A dumb question about stock headers

[Cadbury64]

I feel that I should know the answer to this, but can someone tell me what material the stock headers are made from? Mine are that icky tan/brown colour that could be a combination of road filth and rust but I'm not quite sure! If they're SS then it would be worthwhile cleaning and polishing, if not I might just hit them with some high temp flat black paint. Any suggestions? I have a leaking exhaust gasket at the joint in the rear header so I suspect I'll be pulling the whole lot off shortly.

[lloydie]

They're stainless steel tho a low grade .
A good clean up and polish will take many hours but it's worth it , tho you will need to keep on top of them or they will soon revert back to looking crappy


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[Cadbury64]

Cheers Lloydie! Polishing it is.

[kev64]

I took mine off and polished at first then decided to spray satin black
To my surprise the paint has stayed on after about 2 months of riding so far
You can spray it straight on to bare, but clean and rust free metal, and then cure the paint as instructions say.
You need spray paint with at least 800*c id say, in fact a lot of people say much higher than that

Also the reason I sprayed mine was I read the polished finish turns your headers a golden colour
If you search on here, there are some pictures of polished headers on here done properly

[darkember]

You spend endless hours polishing and within one week they will look shoddy again. I may look at painting mine.

[VTRDark]

You need spray paint with at least 800*c id say, in fact a lot of people say much higher than that

I would say about 1200 as it comes out the exhaust ports and very quickly cooling down, if it can be called cool to about 800 approx 6 inches away from the port and continue to cool as it travels further along the pipe. This is why Morawaki do a set of Ti headers but keep the standard rear link pipe and have a small stainless pipe for the elbow at the front.



Oh and if you want to see how the standard headers can be made to look
http://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7027

(:-})

[Cadbury64]

Thanks for that link Carl!!! I am inspired and just a little awed.

I have attacked my mufflers from the joint back with a brass wire wheel and Autosol and they came up a treat.

[VTRDark]

Oh and do remember if the headers have not been off in a while then there may be a few stubborn nut's/clamp bolts/worms. Be prepared for breakages. As for the header nuts your best using a nut splitter, sacrificing the nuts and putting new ones on. The last thing you want is a broken stud or two. To do the headers properly they will need to be removed.

(:-})

[Cadbury64]

I tried to loosen the clamp on the rear header joint and the nut was too rusted to cooperate; my Torx bit chewed out the inside of the nut without much force, so I'll be doing surgery on that one at least. Thanks for the nut splitter tip.


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[Big_Jim59]

I considered rubbing on my header and making it pretty and then I just gave it over because I am a lazy person at heart. I did take some pains, during the last assembly, to get the less than perfect Two Brothers system assembled tighter. I used a Coke can my son left in the shop to make shims for the exhaust clamps. They were just a fraction too loose and the shims made from the aluminum can did the trick. I am so cosmetic conscious i left the red on the outside and it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb. It works good though and the exhaust it solid and tight.

[Stephan]

This is just enough for me, grit 300, plus some light polish. 1/2 hour work.

[nt1980]

i like mine filthy but the cans get a bit of autosol now and then always gets them looking nice

[Watty]

i like mine filthy but the cans get a bit of autosol now and then always gets them looking nice

Man after my own heart, this "Northern titanium" look is catching on