Painting Exhaust Pipes

[foreda]

Header Coatings

I had my headers done at a shop here in Louisiana. The most important part of having them done professionally is they also coat the inside of the pipes. They are very easy to maintain, I used to wipe them down with alcohol. Touching with you hands leaves the oil and can bake in of not cleaned good. I am currently working on a 1980 midnight and am pretty sure I am going to do the whole muffler system with ceramic or a combination of powder and ceramic.

[haywardguy929]

Yes I did scuff up the pipes before I painted them. I tried to follow the directions for curing and getting them up to temp as close as I could.I did them last summer. If you have a way to bake them I'm sure you could get better results. That was my 1st pipe fab/ project and I am still pretty happy with how they turned out. After you can always figure different ways or ideas. Lost count on how many times I had them of and on for fitting/cutting and welding but I didn't rush it either. Used muffler clamps before I finally had everything welded.
My buddy at the local bike shop wasn't thrilled when I had the rear tire replaced ;-)

[BowlingSS]

Been meaning to post a pic of my pipes, painted the header with header paint and while there are a couple small spots it looks a lot better then they did., use some existing parts, some stock muffler parts that I wrapped. Made the back brackets and got a sweet deal on the Harley pipes.. Pink drive way compliment of a flowering crab tree.. Also used high temp hose for the cross over and has held up great so far.

[IMG][/IMG]

Are those Harley mufflers?

Bill

[haywardguy929]

Are those Harley mufflers?

Bill

Yes they are, wanted fishtails but I got those for 20 bucks from a guy at work. I felt guilty taking them for 20 and gave him an extra 20.

[MPittma100]

Header Coatings

I think the XS11 I have been working on have the Jardine 4 into 2 spaghetti pipes. Is it possible to paint these black? They look really bad. I was not sure paint would stick to the pipes.

Thanks guys.
Bill

You will get what you pay for when coloring exhaust. If you don't want it to last, use exhaust paint and end up repainting them forever. Not worth the trouble to me. Powder coating is a no-no for exhaust. Will burn right off. Do it right and do it once - ceramic coat your exhaust. It seems that most opt for the "cheapest" fix. There is no such thing when doing something the right way.

Where to have it done you ask? You are in luck. Call Billy at Miller Coatings. His number is 770-931-1505. Address is 4251 Wayside CT SW, Lilburn, GA 30047 - Right around the corner from you. They do ceramic and powder coating there and do a very through job. Have used them many times. There are several coating colors to choose from. They will blast the parts with aluminum oxide prior to coating.

Example of their work on this Jardine 4 into 1:



Looks the same before and after running the engine. Pipes are coated on the inside as well.

[motoman]

Been meaning to post a pic of my pipes, painted the header with header paint and while there are a couple small spots it looks a lot better then they did., use some existing parts, some stock muffler parts that I wrapped. Made the back brackets and got a sweet deal on the Harley pipes.. Pink drive way compliment of a flowering crab tree.. Also used high temp hose for the cross over and has held up great so far.

[IMG][/IMG]

That discolored portion on exhaust can easily and PERMANENTLY be touched-up with a can of Dupli-Colors Aluminum DH1606 HighHeat Ceramic paint. Won't dis-color with heat or age either. Had a spot on my Venturer's underside OEM exhaust that I did 7+yrs. ago, and still looks like the day I did it. Your local NAPA has this in stock.

[bikerdave79]

I've had good luck using the flame proof header paint. Here's how I do it. First, sandblast the old pipes. Get every bit of chrome and rust off. Then shoot with the header paint many thin coats. Should use a whole can per header. Then make sure you let it fully cure, reinstall. Then you run the bike up to temp then cool a few times. I've done this on about a dozen bikes with good results. The key is removing the chrome completely down to bare metal. And applying the paint thick. Hope that helps

[Rasputin]

While the Cerakote ceramic coatings seem to be great I have found that they scratch very easily. One scuff of your boot eyelets and it gets scratched, does not hurt it at all but it does show. Many pluses to the process except it will not fix any rust. If you have rust issues it will not fill them in, just coat them. So if you have issues with rust degrading your pipe condition, it will still be there just coated in a great product that will keep them that way.
Luckily I had a fellow coat mine who recognized the situation and advised me of it. He also had a fellow weld on my pipes to fix some imperfections before he did the job. Up here it was a 200 buck job. Not sure what all is available elsewhere.