Saving the Stock Exhaust ?

[Russ' GS1000E]

Hey Super Supporters,

So, I was going to go with the Vance & Hines, probably now made in China, and not very well from what I'm reading.

Which raises the Question;
"Can a worn-out stock exhaust system be refurbished at a reasonable cost?"

By Worn-Out, I mean the stock exhaust was pitted at the head pipes, and after removing the rust, the chrome is gone. No holes, and the collectors look quite good.
Is re-chroming possible? Plating with something else? Super-Temp-Ceramic-Coating?

I've been Web-Searching the Exhaust companies of the past......

Help?

[Dave8338]

You can have them rechromed but it will cost you. Any plater is going to want to layer several coats of nickel first to fill the pitting and then 2-3 trips through the chrome.
Ceramic coating may be the way to go if you're not looking for the factory finnish look.

[morpheus666]

My pipes were the same. I got some sandpaper and steel wool and went to town on them till they were all better. Then painted them with Dupont High temp paint. I got it at the hardware store for my grill, but it seems to be just fine. You can see it in my album.

[gert du prez]

I have seen - can't remember where on the forum - that the headers were like 'wrapped' into some kind of brownish rags... anyone have an idea what I'm talking about ?

[OldVet66]

Header wrap. It's what I will be doing with my old Vance and Hines exhaust.

[gert du prez]

found the picture

[Rudeman]

With all the excellent work you've done why not just bite the bullet and have them re-chromed? Maybe even black chrome?

[Russ' GS1000E]

Black Chrome

Black Chrome. What a great idea!
Just saw an article on rechroming in Motorcyclist, I think.
It was like $1000 for chroming some old 2-stroke pipes, which is a big bite.

Maybe I'll get the bike running with the 'Old-Ugly' stock pipes,
and when everything is done I can consider that 'bite'.

Header wrap is quite temporary from what I've heard, as it will cook the headers to bits.

I wish the stock pipe was in 6 sections instead of 4, so I could send just the header sections out for chroming. Hmmmmm.....

[Tom MLC]

There's a shop out here that quoted me $165 bucks to ceramic coat my stock black 4-into-2's. He said they would have a glossy finish not quite as shiney as the original black. But s'posed to look pretty good. And durable.

I didn't take him up. Yet. Now that the weather is changeing, I'll prolly do it. Hope his price is still good. Hope he's still in business. I can't find his card, and I can't find him in the yellow pages.

I will have to do a drive-by and see if he's still there.

A few years back I had this shop ceramic coat my Jardine's. Flat black finish. They still look great. Got my money's worth from a reliable shop.

[Russ' GS1000E]

Tom, would you know if the Ceramic coatings hide surface flaws?