Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
Royal Enfield Motorcycles => Bullet Iron Barrel => Topic started by: GreenForce82 on April 23, 2013, 08:33:25 am
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Before I take my potential trip, I have the oppotunity to have a buddy blast all the chrome off my exhaust and allow me to paint it with high temp paint either stove pipe paint or engine paint or something...
Suggestions.
CHEAP.
I know that cheap is taboo sometimes, but in this case I feel that the paint will stick to a clean bead blasted surface...
anybody who has done this have any suggestions?
I am also thinking of high temp RTV sealing the exhaust upon refitting just because I can. I wish I had a finned dissapator to place over the RTV bead to hide it but EH...
Thanx!
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Sand blasting chrome typically sucks. Usually you need to strip the chrome using the same process theythey use to apply the chrome. Chances are you won't remove the chrome, so what you are trying to achieve is to just "etch" or "profile" the chrome surface so the primer/paint has a rough surface to stick to. VHT makes good engine and header paint.
Scottie
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You might consider having the exhaust ceramic coated.
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Using RTV will do well with stopping small leaks, but I don't think I'd put the exhaust pipe back in without the gasket. I used the original used gaskets and RTV with great success.
Bare
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You could even try something different and glass wrap them black also. ;)
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After few false starts I have had good luck with the versachem exhaust sealer goop that comes in a tube available at almost all auto parts stores.
It is a mixture of sodium silicate and crystalline silica.
The liquid tends to float to the top and the solids settle to the bottom while the tube is hanging on the rack. The directions say to mix by kneading thoroughly.
Besides being nearly impossible it is a PITA so cutting the bottom of the tube off and squeezing it all into a butter tub and stirring with a popsicle stick has become my preferred method.
Mixed on the dry side won't do. It needs to be either mixed completely or mixed thin.
I thoroughly clean the pipe and exhaust port with a green scrubby pad goop the stuff on and hammer the pipe home. By the time the muffler is bolted down the goop is mostly dry.
Firing up the the motor and letting the pipe warm up and BLAMMO ! the stuff turns almost to glass.
I just found out Hylomar makes and exhaust goop.
Hylomar gasket sealer is incredibly good stuff. Good enough that Rolls Royce has specified it for use on their engines and GE specifies it for use on their turbine aircraft engines so I assume their (Hylomars ) exhaust sealer should be up to the task.
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The Verachem stuff is on my silencer/pipe joint. I used gray High Temp Silicone at the Head Pipe to Head joint. If you're worried about covering it over but don't have a heatsink ring to put on now, you can put one on later without removing the head pipe again. Mark the ring directly across from the open part where the tightening bolt is. Put the ring in a vice. Drill a hole through the fins so as to put a bolt in later to hold it all together. Dremel a scallop, if needed to put a screw and screwdriver through. Saw through the ring between the fins where you marked. Place each half on the pipe, position it, tighten the new bolt, then tighten the original bottom bolt. Might be a bit ugly on close inspection, but no one has said anything to me.
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Thanks for the tips, I shoulda thought about chrome being a plating and therefore it won't just blast off that easy.
We will see what time and budget allows.
Again,
Thanx!
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The plating doesn't have to come off for paints to stick it just has to be etched for the coating to get a good mechanical adhesion or grip if you will.
You can try blasting it with garnet or silicon dioxide grit to get a frosted appearance.
I have no idea which chemicals would do the trick.
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I just painted over chrome... or what left of it - exhaust was quite rusty...
Just sanded to clean rust a bit (hand sanded so not a greate job) then spray painted to black. That last for 2 years when rust start to come out again - tho my bike is on street all year round (ireland - so you can imagine how rainy is here). So I just sanded rust away one more time and painted again.
Anyway repainting exhaust every two years is not a big trouble... (even every year before season... wouldnt be...)
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What is the recommendation for the paint, stove pipe paint, engine paint, implement paint... Etc...?
And for that matter, truly, how difficult is it to remove the exhaust system. I am under the impression it simply un bolt from its mounting bracket and then is wiggled lose from the exhaust port.
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Google VHT and POR-15 brands for paint. Or call Jet-Hot.
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I had have had to use a rubber mallet as well as rotate the pipe in the head. Your experience may be different though.
