kz1000 blue exhaust pipes

Hi What would make the exhaust pipes turn real blue?
bike is a 1979 mk2 and has the mac 2-1 pipes. The pipes were put on by the previous owner after the stock ones rusted through. Everything else is stock.

WG thanks again for the crome airbox. It is going on my project a 1979 1000 LTD.. I don't know how I ended up with 2-1979's.
I am seeing a lot of parts that will swap but I want both to be drivers

You need to re jet the carbs. I'm guessing the P/O didn't when he put the new pipes on. Rule of thumb is two sizes up on the mains for each mod. (pipes, pod filters)

Hey RG - My guess is your bike is running rich. You might want to do a plug chop to see what is going on with the plugs. Check the archives on plug chop procedure in case you are not familiar with the process.

Last year I had one carb running way rich and one plug wasn't firing very strong due to a bad plug cap so it immediately turned one of my pipes blue. Not much you can do about the pipe once it colors.

Check with wiredgeorge for suggested jetting and clip settings as he is the man when it comes to dialing in Kbike's carbs.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada
1977Kz650 with Wiseco 810 big-bore and lottsa go-fast goodies tucked away hidden.

del

I didn't think you would get to the main get till about 50-60 mph I hate to take the carbs off with the stock box it is a pain for us fumble fingers
It had factory 2-1 pipes so I didn't think it would flow more to need rejeted. But that is why I am asking. I have found that what you think you know and what is right some times is not the same. That is where doovers come from.


I was at my local NAPA and they have a new product that takes blue off. It is a ball of solution that goes on the end of a drill. They have it for a couple of different cleaning jobs. The guy at NAP said several people have used it and it works great. You have to take the pipes off becauce of the way the ball is built. You can't get the back of the header pipes.

Years ago a harley I owned had blue pipes. It may have been due to a cheapo chrome job, but anyway, I used a product called Blue-Away. It may still be sold, don't know. It worked ok, but it took a lot of rubbing. It's a saturday afternoon-sixpack kinda job.

Yea, that blue-away works wonders, but as Kent said, it takes a lot of rubbing, like 1 hour per pipe or more. Stock MKII pipes were double wall, mac would be single wall. Double wall design isolates the outer pipe from getting overly hot to keep the blueing from happening. Some say blueing is normal, if you look at BMWs for example, they will always be blue. My 1000ST was blue because it uses a single wall pipe. Bluing could mean exhaust is too hot, or maybe not, there are a few factors like how thick the pipes are on the macs and the chroming ect.