Broken Exhaust Repair and Misc Projects

[3Phase]

that all turned out a lot better than expected.

I hope they last!


Exhaust

Repair welds close up


Repair welds from two feet away


Header downpipes buffed and polished



I'm still waiting for my seat to come back from B&H in Texas and the clutch started slipping during the Mid-Coast Rally so I tore into what turned out to be multiple projects.

The dealer had the OEM clutch springs and steels in stock but only one friction. I don't want to play with the springs and that star plate again but for now I've only installed the new springs and it's not slipping. I'll order the frictions then pray a lot while I replace everything.


Clutch

Old clutch springs


Old clutch spring free lengths varied between 1.610" and 1.630"


New clutch spring free lengths all 1.675"



After polishing the entire exhaust system and working on the clutch I decided to touchup and polish the finish on the fuel tank and side covers.


Finish

Right side finish of fuel tank repaired


Left side finish of fuel tank repaired


Left side cover finish repaired


Right side cover finish repaired but needs more work



While lookng for some paint for the fuel tank and side covers I discovered a jar of filled polyurethane on a back shelf from my childhood model airplane days. After some research and experimentation I repaired and refinished the old, rotted, front brake fluid reservior.


Front Brake Reservior

Filled polyurethane for the rotted plastic front brake fluid reservior


The reservior after sanding, buffing, varnishing and polishing



Okay, yeah, I've been a little busy.

More at the slideshow of more exhausting photos



Regards,

Scott

[fredintoon]

Hi Scott,
great job all round. Being a cheap bodger I patch my exhaust system with Canadian Tire auto muffler parts and then fizz the patches over with matte black manifold paint so special kudos on your muffler repair. But how do you plan to keep those welds from rusting?

[Cobia]

Nice Job!!

Hi Scott,

Did you actually find some matching paint for the bike? Or did the rouge take care of the scuffs? I have an identical color "G" and would like to get my hands on some touch up paint, have a couple of scratches here and there.

Thanks,
Robert

[3Phase]

Hi Scott,
great job all round. Being a cheap bodger I patch my exhaust system with Canadian Tire auto muffler parts and then fizz the patches over with matte black manifold paint so special kudos on your muffler repair. But how do you plan to keep those welds from rusting?

Thanks, Fred! Ya know, I'm pretty frugal too.

It only took 10 minutes and cost $30 (including a $5 tip for the welder) to get the muffler welded back onto the exhaust collector. I don't know what kind of rod the guy used but it's shiny and doesn't appear to be rusting. I was not impressed one iota with the metal used in the exhaust. It's made of chromed pot metal but it's marketed and sold like it's pure irridium.


I digress ... it only took five days to buff and polish the entire exhaust and salvage the exhaust gaskets and collector packing glands. That's actually a lot less time than I thought it would take and it looks a lot better, too.


I used Simichrome to hand-polish the entire exhaust after working it with my Makita angle grinder with a brass wire wheel, then a couple of medium six inch cloth buffing pads and White Rouge. I finished everything with Johnson paste wax.

So far there is no rust or cracking. If it doesn't crack and crumble into pieces in a few hundred miles I have a gut feeling the welds are going to require a lot of watching along with a fine-bristle brass toothbrush and frequent applications of Simichrome.

Hi Scott,

Did you actually find some matching paint for the bike? Or did the rouge take care of the scuffs? I have an identical color "G" and would like to get my hands on some touch up paint, have a couple of scratches here and there.

Thanks,
Robert

Robert, the touch-up paint is in one of those small bottles of Dupli-Color you can buy at auto part stores.

I didn't use the rouge on the tank or the side covers. I carefully hand-sanded the blemishes, gouges, and bubbled paint with 600 grit sandpaper. I did a few cycles of filling the pits with Gray Filler & Primer and sanding them smooth, then a few more cycles of painting with Brushed Pewter paint and sanding. I gently buffed it out using a random-orbit palm sander with a couple of red shop rags stuck on it instead of sandpaper, then hand-polished it with Johnson Paste Wax.

