| Author | Message | ||
     Paint_shaker |
After much back and forth I finally wrapped the headers on my 08 XB12R. I did it with the headers on the bike. I removed the rightside air scoop and the loosened the chin fairing on the right hand side. I then wet the the roll of wrap and cut it to length. I wrapped the rear pipe first, then the front pipe and took that all the way down to muffler. My first strip on the front header I cut to short and had to start over. I used hose clams to hold the lose ends, then button everything back up. I started it and watched the steam show!! The whole process took about 1 1/2 hrs. The finished product...  | ||
| Nautique4life |
The smell will go away after ~10 heat cycles. Make sure you have the ends well secured, that stuff frays easily. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Naut, Thanks for the info... At each exhaust port end, they were wrapped under the main wrap. The end from the rear pipe is wrapped under the front wrap as it continues down the collector. And the end piece at the muffler was folded into a triangle and is completely covered by the hose clamp. (Message edited by Paint shaker on March 13, 2008) | ||
| Nautique4life |
Nice work. That's the way I did mine as well, after trial and error. It was a good thing I bought 50' of wrap. I thought holding the wrap tight while trying to tighten the rear hose clamp was the trickiest. Crappy enough, I had to remove my wrap job due to my micron pipes coming loose on me. I like the wrapped look though. Good stuff. | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
Looks real nice..I did the same with black and used the black high temp spray thats made for it. I noticed it give it a more sold dark look and seals the whole thing including ends so they dont fray as easy. So how did you like wrapping down by the muffler...I thaught it was a pain, it kept wanting to slip down, but I ended up just doubling it up down low and it turned out good. I figured the doubling up should keep the gasses hotter as they past even that last little bit.....Clint | ||
| Paint_shaker |
I also bought the silver high temp paint to go with it, I just haven't done that yet. Down by the muffler was a bit of a pain, but not too much. Next mod, Spec Ops pipe. | ||
| Ferrisbuellersdayoff |
I did mine in silver too(profile pic) man, but tape off the entire bike if you spray with it installed. and do clean up on any over spray immediately! | ||
| Jamesg |
Don't be suprised by the steam bath you get when you ride it in the rain. LOL! | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
LOL...yeah...tape the bike off good, luckly I did. As far as the stream bath..I know what you mean, its sorta refreshing..lol  (Message edited by zoedogg1 on March 13, 2008) | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
Heres my pipes...   | ||
| Manimal |
Nice job. I wrapped mine about 7 months ago as well. i wrapped mine dry and i got covered in fibers. When you wrapped yours wet was there a lot of excess fibers coming off? Also, i didnt use any paint on mine. Still wrapped tight and no sign of fraying. Here is mine  | ||
| Nautique4life |
Oh yea, the fibers! That was unpleasant. When I was pulling the slack through, fibers were just filling the air. Nice thinking to wet them prior to install, I imagine that cut down the loose fibers considerably. +2 for masking off the bike well. I found that a trash bag is the easiest to work with. A couple pieces of tape in the right spots and you're set. After I did mine, I rode to the store for a fill up, the clerk thought my bike was on about to blow up. She came running out when I pulled up screaming "Don't park next to the pumps! Don't park next to the pumps!!" She was skeptical to let me fill up. It was hilarious. GO for a ride after you spray `em. You will most certainly get some funny reactions. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Wet-wrapping not only keeps fibers to a minimum (I didn't get any), it helps the wrap "size" to the header. You can stretch it more when wet, and as it dries it shrinks to fit tighter. It's also the way the instructions on the box say to do it....  | ||
| Paint_shaker |
I got the wet wrap idea from on here somewhere... ZERO fibers in the air!! Made a bit of a mess on the bike, but it cleaned up easy enough. Sprayed it with silver paint. Used aluminum foil to protect the engine, then threw a sheet over the bike. Very minimal oversray on the muffler and a spot on the clutch cable. Results...  | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
LOL..I did mine dry...what a freakin mess,..and the itching, my hands where killing when I was done and I wore latex gloves the whole time too. Aaahh, and the fiber snot I was blowin, cant forget about that. I did actually wet them down really well after the install and it did make them tighten up. I just started my bike with em wet and ran it for about 20 minutes and watched it smoke like crazy. Its really a good idea to start it completely out of your garage also, with the main door shut..lots of smoke. Then after it cooled a bit I taped it off and sprayed it, then started it the next morning and watched it smoke some more, then that was it..good to go.  Gotta tell ya, these pipes are lookin pimp. I love the old school look. | ||
| Nautique4life |
Nice work. Ratbuell- Instructions are like maps. Who needs em?  | ||
| Big_red_79 |
i have been thinkin on wraping the headpipe on my bike, but since i moved to hawaii i dont know if that will be a good idea with the salt in the air, will that cause the headpipe to rott out prematurely? anyone with experience with that? | ||
| Hogs |
Pipes are Stainless Steel... | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
Probably not the best idea in salty air. But if you do, just use the sealing spray to help keep out foreign objects like salt, sand,etc. Also, just watch your screws and bolts, chances are they will rust out way before your pipe, Ive experience that even metal residue from tools being used on stainless parts will make the parts rust at times. In all, a good washing at times would be very good for the life of your bike, just be careful around electronics, wires, air intake. | ||
| Darth_buell |
What is the advantage of the wraps on a 12R....I don"t think to familiar with the reason for this... Ilive in a hot wheather area and want to know if I should do this.........  | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Let's say you decide to take the wrap off. What kind of crud is left on the pipe? | ||
| Hogs |
Cars with regular steel headers ,Lets say at drag racing.. their headers will in time get BAD turn to Flake in the extreme , Bikes with S.Steel I have NEVER heard of any plms. with these with using header wrap... and someday IF ya want to take it off just FIne fine sand paper lightly and just polish will come close to as new.. hope that helps...Btw some say wrapping headers helps to suck the gases out better making them flow abit better... FWIW.. | ||
| Nautique4life |
No crud to speak of. it will however leave marks from the wrap. I think Hogs  with the light sanding. I am going to try that tonight since I recently removed my wrap to work on my micron. I'll post what happens. I think I fine 3M will due the trick. This is the marks i was talking about:  You can see the ceramic coating starting to come off. They look like complete crap right now. My goal is to get them back to the original micron metal as best as possible. Ugly pipes! Ugly!!! | ||
| Zoedogg1 |
Yeah, they do help the gas pass faster, and it does actually work as a slight barrier from the heat (wont get burnt as bad than without) BUT MOST IMPORTANT, it makes me feel like and old school bad ass. A wet-sand paper is what you want..the same you would use to take out scratches from a cars paint when detailing. Go with a real fine grit then with a super fine grit, then use a good metal polish and buff well...THEN  Next to new. Oh! I would was them with water and light soap at the end...chemicals yuck! Im just weird like that though. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Naut, 1000 or 1200 grit should work just fine for what you want to do. I think when it is time to re-wrap, I am going to go with black. |
