hi again

        I just had my front pipe sand blasted.  what is the best type of paint to finish the pipe with ? or what worked for you and how long does it last


thanks again anthony

Last november I pulled my exhaust and sanded and painted, what a pain...You were smarter to have it sand blasted.... Anyway I went ahead and used the Rustoleum flat black grill paint. I cant believe what a difference it made, it looks great. The paint looks like I just did it yesterday, I expect it to only hold up for about a year and a half, but I live in CA where the weather is mild. Good luck with whatever you choose.

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/Restoration/PaintExhaust

This was the type of paint I used, not the exact brand, but basically the same thing.  Worked well, although a year later I'm starting to see a little rust. However, I sanded my pipe myself so I probably didn't get all the rust off.

All thats important is that you use some sort of hight temp paint. Grill, engine, or of course header paint works well. The key is to look for 1200 or more degrees.
It's more important however how you ride and maintain the paint you have chosen. If you ride in the rain or let it get dirty w/o a wash, then it will rust much quicker than if you ride on sunny days and clean/dry often. I have used grill and currently have header paint on mine. The results were very similar. They stayed mint until I hit some rain. They quickly deteriorate after that.

There is a ceramic coating that you can get that is supposed to last forever though. I have not tried that yet. It takes a little more moolah.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/high_tech_ceramic_coatings/index.html
http://www.nitroplate.com/?gclid=CLmi1oze5ZECFQ0uHgodKHryfw

  -Anti 

is the 1200 stuff better than wood stove stuff ?

Never tried it. It may be very similar if not the same stuff. Give it a shot.

  -Anti

I think I'm going to give the POR-15 exhaust coating a try.They have silver and black. http://www.por15.com/products.asp?dept=8

I think unless you get it plated or ceramic coated the paint will wear and rust will show through, I got about a few months out of the 1200 degree high temp black paint. I sand blasted mine too and I don't even care anymore, let it rust.

When I get my welder,I'm going to try and make a set of 316 stainless headers for my R1 exhaust and muffler.It's a bit tricky the way the tubes are made where they meet the head.It's either that or ceramic coated stock header.

Quote from: ben2go on February 28, 2008, 04:19:26 PM
When I get my welder,I'm going to try and make a set of 316 stainless headers for my R1 exhaust and muffler.It's a bit tricky the way the tubes are made where they meet the head.It's either that or ceramic coated stock header.

I thought about making stainless headers for my gs500 being a welder and machinist but I got lazy and started to not care about it anymore lol.

are you going to tig weld them or mig?

Mig  I can't afford a tig machine.  I'm just a home welder,I don't have the experience to be a pro.

Quote from: ben2go on February 28, 2008, 06:01:51 PM
Mig  I can't afford a tig machine.  I'm just a home welder,I don't have the experience to be a pro.

well mig can look real good too and is faster lol.

when you get your mig make sure you use the right gas set up for stainless steel and of course stainless wire. it is pricey but you want the right stuff. you can weld SS with carbon steel setup but then your welds will just rust and will not be a clean.

make sure to pick up some test pieces of stainless as it welds different than standard carbon.

you might know all of this already but I thought I would give you a heads up so you don't waste your time.

Yea I knew all that but thanks.I do have one Q.Will Argon/Co2 mix work with SS wire?I've welded mainly mild steel and cromo.Stainless will be a challenge.

Argon, straight, works with stainless pretty well.  You "can" weld stainless with straight CO2 but it's not pretty unless you have crazy talent.  I've done a lot of stainless welding with just CO2.

Argon/CO2/Helium  mix would be prime . But straight argon is good enough most of the time.

usually gas is pretty cheep and you can swap tanks for different gas's all day long or at least from the company I get them from I can.

yeaaaaaaaa

     I went with the $5.00 dollar rattle can 1200 stuff and put 7 thin coats and it looks great.  now it will be the test of time. I will not put it on the bike for a week  untill my tank and frame is panted but the project is close to being done ( I CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE ) thanks anthony 

Ben, Jah, I have been looking to get SS or titanium headers forever now. Anyone interested in tackling this? I am tired of sanding and painting every year.

My new exhaust has a titanium mid pipe as well. I don't want to connect that to steel.

  -Anti 

Quote from: The Antibody on February 29, 2008, 09:11:22 AM
Ben, Jah, I have been looking to get SS or titanium headers forever now. Anyone interested in tackling this? I am tired of sanding and painting every year.

My new exhaust has a titanium mid pipe as well. I don't want to connect that to steel.

  -Anti 

just got off the phone with some other fabricating friends. I should have a inconel exhaust system within the next couple of months.  I talked to a friend with a business that I am doing a website for and they want to start selling these. I am doing all the fabricating with another guy and get a template exhaust and testing some numbers on the dyno then we will have it sent out to be produced for the business.

amazing how you sparked this interest again in me. I had wanted to do this at my old AF base but never got around to it.

I could eventually build exhaust,but I am having a hard time locating SS tubing at an affordable price.I'm looking into building my own tubing bender that will do mandral bends or something very close to that.

mandrel benders are costly for what you get.  You can buy mandrel bends on eBay reletively reasonably.