Exhaust header material/refinishing

Hi all,

Some-time lurker, first-time poster! A few months ago I bought a 1979 KZ650 C3 as a winter project. I'm finally starting to dig into it.

Though I'll have a great many questions in the weeks to come, I'm starting off with a basic one. The exhaust headers on the bike are rather rusty, and I'd like to shine 'em up a bit. Can they be refinished nicely without being re-chromed? For example, could I remove the rust, strip the chrome, and then go at it with increasing sandpaper grits for a while until they look decent? I'm not really looking to get my headers to have a mirror-like finish -- just want to get rid of the rust, pitting, and restore them to a nice even surface with maybe a little luster.

Just wondering if anyone has tried this, and/or if it's even feasible to get them looking decent this way given what metal lies beneath the chrome. Being that this is a cosmetic concern, I thought it was more applicable than in the "engine" section.

Thanks! I look forward to getting this thing on the road come springtime.

It won't work. By smoothing out the metal to get rid of the pitting will
thin the already thin tubing and cause it to crack from the heating and
cooling cycle. I've had automotive headers crack because of heat
cycleing. A possible alternative is to have it ceramic coated by your
local powdecoater.

.

Thanks -- I was afraid something like that might be the case. Oh well! Not sure if I'll bother with the existing exhaust, then, or just replace it altogether.

Someone over at the KZ650.Info site posted a link for using oxalic acid on some chrome parts w some pretty good result. However, without seeing how bad the rust is & before trying any treatments, try running the bike first to see how much burns off. The stock system on my 81 650 was rusty, so I tried phosphoric acid on one of the header pipes... bad idea. After running the bike, the appearance of the other pipes improved greatly.

Removing rust from chrome parts using Oxalic Acid

I know what you are talking about. I purchased a chrome Kerker, it was very rusted and after blasting and applying a black ceramic coating.....you could see the pits.

I really could care less. Wish it wasn't pitted, but I have LESS than $100.00 in the pipe and having it coated, it looks good to me.

4TheKZ1000 wrote: I know what you are talking about. I purchased a chrome Kerker, it was very rusted and after blasting and applying a black ceramic coating.....you could see the pits.

I really could care less. Wish it wasn't pitted, but I have a total of $100.00 in the pipe and it looks good to me.

Yes, those pipes looks really bad, in fact your whole bike is just awful! I recommend you hide it in my garage this summer. I promise, I won't ride it; much. Well maybe I'll just ride it enough to keep the oil circulated and the carbs clean. I figure a few thousand miles should do it. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

On a serious note, if anyone is looking that close at the pipes tell them to take a hike; your bike looks great! Ed

4TheKZ1000 wrote: I know what you are talking about. I purchased a chrome Kerker, it was very rusted and after blasting and applying a black ceramic coating.....you could see the pits.

I really could care less. Wish it wasn't pitted, but I have LESS than $100.00 in the pipe and having it coated, it looks good to me.

Not at all, those pipes look excellent! I wouldn't mind putting a ceramic coating on my headers. I plan to repaint the bike, but I'm undecided about the color scheme, so I don't know what color I'd coat them for the time being. A little pitting isn't so bad, but I feel like excessive pitting on chrome doesn't look great.

One thing about the coating. It has to be put on thin.....one coat with a low build, and you cant add coats.

It looks great 1 year later, but you can scratch it very easy. That is my only complaint with this brand of ceramic paint.

I had it done, was riding about two months later......and a plastic bag was blown up from under the car in front of me and hit the 3 and 4 down tube.

It melted on the two pipes and kinda looks like crap. Cant have anything nice.... :S