Por15 makes a product called Black Velvet that has given me good results on car headers. Haven't used in on my bike pipes yet.
http://www.por15.com/BLACK-VELVET/productinfo/BVH/ (http://www.por15.com/BLACK-VELVET/productinfo/BVH/)
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POR-15 is really great stuff. A little pricey and the shit takes forever to dry, but really good stuff. And like I said earlier, VHT makes header paint that is resistant up to like 1200 degrees Fahrenheit, and is rather affordable at about $9 a can.
http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/flameproof/
Scottie
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This is the result of the bead blasting and partial painting of the stock exhaust I had laying around...
I wanted to do an 'adhesion test' before I spent the effort and potential problems of removing the shorty exhaust on the bike.
So far I like the result.
I used rattle can Rust-oleum specialty High Heat (1200 degree) tough protective enamel. It says it is for renewing grills, wood stoves and more...
5$ at Home Depot. 2 cans. 1/2 can for testing maybe more maybe less... the rest will go on the exhaust and the kick starter lever and shift lever which I have decided to black out as well.
BTW if someone likes the stock look and wants a Blacked Out Stock Exhaust... let me know I will finish it up as nice as I can and would be willing to let it go.
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That's good paint. So far, its lasted several years on my gas BBQ grill. :)
I did some research on that paint when I first got it.
A lot of paints, even some high temperature paints don't conduct heat very well.
It seems that because the Rust-Oleum Krylon paint is made for wood stoves which must give off heat it is excellent for conducting heat from the base metal to its surface.
This makes it very useful for painting things like radiators and air cooled cylinders like those on a motorcycle engine.
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That's good paint. So far, its lasted several years on my gas BBQ grill. :)
I did some research on that paint when I first got it.
A lot of paints, even some high temperature paints don't conduct heat very well.
It seems that because the Rust-Oleum Krylon paint is made for wood stoves which must give off heat it is excellent for conducting heat from the base metal to its surface.
This makes it very useful for painting things like radiators and air cooled cylinders like those on a motorcycle engine.
For an exhaust, you don't want to radiate heat, though, correct? (Hence the thermal pipe wrap that's all the rage these days...)
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Some people seem to think that insulating the exhaust pipe will gain them a bit of an advantage with their engine cooling.
I suppose some others who are striving to create a tuned exhaust are trying to keep the temperature of the exhaust gasses high so they don't loose any of their volume and velocity.
When one considers the blast of air passing the exhaust pipe and cylinder at riding speeds or the small amount of time the exhaust actually spends in the exhaust pipe I doubt that insulating the exhaust does much of anything.
Personally, I think there may be a similar to putting a 2kg block of ice in a large hot room. In theory it will cool off the room. In reality it just ends up melting the ice.
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The real value in exhaust wrap is helping keep underhood temps down in performance cars. Different environment. I see it on bikes with people who want to cover discolored chrome or stainless. If someone feels he gets a boost out of it I won't try to argue with him.
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Exhaust wrap on bike pipes sure does it's job when you brush your leg against it when the bikes hot. :)
Scottie
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Paint has been applied to the exhaust parts and a few others;
kick starter, shifter, ACE air canister lid, oil dipstick knob.
Turn signals are yet to be done because the bead blaster did some trippy work to the plastic, so I am just going to manually scuff those to accept paint.
QUESTION(s)?
How much is too much, and do I really have to wait 48 hours before re-coating now that my initial 1 hour window of painting is done... These Rattle Cans have some peculiar requirements/instructions.
I know I have seen others on here with military Enfields and mentions of other bikes having the process done to them...
As a side note I used a propane torch on my test subject and it took quite a beating with blue bottle propane, it did eventually cause a burn/peel effect on the paint but according to my handy point and click laser guided temp sensor, it did not happen until the paint reached: exposed-to-flame temp of over 500 degrees... not too shabby since the heat will be indirect heating from the inside of the exhaust and according to my test runs the manifold after a decent ride, albeit at night, only reached into the mid 200s.
Does anybody know for certain the max (or a range thereof) EGTs we might see with a mostly stock bike. Ace can, Jetted, Electronic ignition, and shorty exhaust to be specific...
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To take the "Chrome" plating off of plastic parts you can use old fashioned "Easy Off" oven cleaner, or another non-eco friendly brand I guess. Just coat the parts and let them sit about half an hour and the shiny coating will blister and peel. You can wipe it off with a paper towel then rinse with dish soap and water. Repeat if needed. Wear real rubber kitchen gloves!
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Right on bout the oven cleaner. I will try that. It looks like that where my buddy bead blasted it but it started to punch through the plastic.
