doing it probably every other week. Any idea what chrome polish is good to use on hot surfaces like pipes?

[crazy steve]

...I wire brushed the rust off yesterday and they look nicer. Im going to end up doing it probably every other week. Any idea what chrome polish is good to use on hot surfaces like pipes?

Really, give some silver paint a try. It doesn't even have to be 'high heat' as even the cheap silver paint usually uses powdered aluminum for pigment. The clear binders will burn away, but enough will stay to keep the pigment in the rusty areas. This won't totally stop the rust, but will slow it down...

As far as chrome polish, most any should work. Some are more abrasive than others, but that's only a worry if you have pristine chrome. In fact, after painting/curing the paint, if you use the polish it'll remove the paint from the places the chrome is still good, leaving it in just the 'bad' spots.

'78E original owner

[natemoen]

Its mainly around 3000 RPM...

Who stays at 300 RPM that long anyways!

[motoman]

Dupli-Color high temp silver...........works like a charm and won't discolor or come off!........had done that to my original underside pipes and crossover. Looked the same two years later. Now has NOS exhaust.

[malber]

Wow, those look about as crusty as the ones I just replaced!

I know, NOS and even aftermarket used are getting hard to find. The ones I found had some minor pitting on the inside of a couple of the headers, but they were a sight better than what I got with the bike.

Watch the welds where the crossover connects to the baffles; they are the weak points in the design. Also take care when you bring the bike off the center stand. It impacts on the left baffle. A stock baffle should have bumpers, but it still takes a pretty hard snap from the center stand spring.

[malber]

Here's the system I found and won on ebay a couple of months ago. A lot of the rust was surface rust that cleaned up with some CLR:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250649425052&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT