Best Option for Exhaust Restoration

What are my options for taking my exhaust headers & pipes, which are currently rusted on the surface (no rust holes, however) and restoring them to a non-embarrassing look? Cleaning and stripping the rust, and then... what? Restoring the chrome? Painting? Coating of some sort?

I've tried a few searches but this is a hard topic to do a narrow search on. Mostly I'm looking for what methods have worked best for others who ended up with good looking results.

 

I think it all really depends on your budget (for time AND money) and the final appearance you're going for. I would think the best option would be to have everything media blasted then re-chromed or powder coated. Otherwise if you're looking for a cheaper alternative you can sand down to bare metal and spray it with a high-temp header primer and paint.

 

Also, check this out:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=32838.html

There are plenty of rust removal products out there that might give you good results. That and a good polish & you might be good to go.

 

If you chose to go with powder coating make sure the place doing it uses a high temp powder. I muck about with powder coating in my garage(even built an oven large enough to hold a frame) but most standard powders will only handle 300f continuous before failure. Its not really suitable for headers and exhausts. The high temp stuff can handle up to around 1000f continuous. It is a fair bit more expensive of a powder and requires a higher curing temp than the usual 400f range for curing standard powder.

 

Ceramic coating is probably the "best" in terms of outright quality. Provides the same benefits as heat wrap tape while also preventing corrosion.

 

How vulnerable would the pipes be to 're-rusting' if I do a chemical strip and re-polish? Will the be more likely to rust than they were originally? The bike is garage kept, so it's not a huge worry, but once I put in the time I want a finish that's going to last.

 

How bad are your pipes? I have a really nice set of stock pipes on my 83 xj750 that I will be sandblasting and powder coating or wrapping for my all blsck bobber project and I would be open to trading somebody for a good solid set that need cosmetic work so thst this nice chrome doesn't go to wsist if that is what someone wants.
It will need to be off a project bike because I don't want to have my bike down while getting pipes redone so I was going to wait till winter to do it.
Just an idea.

 

Dano - that might well work for me, the pipes aren't off my bike yet, just planning out my next projects, and I could certainly wait to do it until winter. First thing for me to do is go over the pipes carefully and make sure there's no damage that's more than cosmetic, and get a feel for how hard restoring the ones I have would be. Let me do that and maybe we can talk more.

 

No problem, not in a hurry and just hate to ruin a nice set of stock chrome pipes if I don't have to.

 

I'd definitely go with a high-temp powder coating. Some of them are chrome-like - enough to make me happy. You can search the archives and see some of the pictures.

But that all assumes your are trying to go for more or less a stock look. Another alternative is that you look for another used set in better condition, but if you don't have any perforations, the coating is probably a better alternative.

 

I just had the headers and collector JetHot coated black. The HPC guys in Burlington, NC are awesome to deal with. It was not cheap at about $300 to sandblast off the rusted chrome and then do their base Polish coat and a second black coat over that. They do the inside as well as far as they can spray the coating so it protects from inside rust thru as well.
I had been getting low 40's gas mileage and the first tank after the coating was 54 mpg! No change in riding style, no change in jetting.
I previously had the headers and crossover pipe on a Kawaski Concours high temp powdercoated and had similar effect but not as dramatic and not as corrosion protective, the crossover still rusted out. It just took longer.
John

 

Dano, Thanks! I hate it when i see people hack, slash, + trash good solid stock pieces..... there's someone out there dying to have them

 

Dano----pm'd

dave