Exhaust wrap?

[Clumzi]

I was curious as to people's thoughts on wrapping the exhaust. My exhaust looks like hell, even after I spent two hours today with a bottle of brake part cleaner and a few scour sponges. There is some rusting and a lot of dents and... well they just look like sh!t. The bike was clearly down a few times before she came to me. I was considering painting the exhaust but I don't trust my ability to do it right, plus I'd like to get this done somewhat soon and temperatures won't be above 70 around here for quite some time (primer says it needs to be between 70 and 95 with less than 50% humidity... not conducive to Northwest winters). I was wondering if anyone has some pictures of GS bikes with the exhaust wrapped and if anyone has done it in the past and has some ideas, tips, warnings, etc. Will a 2" x 50' role do the job? -nick

[rudy]

I've done it on my cafe 400. Works really well. Coat your pipe with high heat ceramic paint, let it dry for a day or so, then wrap with the header wrap. Keep it tight and overlap it about 1/2", and keep it tight. Did I mention keep it tight? A 50 foot roll is said to do a whole 4-1 pipe easily. They're made for doing V8 headers (a roll per side) mostly, and the runs will be about the same as most bike headers.

Some guys soak it in water first. Don't really know what this does, but mine went on fine dry. It'll smoke pretty bad and smell horribly like burning for a few rides, but that goes away. Apparently there's a spray you can coat it with that will keep it from smoking much at all. Supposed to keep it cleaner as well.

The beauty of this stuff is that it actually WORKS! I can put my hand on the pipes on my 400 and not burn my hand. Sure, it's pretty warm up by the exhaust ports, but doesn't burn.

[wazz]

A spray bottle of water helps the installation, it seems to go on better just a little wet.

Use zip ties to hold the beginning until your happy and then I'd recommend stainless hose clamps. Didn't have any luck with stainless straps provided with the kit.

A 2x 50 foot roll will do our headers (I used a 1/4" overlap and had some leftovers).

Black may be the best color as they all end up grayish, but the white sometimes gets a dirty look to it.

The smell that will come off it when first fired up is BAD, fire her up outside.

Lastly, just about everyone will tell you that the wrap is bad for the life of pipes. If you have a dented, rusty, funky header anyway, the wrap is a visual improvement anyway.
(try finding a reasonable priced Kerker, ain't happen' ....the wrap will do for a while )

-greg

[rudy]

Lastly, just about everyone will tell you that the wrap is bad for the life of pipes.
-greg

Contrary to popular belief, wrap isn't bad for your pipes. What destroys the pipes is heat, which the wrap does keep in. For mild steel, the temperatures need to be REALLY high for the metal to break down. The thinking that it's bad for the pipes comes from back in the days of stock cars and the beginnings of Nascar. The headers used to last one race, then it was pretty much just held together with the wrap. Since then, there's been a whole lot of different coatings that help the headers to last a LOT longer, and perform better. Extremely hopped up race engine running full boar for a good amount of time, compared to your little motorbike tooling around town with the odd little stint to redline.

Will your little stock air cooled motorbike make enough heat to wreck your pipes? Definitely not. Unless you're running some real crazy hop ups, it's not breathing enough fire to affect your pipes.

Wrap away!

[wazz]

Thanks Rudy
Wondered about it myself, but that that was the concensus when I was doing my research.

The header on my project bike was beat and rusty, but solid, so now it is wrapped.

I'll learn long term effects firsthand someday.

-greg

[Clumzi]

I've done it on my cafe 400. Works really well. Coat your pipe with high heat ceramic paint, let it dry for a day or so, then wrap with the header wrap.

So even if I plan on wrapping, I should paint the headers with VHT or some such? That is a problem. I can't paint around here until April at the earliest, more likely May/June since the VHT can says it needs to be over 70 degrees. What is the point of painting the headers if it is just going to be wrapped? -nick

[Mark M]

Contrary to popular belief, wrap isn't bad for your pipes. What destroys the pipes is heat, which the wrap does keep in.

The wrap will also hold moisture, which is a good way to rust your pipes up fast. If the bike is stored indoors then it shouldn't be much of a problem. I wouldn't worry about the temps on a stock engine being street ridden, you never get on it hard enough for long enough to really cook the pipes.

Mark

[Clumzi]

I don't think I was being totally clear. This would be for purely cosmetic reasons. I'm not real worried about rust or dealing with high temperatures.

Another question for people that have done it. Would a 1" x 50' role work? People are saying 1/2" overlap... so 2" or 1" with a 1/2" overlap, whether it was 1" or 2" shouldn't matter if I'm understanding people correctly. -nick

[drhach]

I used the 1" stuff for the same reason, cosmetics. There's a pretty good dent in one of my tubes that I wanted to hide it. Supposedly, the pipes will rust out way faster. We'll see. They weren't too great to begin with and I just needed something to hold me over. By the way, I did an overlap of about 1/4". I'm pretty satisfied with how it came out. Although, I don't think that I would do it again. The wrap stinks and it smoke a lot.

[jabberjoe87]

I wrapped my stock pipes when i first got my 750. The pipes didnt look great and i wrapped them and painted them with the silicone hi heat stuff which ended up sealing everything, and it looked awesome. I didn't see it rust any faster than not. However, those pipes came off and a 4to1 went on. anyway, wrapping is a great idea for cosmetics, it gives it that "racer" look hahaha

[Clumzi]

Alright, I'm sold, but it's going to have to wait. It looks like I'll need the 2" x 50' roll and that is $44, plus hose clamps and silicon spray, it comes out to be more money than I care to spend cosmetically on a bike that still needs work just to be a safe around town bike.

And thanks a ton for the picture. That looks SWEET! And kudos on going for a green frame. That is some balls sir. I like it. -nick

[wazz]

Ebay can be your friend...... 2" x 50' black wrap w/ 5 straps (which I didn't use) delivered for $26. High temp paint is maybe $4 an can....

Cheap improvement for ugly but solid pipes

-greg

[Clumzi]

Thumbs up! I'll be ordering soon. -nick

[BCWesty]

I wrapped my pipes mostly for cosmetic. I wet the wrap when I put it on. Was a bit messy, but I think it went on tighter than if I did it dry. I just got my bike running, but havn't noticed any negatives yet