heat painting inside new mac pipes

[desert1]

Macs

I had bought a set of Macs 5 yrs ago and prepainted the inside of the headers with Hi-temp black paint, they turned blue after 10 miles on the road....after a year or so I found the Macs noisy at hiway speed and long runs so converted to HD pipes after that I found a set of stock pipes on ebay that are now on the bike...this spring those are coming off and the stainless set is going on that came with my parts bike.....looking at the stainless set, the headers are still the color of stainless steel and hadnt changed with heat. The special that they were on has 75000 kms on it and I'm not sure how long the stainless set was on the bike.
Bruce

[mason79]

well i don't know why my pipes are not blue at all, and the engine was poorly tune for the 450 miles go figure.

[Codger]

I have used the high temp paint method for thirty years on various bikes- so far has worked well as pipes at their worst turn a slightly golden hue. For restoring really blue headers to chrome luster there is nothing better than "Bluejob" chrome cleaner- that really works too! Thanks for your time- Great Site.

[Pat Kelly]

I put a non-blue set of Jardines on my E. I purposely have the air/fuel mixture set slightly rich (done with a colortune).
I set it rich to have the bike run cooler in our 110 degree summer temps. This also has the negative effect of a noticeable loss of power over 5000 ft elevation (I live at 81 ft).
The pipes have turned a slight gold color down to the first bend out of the engine (about a foot) and still are not blue after 4 years of continous use.

[mason79]

my plugs look slightly redidsh,and pings under hard aceleration when the ambient temp is 85plus,

sounds like i got a lean condition.

and maybe mac's are notorious and jardines not insofar as singing the blues?

[cajun31]

Kerkers

I painted the inside of my 4 into 1 Kerkers and after about 500 miles they turned a gold and bluish color on the headers. I figured painting them on the inside would do more to prevent corrosion then the bluing problem. I actually favor the tint they are now, however I am somewhat partial to dark pipes on my midnight.

[concours]

Re: heat painting inside new mac pipes

Originally posted by mason79
gents,

okay i'm goin to put oo my new macs, they really don't seem as cheap as yawl make them out to be, whatever...

i was wondering if anyone has actually painted the insides with high temp ceramic paint, to prevent bluing.

if this step does not help, i'll not waste my time and paint, but if it works a little i will go for it, please help and thanks in advance.

Did that with VHT paint when I put the new Kerker on back in 1980. Did NOTHING to stop the blueing. Now I take it as a personal challenge to heat those pipes as far down as I can running WFO as long as I can!!!!

[HobbyMan]

I actually favor the tint they are now

Some people say that they like the gold colour when they see my pipes. I havn't yet messed with painting my pipes.

[Jby1999]

borla makes stainless headers for my jeep had them and hated them. they cracked all the time so i got rid of them. anywho ss headers turn purple amongst other colors. they didnt have ceramic coating on them but it didnt take many miles b4 they were purple blue yellow and then finally an ugly brown like the rest of my exhaust. i have found that using a ss header the rate of expansion is different compared to the engin block. and since it is mounted in a rigid postion like on my jeep as it would be on a bike i think that they would be more prone to crack as compared to a steel header. my .02 i hated my borla 1,000,000 warenty i took 4 hrs every time i wanted to take it off and put the new one on. went through 8 headers in 3 years. cost me 55 bux in shipping to ship back each time and the darn things cost me 480 bux to start with. tack all the costs together a muffler shop would charge 55 an hr and flat rate says its an 8hr job that ive mastered down to 4hr thats

$400 x 7 = $2800 + 480 = $3280 + (55 *7 =)385 =3665 is what it would have cost me if i didnt do all the work. minus the labor the headers and shipping cost me $865 for a header that was junk. took the final replacment header they sent me and sold it for $420 shipped on ebay. took my loss and ran. just a little thought on ss headers. im looking to get a jardine setup soon hopefully sumones got a new one layin around.

[concours]

Originally posted by Jby1999
borla makes stainless headers for my jeep had them and hated them. they cracked all the time so i got rid of them. anywho ss headers turn purple amongst other colors. they didnt have ceramic coating on them but it didnt take many miles b4 they were purple blue yellow and then finally an ugly brown like the rest of my exhaust. i have found that using a ss header the rate of expansion is different compared to the engin block. and since it is mounted in a rigid postion like on my jeep as it would be on a bike i think that they would be more prone to crack as compared to a steel header. my .02 i hated my borla 1,000,000 warenty i took 4 hrs every time i wanted to take it off and put the new one on. went through 8 headers in 3 years. cost me 55 bux in shipping to ship back each time and the darn things cost me 480 bux to start with. tack all the costs together a muffler shop would charge 55 an hr and flat rate says its an 8hr job that ive mastered down to 4hr thats

$400 x 7 = $2800 + 480 = $3280 + (55 *7 =)385 =3665 is what it would have cost me if i didnt do all the work. minus the labor the headers and shipping cost me $865 for a header that was junk. took the final replacment header they sent me and sold it for $420 shipped on ebay. took my loss and ran. just a little thought on ss headers. im looking to get a jardine setup soon hopefully sumones got a new one layin around.

I second that sentiment... the Borla cat-back pipe I bought for my 'Burban was an ill fitting POS that was actually smaller in diameter than the OEM pipe. The resonant drone sound was the worst.

My '86 Concours had a stainless pipe from the factory, 42,000 miles, no issues.

[HobbyMan]

was it that they were stainless or that they were borla?

[concours]

Originally posted by HobbyMan
was it that they were stainless or that they were borla?

Prolly a poor engineering job from Borla....


OTOH, Stainless Steel is often very misunderstood by those outside the metalworking community. It is soft, poor machinability, poor tensile strength (compared with common carbon steel) and is lately sometimes chosen for the MANUFACTURERS convenience.... yup, plating and painting costs have risen so much with environmental regs., many manufactureres choose to eliminate finishing steps by using stainless.
Automotive exhausts are usually 400 series stainless (chosen for it's corrosion resistance, better strength and CHEAP cost) as far back as (including) the cat, because the OEM must warranty it due to Federal Emissions law.
The Borla is 300 series (more nickel, higher cost) and won't rust.... but isn't mechanically as strong as the OEM aluminized steel exhaust system.