Buffing the exhaust?

[Masterwhipper]

So I have a 1992 where the exhaust comes painted black. (Click here)

Being a 1992 that black is faded and pitted to hell.

I accidentally grabbed the wrong grade of steel wool and found nice shiny metal under it. I can't get rid of the pitting without scratching a layer off, but that would take off the paint etc.

Should I go for taking off the entire coat or what?

[alex.s]

things always look better after a good coat of paint remover and a few hours of sanding and polishing.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by alex.s

things always look better after a good coat of paint remover and a few hours of sanding and polishing.

[alex.s]

haha, my first achievement!

[Singh2jz]

If you got the $$$, then powdercoat em. You won't have to worry about those pipes ever again.

[UnshavenCanuck]

^^^+1 powder coating is where it's at and it's not as expensive as you might think. I would think you could get them done for 50-75 bucks. Or do what I did and find a used powder gun on CL with powder and an oven for 125. Buy a 60 gallon used compressor on CL for 400, get a sandblast cabinet fro HF for under 200 and wire your garage for 240v for the stove (probably another 150). Then you can coat them yourself and anything metal you want that'll fit in the oven lol.

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by Singh2jz

If you got the $$$, then powdercoat em. You won't have to worry about those pipes ever again.

You can powder coat a separate muffler if done properly (that usually means complete disassembly and removal of the packing), but you can't powder coat an entire system. The powder won't take the heat anywhere forward of the muffler. Don't bother with any "High Heat" powder - it's junk.

The only durable solution for an entire exhaust system is ceramic coating. It's expensive, and needs to be done by someone that knows what they are doing. Proper prep and correct metal profile is critical, as is the cure process, for maximum durability.

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by UnshavenCanuck

^^^+1 powder coating is where it's at and it's not as expensive as you might think. I would think you could get them done for 50-75 bucks. Or do what I did and find a used powder gun on CL with powder and an oven for 125. Buy a 60 gallon used compressor on CL for 400, get a sandblast cabinet fro HF for under 200 and wire your garage for 240v for the stove (probably another 150). Then you can coat them yourself and anything metal you want that'll fit in the oven lol.

There's a little more to it than that...

Nobody that knows what they are doing would touch a complete system for that price - plus powder can't be used in that temp range. I would charge more than that to just prep it.

By the time you tried to DIY, and failed, you could have paid someone to ceramic coat it.

That's the only thing that will last on a complete exhaust system.

To the OP - the coating that's on there isn't paint. It's more like a black chrome IIRC. There's no way to repair it. If you remove it with sanding or steel wool the bare steel will rust. There's no easy solution, and no reasonable way to restore it to an original look - that I know of. Having it ceramic coated is the best solution.

[UnshavenCanuck]

Originally Posted by jkv45

There's a little more to it than that...

Nobody that knows what they are doing would touch a complete system for that price - plus powder can't be used in that temp range. I would charge more than that to just prep it.

By the time you tried to DIY, and failed, you could have paid someone to ceramic coat it.

That's the only thing that will last on a complete exhaust system.

To the OP - the coating that's on there isn't paint. It's more like a black chrome IIRC. There's no way to repair it. If you remove it with sanding or steel wool the bare steel will rust. There's no easy solution, and no reasonable way to restore it to an original look - that I know of. Having it ceramic coated is the best solution.

By "them" I was referring to the cans as I figured that's what the OP was referring to. Even with my small amount of experience powder coating I would in no way expect the powder to hold up on the header and again, if I understood right, the OP wasn't talking complete exhaust system. On my 250 the outside of the cans doesn't get near hi temp powder temps.

Also the guy I've dealt with has very reasonable prices. Rim hoops 30 bucks, frame 150 prep and all.
The results speak for themselves
image.jpg
He did the big stuff, I did the stuff that could fit in my oven. Brake calipers and various brackets and covers

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by UnshavenCanuck

By "them" I was referring to the cans as I figured that's what the OP was referring to. Even with my small amount of experience powder coating I would in no way expect the powder to hold up on the header and again, if I understood right, the OP wasn't talking complete exhaust system. On my 250 the outside of the cans doesn't get near hi temp powder temps.

Also the guy I've dealt with has very reasonable prices. Rim hoops 30 bucks, frame 150 prep and all.
The results speak for themselves
Attachment 31269
He did the big stuff, I did the stuff that could fit in my oven. Brake calipers and various brackets and covers

Looking closer at where the muffler breaks off, you may get away with regular powder on most of it for a while. Seeing as how it's a 250 and it has 2 mufflers the temps would be lower than say a 600cc 4-into-1 would be. So it this case it would be reasonable to coat them, but I would expect it to dull and eventually fail where it connects to the header pipe. I would like to see a temp reading from the muffler after an hour or so of sprinted riding.

As far as $150 to prep and coat a cycle frame - no way. Again, that's about what I would charge to prep it. Most professional coaters run around $60 per shop rate hour, and no way can you prep and coat it (including something for materials) for 2 hours and change. I spend that much time media blasting, cleaning, chemical conversion coating (not normally done by most because it takes 30-45 minutes and the chemical costs $200 per gal), and masking. To get into the $150 price range on a frame you would have to make significant compromises (mostly in prep). Shops that will do a job like that either don't have the equipment and expenses of a professional operation, run a large production line that typically does thousands of parts per day and will just "fit it in" after hours, or is a guy that just likes coating for fun and some extra income for beer and smokes.

Here's an example of a frame (and all the gloss black parts including the Bultaco inset on the cases) I did recently -

[UnshavenCanuck]

Beauty work man. Believe me or not but for 200 bucks cash he did the frame, swing arm, and engine brackets all he wanted me to do was wash the parts first. He even gave me some black gloss powder to do a few parts on my own

[jkv45]

Originally Posted by UnshavenCanuck

Beauty work man. Believe me or not but for 200 bucks cash he did the frame, swing arm, and engine brackets all he wanted me to do was wash the parts first. He even gave me some black gloss powder to do a few parts on my own

Thanks.

That was a super deal and nice of him to give you the powder, but I just wanted to point out that it's not a typical price people should expect to pay for a frame from a professional custom coater.

There's a lot of work involved to do it right, and I'm not sure how he could have done it for that price if he is doing it professionally full-time.

I've done a bunch of frames, and have had customers tell me about what they needed to do to get things to go back together after having a frame coated elsewhere. In order to avoid hours of work for them I spend extra time making sure all of the critical areas are masked or plugged before applying powder. On one recent Husqvarna frame I had to install and remove 25 bolts 3 times to protect threaded blind holes from getting filled with media and powder. It all takes time, and especially when you are running a shop - time is money.