i decided since tomorrow will be in the 60's i will ride to work.  so instead of getting gas on the way, i thought it was smart to go get some tonite. well it was dark when i started her up.  warming up around 4k for a few minutes. not long at all. and i noticed that the headers were glowing a nice red color. about six inches of pipe from the engine. so is that too hot?

too hot.

that happened to me once on my gs back when I had taken them off to paint them. I had not installed them seated properly and either the oxygen was burning unburnt fuel in the header or , or, I dont know.

check that the headers are on tight to the engine. :dunno:

i have removed them previously to paint. i'll check again.  anyone else have a suggestion or comment?

Hey i found this on an ATV board...might be of some interest...:

" no headers should glow red, if a bike does it it otta be corrected. aluminum melts at 1500 degrees, steel glows red at 2200, the header is bolted to aluminum.

they glow from excess combustion heat, commonly caused from being lean. lean where is the tricky part. if it happens at idle or 1/8 throttle while putting around, its the pilot and idle mix screw. no two bikes will be the exact same on jetting setup, some heads flow better than others from the factory, some aftermarket exhaust flows better than others, the two DS's metioned do not necesarily need to be jetted the exact same.

it can also be caused by an exhaust valve not completely closed, lack of valve gap allowing combustion to enter the exhaust, unlikley but possible, easily ruled out by a quick valve clearnace check."

it was at this site...


http://forums.atvconnection.com/messageview.cfm/catid/6/threadid/443145.cfm

definitely take care of that.  I wish i was more help Weasel.. :dunno:

Quote from: weaselnozei have removed them previously to paint. i'll check again.  anyone else have a suggestion or comment?

bingo. reinstall them. same thing happened to me.

Yep, I did the same thing on an SR500 Yammie one time.  The pipe was glowing back to the muffler!     I had just changed the carb for a smaller one of an XT500 and hadn't changed the jetting.  Lucky I was doing it at night.  If it had been in the daylight I prolly wouldn't have noticed the glow and would have cooked the motor.

it's probably a 'false lean' condition... the headers arent bolted on correctly, allowing fresh air to be drawn in, this re-combusts in the header causing the glow...

false air in a fuel injected system can wreak some serious havoc on the fuel trim...  also can melt a catalytic converter...

alrighty here.  some good info.  i'll double check the fitment on the headers first thing tomorrow.  also i have a wileyco exhaust w/o rejet.  i think this is causing a lean mix?  srinath said that is why i get the burble with a closed throttle.  but its supposed to be lean when the throttle is closed.. idk.  so i was going to rely on my bike for work commute this week.  should i not ride to work tomorrow?  it wasnt super red but could this do serious damage in a short 15 minute ride to work?

When moving ... air flow will keep temps down a bit ... BTW ... I was told the headers were red hot on one bike I bought ... I checked everyhting, tearing apart the entire thing ... OK not head ... but everyhting else ... nothing was amiss, I rejetted it and looked and looked and looked ... nothing ... Maybe it was jetting, maybe exhaust was on cockeyed ... whatever ... enough to send chills dowm my spine just thinking about it ...
Cool.
Srinath.

ok so first thing i'll do is check to see if its on right. second i will get my ass on the rejet. i've been too lazy to do it.  plus i know i will have so many questions about it even after reading an average of 3 rejet threads a day..  i'll annoy u guys, u'll see whats the best setup for me? what is a pilot, how many turns?? lol i can see it now.. gs will be out for a week while i rack my brain

Quote from: juggernaughtHey i found this on an ATV board...might be of some interest...:

" no headers should glow red, if a bike does it it otta be corrected. aluminum melts at 1500 degrees, steel glows red at 2200, the header is bolted to aluminum.

they glow from excess combustion heat, commonly caused from being lean......

That is not all true. The TL's front header on an aftermarket system will glow red normally (about the first 6") and there is really nothing that can be done about it. A lot has to do with the type of stainless steel alloy used.

pics?? how red are we talking about? nevermind don't get pics if it will add to more trouble for your bike. Any Photoshop experts want to give it a go on the headers??

did it seem louder when you started it up after painting it. that is also a sign the headers arent on right...

yea a LOT louder!  oh wait.. that might have something to do with the wileyco can i put on the same time...  :lol:

it wasnt a bright red.  it was glowing tho.  red enough for me to notice

i reseated the exhaust.  seemed to be fine.  i guess i'll just look again when i warm her up at nite

i noticed mine did the same thing a week or two ago, after i let it warm up a long time with the choke on.
But I haven't seen them glow red recently, I think i may have had it warming up with the Choke on for too long that time or something.

I think it would be pretty normal that the headers glow after a couple of minutes at 4000 rpm at standstill. I've seen oil-cooled GSX engines getting their headers glowing yellow on the dyno only after a couple of seconds full throttle! They were properly tuned.

What about replacing the exhaust gaskets?

now i thought of that when i reseated the exhaust.  it was kinda gettin dark so i couldnt see that well but i stuck my finger around the hole where the contact point is between the header and the engine.  i didnt feel any kind of gasket.  maybe im not looking for the right thing?  maybe ur talking about the thing that the bolts go through?  checked them and they were fine