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Okay so I am bit perturbed, I got the exhaust all nice and purty, and upon final install, I had to use a black rubber mallet on the 'U' bend that routes the pipe down and to the muffler... Upon getting a good seat of the pipe, with no gasket maker... I found that a black rubber mallet had chipped the paint and perhaps the chrome off right out in front for everyone to see...
Soooo.... I sanded, and I sanded, and I recoated lightly, and recoated lightly, and I recoated lightly, well you get the point... But the end result...
A different color. Same can, same bike, same guy, but different tone to the paint.
So my theory is that sanding produced a different surface effect for the paint to adhere to... DAMMIT!
So now I have it looking okay, but still it has a two tone look as you follow the headpipe down to the bottom of the 'u' where is begins to stragiten out and head toward the muffler...
Arrgghhhhh!
All I can think to do is remove the whole dang thing, again, and sand it down and paint it... But I really do not want to do that. I was hoping that maybe I could sand the pipe all the way down til the shady part where things wont be so noticable and repaint most of the head pipe by masking off the bike with garbage bags as I have been doing since I ran into the problem. In the hopes that perhaps I will achive a nearly imperceptible fade from one tone of flat black to another...
Eesh... What a pain. Just for a cool looking black exhaust.
However the other parts came out pretty good, I am no pro so their are a couple runs on the kickstart lever but they are hard to notice because they are on the inside 'face' as it were. The shift lever looks perfect and I even carefully sprayed the slpine shaft to make it look better, and the headlight bezel (is that right) and pilot light retainers look pretty damn good, so does the ACE can lid.
One problem is that only one of the headlight aiming screws wants to turn so I will likely have to disassemble that and fix that problem...
Also of note was that the vibration of the exhaust and e swing arm moving had created a 'blade' on the muffler mounint bracket. That is to say their was a part of the bracket that had continously rubbed on the right rear swing arm and made a 2 inch thin spot on the bracket and also wore down the swing arm a few millimeters. I hope to have solved the problem by putting a piece of rubber hose over that section of swing arm and taping it i place with electrical tape, for now. If it holds great, if it moves or fails I will go to more extreme measures.
I just don't want to be hitting the 10,000 mile mark to find the rubbing has destroyed the bracket and wore a hole in the swingarm...
It ain't internal engine problems but they are still challenges and fun ones at that. About all thats keeping me going these days.
I still haven't named my bike but I am getting close to it, and I still need a gremlin bell. But that is another story.
I
One of my potential names is from a favorite strategy game (yes video game)
GORT...
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klaatu barada nikto
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GreenForce82 - What your are describing with your paint on the pipe is a very common problem. First it is next to impossible to get an "invisible" blend line, especially from a rattle can. Secondly, the reason the paint came out 2 different shades is due to spraying in 2 different conditions. Temperature and humidity in your spraying environment plays a huge factor in how the paint cures. Lots of humidity tends to slow down the drying process and will slightly darken the hue of the color. While spraying at higher temps with lower humidity the paint tends to dry at a lighter hue. Unfortunately, the only way to get it to be an exact match is to resand and respray the whole pipe.
Scottie
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I think I lucked out actually the heating process of riding around for a bit has seemed to make the color look mostly ok. I might re-sand some of the head pipe and respray once or twice more, depending on the outcome.
I looked up the phrase mentioned above, and found that the name Gort was also used in the day the earth stood still. I know that most games "borrow" names from other places but this one I had not heard of yet. Thanks for the insight. I have always wanted to watch both the old and the new versions of that movie.
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the old one is a good movie. The new one, not so much. Typical rehash, screw up the story, add a lot of explosions, sucks.
Bare
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the old one is a good movie. The new one, not so much. Typical rehash, screw up the story, add a lot of explosions, sucks.
Bare
You mean like they did to Texas Chainsaw Massacre? That remake was total BS.
Scottie
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Lets stay on topic her guys! J/K!
I usually agree on remakes sucking more ass than an outta control vacuum at a proctologist office... (just made that one up myself)
However I will say that JJ Abramsnew STAR TREK was pretty frickin sweet! I cannot wait for the next one to come out here next month I think...
I love Simon Pegg (of Sean of the Dead fame) as Scotty, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov, the other main cast was, as expected, popular young mainstreamers, but did very well I think.
NOW STAY ON TOPIC! HA HA HA HA HA HA! Or just LOL.
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Have you given any thought to wrapping the exhaust with some "header wrap"???