The right side cover seems to have had its paint removed by leaking fuel and overzealous polishing. There's not much I can do for it in the way of a quick fix and it's going to take several more coats of paint to rebuild the base and then match the color. All of the emblems are intact but the gold is toast.

To fill the scratches and gouges I used Dupli-Color:
Gray Filler & Primer
NG SF 031

For the silver/gray, Dupli-Color:
NG GM 340
Silver Met.
12, 12C, 13, 13S, WA 8535, 9284, 7781, 9021
General Motors

For the dark gray metallic color I used Dupli-Color:
NS 00596
Brushed Pewter
CS3
Nissan


I have been told that this particular color has been discontinued so some shopping around may be necessary.

It's metal-flake and really close but a little darker than the Yamaha paint. I added a touch of Gray Filler & Primer to the mix. I overdid the gray just a hair this time. The next coat should match perfectly but I ran out of paint and patience. I want to ride, not repaint, and I don't want it to rust out from under me while I'm riding!


There is also a Dupli-Color bottle of Clearcoat but it was out of stock at the time. I don't know if it works or not. I just used good old Johnson Paste Wax and some (okay, a lot of!) elbow grease.

Regards,

Scott

[3Phase]

Follow-Up: NS-00596 Is Not Discontinued

For the dark gray metallic color I used Dupli-Color:
NS 00596
Brushed Pewter
CS3
Nissan

[...]

I have been told that this particular color has been discontinued so some shopping around may be necessary.

I was misinformed by a local sales-droid. I spoke with Dupli-Color customer service this morning, June 08, 2009, and their NS-00596 Nissan CS3 Brushed Pewter is still available and it has not been discontinued.

Sorry for the misinformation.


Regards,

Scott

[Axel]

Nice

Care to outline the polishing of the header pipes/mufflers for dummies ? I have a small angle grinder and battery drills . Other than that I know nothing .

[3Phase]

Care to outline the polishing of the header pipes/mufflers for dummies ? I have a small angle grinder and battery drills . Other than that I know nothing .

Hey, Axel, how's it going? I think you have everything you need because all I used was a small angle grinder and a battery powered drill. It took a few days with the Makita and a 4" brass wire wheel to clean everything off and remove most of the rust. Follow up with the drill and some smaller brass wire wheels for detailing, then hit everything with the Makita again and the cloth buffing wheel with some buffing compound. After I got what I could with the power tools I used soft cotton rags, Q-tips, Simichrome and a couple more days of elbow grease to finish polishing.

The link in the original post "slideshow of more exhausting photos" has a picture of the wire wheel, cloth wheel and buffing compound along with the rest of the pictures of what I was doing that week. I did not take any pictures while I was using the Makita or the drill. It requires both hands and I was more interested in keeping them than photographing them or the parts as they flew across the room.


Regards,

Scott

[Axel]

Thanks

I can only hope to do as nice a job !

[3Phase]

I can only hope to do as nice a job !

Take your time, don't rush and don't get O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D.

Wear no loose clothing, a wristwatch or jewelry. Wear safety glasses or a face shield -- the wires will break off the wheel and embed themselves in you and your clothing and anything else nearby. Pulling little wires out of your face after looking up close at some detail of the work while you run the wheel sucks. Pulling them out of your eyes would suck even worse.

Just work for a few hours each day and take frequent breaks to inspect your work. Quit when your hands and arms get tired so you don't get careless and hurt yourself with the power tools or get anxious, bored and try to rush the hand polishing with the Simichrome.

It will take about five days and it will look good when you are finished.

Best of all, you won't be tired, frustrated and bleeding from multiple places with Simichrome embedded in every pore of your body and you won't be missing any parts that you started out with so you'll be able to go for a ride afterward instead of attending physical therapy classes to learn how to handle a seeing eye dog with what's left of your hands and remaining thumb.


Regards,

Scott