Yucky header/pipes

[Anonymous]

I've got a V&H 4 into 1 on Leela, my '77 GS750. The header is all corroded, bubbly, pitted and ugly. The megaphone itself has some of the same kind of rust on it too.

I'd prefer to not spend the $$ on a new header/pipe.

What can I do to make this look nice???

I've tried scraping the loose rust off with a wire brush and applying Naval Jelly to remove the rust but it's a no-go. She still looks ugly.

I'm open to the possibility of painting it all flat black but I'd like to get it all smoothed out first.

Suggestions?!?!

[Poot]

Well, if your going to paint it flat/gloss black, you could try this for little $$$.

Get a power drill, and hook up a metal brush end for it. To clean your headers might go through 1 or 2 of those attachments.
After that, sand it with aluminum-oxide sand-paper, progressively using finer grits, until you get something acceptable for you.

After that, you'll need to use some anti-rust paint/primer on the bottom layer , and then you could spray on a black enamel spray.

Whatever products you use to paint, make sure they are for HIGH-HEAT applications. if not, :roll:

Also, once you let the primer dry, and put on the enamel paint, you'll need to cure the paint. The directions should be on the can.


I'm not quite sure if it would work , but you could try curing it by riding your bike for an hour or so...it might get too hot for curing thouh, so check with someone here.


poot

[Anonymous]

Vance & Hines 4 to 1 Fix

Try contacting JetHot Coatings. I used their process on my V&H and it looks great. They have recently expanded their color choices, so you should be able to find something that pleases you. Beware of one thing, however: you'll have to lightly sand the mating surfaces of the header - to - megaphone joint to get the pieces to fit together again. The coating adds to the outside and inside diameters of the pipes.

Check them out, the people there are really helpful.

Mad Doctor

[Anonymous]

try..

...a flap wheel, I think Walter calls them a blender disk, that fits on a 4 1/2" or 5" grinder. You can get them in different grits and they work great and fast. The only problem I have with a wire wheel is speed, they never seem to work fast enough for me...Mike

[gtsg01]

Try these guys if you don't want to do it yourself.

http://www.performancecoatings.com/performancecoatings.html

[Jethro]

I've painted a few headers in my day. No matter what you do, it's gonna look like poop after a new rear tire or two. I had a header ceramic coated by a guy locally, it was only about $100 and he prepped it. It looked real nice for about 5 years. I'd check into that if I were you.

[beby99]

Poot wrote:

I'm not quite sure if it would work , but you could try curing it by riding your bike for an hour or so...it might get too hot for curing thouh, so check with someone here.

It WILL get to hot and blister then you have to start all over.
If you use this approch with the High Temp paint follow directions
on the can....you have to cure slowly and increase the temp as
you cure.....good luck.

[AOD]

black Headerwrap and headerwrap spray (black) covers the front nicely. The rear sounds like it needs some serious buffing...

[Anonymous]

On my previous 4-wheeler, a 2-stroke liquid cooled 350 twin(yamaha banshee) I had DG steel pipes and they were originally painted black, the paint bubbled on me so I sanded/polished them, and did clear coat with a really hard to find 1500 degree spray paint...eventually the color turned brown/yellow because the heated steel, but I'm sure youd have no problem with black in you can find that high of a temp paint.-darren

[Evil Hobbit]

Here is what mine looks like after prep and paint. I have done the megaphone too since this picture was taken.