| Author | Message | ||
     S1_fan |
Hey everybody I have a 97 S1. A previous owner tried to rattle-can the header pipes and it turned out a little rough. I put on header wrap and love the look but its starting to fray and it is really dirty down low right behind the front tire. I'm not a huge fan of chrome so I don't really want to go that route. What have you guys done with your pipes? High-temp paint? High-temp powdercoat? I'd like to get something done professionally so it looks nice...but that depends greatly on the price. So, for those of you who have had something done to your pipes...what did it cost you? Thanks for any feedback. (Message edited by s1_fan on December 14, 2009) | ||
| Phelan |
Well Jeremy, how about polishing it?  | ||
| Phelan |
Takes a bit of time, but costs next to nothing!  | ||
| S1_fan |
What was your process for that? I like that look! and I have lots more elbow grease than I do money. | ||
| Phelan |
Sandpaper and Mothers polish. Another option is to start with a power drill a paint stripping wheel. Then sand with 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000, each time sanding in a direction perpendicular to the previous. Then polish out with Mothers Aluminum polish or Mothers billet polish. You can skip the sanding if you used a couple paint stripping wheels and just want a cheap shine, but it'll discolor quicker than otherwise. The pipe turns a golden color after a while of useage. If you like the color, just use the polish to keep it clean and shiney. If not, sand again with the lighter grits until it returns to the chrome-like color. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
Ceramic coating will give you a good clean look as well as insulating heat inside the header so it leaves through the muffler instead of radiating into your right leg on those hot summer days. It's available in silver, black, and some times other colors depending on where you get it done. I got my header done inside and out, muffler done outside only - cost about $200 IIRC. I've heard of others getting it done even cheaper. | ||
| Phelan |
That's true too. My Force pipe has black Ceramic coating. We recently welded on the pipe because of a crack (we had to grind the coating off of the affected area), and the pipe was cool to touch maybe a minute after smoothing the welds. Not bad at all. | ||
| Skntpig |
+1 Jet Hot | ||
| Littlebuggles |
I really like the look of the polished stainless steel. The Ceramic coating is really great at controlling heat, I had it put on the headers of my car and it really cut the underhood temps a lot. I wasn't happy with the look of the finish though, just couldn't get it as bright as polished aluminum which the finish resembles,so I sold the (M2) header I'd had done before ever even installing it. The photos of Pk's look really nice, and another M2 owner, Mick, has a very bright finish on his coating, but it was done in Australia and I was ready to ship it off for a lot of money and a finish I still might not like. But I'm a perfectionist who tends to prefer finishes that let you admire a product's natural beauty. Here they are polished, not golden from heat yet:  -Mike | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
Another vote for polishing  | ||
| Jayvee |
Sometime this winter, I hope to have mine ceramic coated on the inside, and maybe polished on the outside. And the muffler ceramic coated too. The coating is about $150, the polishing might be about the same, or I might do that myself. (Message edited by jayvee on December 19, 2009) | ||
| Mark61 |
www.jet-hot.com | ||
| Onebadx1 |
Try one of our sponsors. Al @ american sport bike. He did mine and did a GREAT job! | ||
| Tom_b |
Vote on ceramic coating.. Had it done on my x-1 header. Can actually be polished to a very nice shine. if scratched for some reason the scratch can be sanded out. VERY durable and keeps the heat off the leg so much. Mine was done inside and out for 150.oo 3 years ago and with little maintenance still looks good | ||
| S1_fan |
I found a guy to powdercoat them. $150 bucks. I chose satin black. Should get them back this week. I'll post pictures then. | ||
| Nallac |
Man those polished pipes look good.. Would like em on my X1 but could never be bothered to keep up the polishing.. Something to do with having the X1 as my only means of transport. | ||
| Ebutch |
Yes Pollish-ME http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/ebutch/P10 10156.jpg | ||
| Ebutch |
 | ||
| Ebutch |
Phelan is your header held together by snap-rings instead of welds? | ||
| Phelan |
Nope, that's just te way the welds turned out. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
I filed the welds smooth on my pipe and it polished up very nicely. Looking forward to the pics of the PC'd pipe, how will it hold up to heat? | ||
| Bluzm2 |
I've got a race header I'm gong to have electro-polished. However, I first need to get the Jet Hot off. It's already burned off at head bend. I called Jet Hot yesterday, the only way to get it off is media blasting. Glass beads won't work, you have to use silica... More crap to get done before the snow melts... Brad | ||
| Ebutch |
Mr Bugby never even thought of filing.Very good Idea!  | ||
| Ebutch |
Brad not sure but think it will work.Use Black-Beauty for blasting.An iron slag for blasting,faster and cleaner!  | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Black-Beauty is too course, they use 80 grit silica sand in their shop. BB would pit it pretty badly. It works great for rusty metal though! Agressive as all hell... It really eats gun tips.... Brad | ||
| Ebutch |
It,s your pipe Brad.But I used BB many times found faster and cleaner than sand.Is a little-bit harder than sand on porcelain tips,but not expensive to replace. never used on stainless but stainless is a real hard mettle, I found it not that aggressive on auto body steel.And did not pit auto steel found to be smooth and clean,fast. (Message edited by ebutch on January 13, 2010) (Message edited by ebutch on January 14, 2010) | ||
| Bluzm2 |
I must be using a differnt grade of BB, the stuff I have is REALLY course. Like I said, it does have it's place. I wish I had a bigger sandblaster, I'd use it on my trailer. It's really rusty after Bonneville (despite my best post flats washing efforts.). Just for grins, I may try BB on a hidden section of the header to start. I'll let you know how it works. Brad | ||
| Ebutch |
Yes Brad test in no show arias.http://www.reedmin.com/black-beauty/blasting-abras ives.aspx (Message edited by ebutch on January 14, 2010) | ||
| Old_mil |
I've got an xb12x and an x1 - the xb12x has black poweder coated headers which look great, and silver powdercoat headers that look ok (though I haven't tried to polish them or clean them to make them shine...). American Sport Bike's contractor did both, I think the black turned out looking better. I'll recommend American Sport Bike, as they've never let me down on anything. |
