Cleaning and beautifying black exhausts

OK, so the recently-acquired Kawasaki GPz750 wears its original all-
black exhaust system and, miracle of miracles, it's all in remarkably
good condition, especially the all-important balance section under the
engine.

I think this is partly because, at some time, a previous owner has
removed the whole exhaust from the bike, wire-brushed the headers, and
applied black exhaust paint. You can tell because it's starting to
flake off the headers here and there, leaving bright metal with wire
brush marks underneath. Sign of a caring owner: I like that. And he
resisted the temptation to spray the silencers as well.

I'd like to keep this OE system looking as good as possible for as
long as possible, and I was wondering what could be applied to the
silencers, and maybe the headers as well. I was thinking of blacklead:
the stuff your granny used to polish her fire grate. I mean, it gave a
good finish and was self-evidently heatproof.

Anybody ever tried it? Can the FOAK recommend something else? I don't
really mind what the headers look like, because mine's a late fully-
faired 750, and you can't really see the headers, but I'd like the
silencers to look smart, and if the stuff is corrosion-resistant as
well, that's a bonus.

 

You can have them (re) black chromed

 

Yeah, but that, er, means spending a lot of dosh on a bike I'm not
planning to keep. It looks good: I just want to keep it that way.

 

We have a black-leaded fireplace in our house that hasn't been moved
during the course of all our renovation works. For a fair few months two
winters ago it was in a room with no heating and no window and it
gathered a lot of surface rust to the extent that we had to rub it down
and re-lead it.

So I don't think it's suitable for an exhaust that will be exposed to
road salt and water.

 

Ah. Thanks for that. I'll have another think. And it seemed such a
good idea, too.

 

+1. Zebo or stove paint, neither of 'em stop any rusting afaik.

 

That's a good idea. Thanks.

 

It didn't work very well on the SpazzTrakka engine cases. I ended up
stripping it all off and painting them with common or garden satin
black aerosols

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

+1 for BBQ paint - plus you can just slap or spray a bit more on every now
and then if it starts to show any further flaking.

 

It looked gash and wore away very quickly.


--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

If you ever want to remove it, they only need a wipe over with a
solvent. I got the SpazzTrakka cases cleaned up with petrol on a rag. I
reckon leaving them overnight in a tray of petrol would have done the
trick just as well.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

I was just about to chime in with that. And don't forget, aerosol
paint is not petrol-resistant, even when dry.

 

It isn't - I tried it, and once was enough.
Sperex UHT was the thing, but even that only lasted for a while.

 

I used Zebo on the headers of a '99 Fazer 600 I had about 10 years
ago. Although I wouldn't say it was very corrosion resistant against
salt etc it was very quick to apply - rub on with cloth and then buff
up - it certainly smartened up the pipes. I re applied every time I
cleaned the bike and no serious corrosion issues. If you tried it
through the summer for a couple of months I think you'd get an idea of
the effectiveness or not.

 

Get it ceramic coated.

Fraser

 

Too expensive for a bike I'm only keeping for the summer, though I did
consider it.

 

Fair enough. If you are punting it on I can recommend the VHT exhaust
paints. Not sure what the chances are of buying them over there. And
being aerosol they might be hard for me to post to you.

Fraser

 

We have electric light now, too, you know.

 

Yeah. Just thought VHT might be an Australian brand or not allowed
there for various nanny state reasons. If you can get it, it is good
stuff and perfect for the job you want to do.

Fraser

 

No worries, there's plenty of aerosols working for the airlines already.