Black exhaust restoration

[Guest]

I've got an OEM set of pipes for the 1150 which are in good solid shape other than some rust and an acid spill which took some spots off of one megaphone. Picking it up, there's nothing rattling around in there at all, no dents, etc.

I've heard people talk about sandblasting and ceramic coating it, although reading through the posts, people here are of the opinion it'll cost anywhere between $80 and $400. Quite the range...

I've also heard talk of a black ceramic coating that would look much like the original finish.

What say you? What's my best bet? Look for another exhaust in better shape? Go the sandblast/ceramic coating route?

The rest of the 1150 is in very nice shape, so I'd like it to look goooood.

[Baatfam]

Black ceramic coating looks very nice, but it doesn't look like the factory black chrome.
You also have a choice of satin, matte, shiny, etc.

That said, the ceramic coating has other advantages, namely it runs cooler. The pipes don't get as hot and cool down quicker.
I plan on having my SuperTrapp done on the street bike as soon as I can afford it.

As for price, yes they are all over the map, check around. I paid $240 to have my drag bike headers done, (just the headers, not the megaphone), and they are shorter than your average street pipe. But, they are suppose to be good for 1500º F and most of the others I checked were only 1300º F.

HTH,

[Nessism]

I'd go with the sandblasting and powder coat route using that cermacote stuff. It's not cheap but quality usually isn't. There is an active thread in the General Motorcycle forum about refinishing a black chrome exhaust system, bottom line is there aren't any easy routes to make the system look new again without spending tons of money.

Good luck,

[toolman]

hi uncle mike :my experiances with ceramic coatings is with snowmobile exaust.the ceramic coating disapates heat very well and drops the under hood temp by about 75%.the down side is the weight .
have you thought about sandblast and bbq hi temp paint it will hold up good and if it needs a touch up later no problem.
the finish with ceramic is beautifull but it is expensive.
p.s. the shock works great ,well spent $30.....toolman

[rputney01]

I had a Kerker header and meg muffler ceramic coated about 2 years ago for $110. He did the ceramic inside and outside as well as all the prep. The pipe still looks great, no chipping so far and no rust. This was a local guy who did it out of his basement. Some of the bigger shops were double the price. If you want to go the ceramic route, I'd recommend that you shop around.

[UncleMike]

Oops. Didn't see the thread already going. Serves me right for only searching in the Tech section...

[oldgrumpy]

Coated headers4 into1....

Guys i,m in kaniva.... Australia.... I ,ve got a fanatic rev. Head into fords ,,,old fords...and when he,s talking we,ll do this an that,,,, you guessed it.. Dum dum gets sucked in and it us ,,,,, he get brilliant jobs on exhaust pipes and headers using the white high temp 1700deg, spray cans,,,, and they turn out great.... They handle the heat well of course you do have to use a wire brush in the electric drill and claen up the headers well..... It would not cost 20 bucks... At a speed shop... Regards david