Featured Cleaning Exhausts

I just cleaned the oxide layer from the downpipes on my TT1200, only took 15 mins to do both sides, not sure how long it will last but I did the same on the fake pipe near the catalyser about 500 miles ago and it hasn’t returned yet, here’s what I did.
1. Clean the area with brake cleaner and kitchen towel to get rid of any grit.
2. Applied “Zephyr Pro 25” cutting compound using soft material from an old T shirt, lots of rubbing in a circular motion, occasionally changing the area of cloth and reapplying the cutting compound.
3. Clean off area with furniture polish on kitchen towel.
4. Clean area off with brake cleaner to remove all residues.

as I said not sure how long it will last but I will report back once I start riding again (when the salt is gone and dry roads reappear!)

Here’s a before and after.

 

Good work fella

 

Very nice

 

Good stuff it just reminded me of one of the January jobs for my T120 put a Tec Rebel 2-1 SS on during summer so probably needs doimg now.

 

Anyone know if the headers on the Street Scrambler are stainless steel as they seem to have a sort of goldy/bronzy coating on them so I'm loathed to use any abrasive type cleaner or polish.

 

Not sure on the scrambler but on my Street Cup the pipes are stainless with a fine brushed finish. Instead of blueing the heat turns them a bronze color. A green scotchbrite pad will clean it off and leave the correct brushed finish.

 

Looks good definitely on my list of winter projects.

 

Hello. Yes they are Stainless Steel. All you need to do is put some metal polish (Autoglym) onto a length of old T Shirt. wrap it once around the cold down pipe and then pull it back and fore. As it is moved and takes in the Polish you have applied it will start to turn into a black paste. Take about 10-15 minutes working up and down the pipe. Then remove the cloth and replace with a clean length of cloth and run it again. This now gives you a shiny none scratch finish.

 

Awesome job. I have my downpipes off at the moment and was wondering how well they'd buff up. Will give your suggestion a good go, ta

 

I wrote about a similar issue here. Ten minutes with Solvol Autosol brought them up like new, but the problems came back again shortly afterwards (so expect the same).

 

I just took my bike for an MOT, 8 mile round trip, 50% of the “staining” has immediately reappeared , so maybe not worth the elbow grease on the pipes where they exit the cylinders, however on the “fake pipe” covers adjacent the catalyser it is worth doing with so far no “staining” reappearing after 500 miles.

 

I noticed that when I cleaned off mine it hasn’t reappeared as much. This was after break in period and after installing free flowing exhaust, so maybe it’s running cooler? Still getting most of the color back near the heads.

 

The reason it’s bronzeing up so quick is the polish is burning when it’s hot,I use m3 rubbing compound watered down and then wash off with hot water with nothing added,I’ve done 1000 miles and there still silver, but I’m running open cans and decat,

 

looks good

 

You can get SS pipes to look pretty good if you have a buffing machine. Below you will see the before and after of the pipes on my Ducati.

 

Apologies but my iPad is telling me that the after photo is smaller than the before one but the forum is telling me that it is too large. You can catch a glimpse of the after version in this photo.

 

For SS pipes I had read that a well known toilet cleaner produced amazing results. So, having some to hand I thought I’d give it a go. The recommendations tell you to use it in conjunction with Scotchbrite but as this was just an experimental trial I just used a wad of kitchen towel, so no abrasive used to produce what you see below.

Here’s the product.



And here’s the result. Only used it on two of the pipes in order to show a comparison.

 

I have had my Street Twin for several months and I can believe the header pipes have ever been cleaned. After watching several you tube videos I did the following:

1. Wd40 on the header.

2. 1500 grain wet and dry (1 sheet, torn into strips) all over the header. At this point several sort of 'wrinkles' showed up around the top of the header. I assume these were forming markets from when the header was formed in manufacture. It did not take much to smooth these out.

3. Dress with 2000 grain wet and dry until they start to shine - about 5 mins work.

4. Polish with T Cut metal polish (it is a medium aggressive paste) - nearly chrome like finish.

5. Polish with Maguiers metal polish (not the cheapest metal polish in the world but a fine paste) buff and it is like chrome.

I appreciate the standard brushed finish is gone and this may not be the desired outcome for some but I like it. Not too certain if I want to used the wet and dry again but they were a deep brown and I think they have not been done since the bike was new 8 years and 17000 miles ago. Anyway, the headers really gleam and I was done in half an hour. Hope this helps.

 

The SS headers on the classic twins are single skinned and polish up, almost like chrome, with cleaners like Autosol but will always turn a bronzy colour with heat.
I quite like the way they discolour TBH.

 

Too true. I am told the t-cut metal polish is not as aggressive as autosol. I have this nightmare where the single skin header gets a hole polished into it!! Lol!!