Sanding & Painting Headers?

I pulled off my headers last weekend to remove all of the rust off them and I painted the pipe after it leaves the exup with a black high temp paint and it seems to have come up well.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with painting the front section? Anything I should be doing other that what’s on the can?

Plan is to do it this weekend if it starts raining again, so I will take a few pics and post them up for anyone interested. If it does go wrong it cant look any worse than it does now lol.

Cheers.

 

Ok here are some pics of the headers before and after painting. They still need to dry a bit more before I can put them back on the bike so these will have to do for now. Sorry about the blurry pics, I have a new digicam but still don’t know what all the buttons do???? <!-- s:rofl: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":rofl:" title="Rofl" /><!-- s:rofl: -->

Before:


After:

 

Cheers.

So much sanding my arm is sore, one of those dremel type sanding bits saved my arse on this one. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_cool.gif" alt="" title="Cool" /><!-- s -->

 

Ok I got them fitted to the bike and had to take it for a ride, but now I am back and I took some pics.




Sure looks better than it did before.

 

I used the VHT flameproof paint. The intermediate pipe has been painted for a week now but I guess that doesn’t count because it doesn’t get that hot, relatively speaking. It started to freak me out a bit when smoke began rising from the headers when I stared the bike up to bake it on. It stopped after I let it cool then fired it up again.

Here is a link to the pain I used. You can get it from most car places.
http://www.speco.com.au/vht_flameproof.html
Mmmm used on the space shuttle.... <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: -->

 

The cost wasn’t bad at all, I only used one can and it only set me back $10. I think the engine enamel is only rated to 600°C so it isn’t good for headers. It has held up fairly well with daily riding, I will take a picture on the weekend. As for the can mine looked like **** when I got it, Autosol a rag and a hell of a lot of scrubbing will do a world of good. It has the same spot welded cover on it and it’s a bit scratched from being on the road but you can’t see it in the pictures.

 

Yeah 3/4 of the time was sanding. The metal had a few raised bits and a fair bit of pitting from corrosion. I used a dremel type sander to get the worst parts smooth then followed up with a hand sand until it no rust was left and the surface was reasonably smooth. Then I gave it a coat of the flameproof paint, sanded again so as to use the paint as a crude gap filler for the pits. Then just one more coat and a follow up to get some bits I missed. Don’t put the paint on to thick otherwise you could get blistering.

Then just bolt it all back on the bike after leaving it to dry for a day. Cure the paint by starting the bike up and letting it heat up normally, you should get a bit of smoke. Then once you bike has become hot turn it off and let it cool for an hour or so. After all that you should have your headers looking like new.

I will have to wash my bike and get some pics after a few thousand km like I promised I would. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_redface.gif" alt="" title="Embarassed" /><!-- s -->

 

It’s good to see people that aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. First I would get stuck in with a wire brush or even better a wire brush on a drill. Just remember that the more sanding you do and the smoother the surface is the better the finished product will be, its all about prep work when it comes to painting anything.

 

I only went as smooth as 800 grit to get rid of the scratches and in between coats but that was probably a bit of overkill. I used the little rubber wheel with the sanding cylinders to get to the bits that needed allot of work and the little wire brush, other than it was just hand sanding.

 

Ok here are some pics I took today about 4,000km after I installed the headers on the bike like I promised. They have dulled a bit and lost the clean wet look and have become more of a matt, but I am still pleased with the results. No sign of the paint peeling.






I just put the last one in because I like it. <!-- s:rofl: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":rofl:" title="Rofl" /><!-- s:rofl: -->