Header Rust

[schnowz]

I have the same problem..- you can't ride in a New England winter without 
having this problem.
Questions I have for the ceramic coating is
1. How brittle is it if you want to put a jack under the header - will it 
chip?
2. The fact that it acts a insulator is not necessarily a good thing for the 
exhaust valve seats??
3. The rate of expansion for cerramic and steel is different, so the longer 
the part the more of a problem this may be.

If you do it let us know how it works out..

  Pete S


> From: "Jeffrey Walker" <walkerjl at charter.net>
> Subject: Header Rust
> To: <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
> Message-ID: <00ca01c9240d$ca5c6f40$5f154dc0$@net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Well, here's a problem I didn't have before:  My headers are starting to 
> get
> rusty.  Not the headers coming off the cylinder head, but down below where
> they collect, and where they are exposed and get spray off the road. This 
> is
> most annoying.  I noticed it when I put a jack under there to raise the
> front wheel off the ground to get my new front tire mounted.  In the 
> desert
> where I lived before I certainly didn't notice any rust.  Now that I live 
> in
> the salty sea air (and fog) at Pismo Beach... and I'm getting rust.
>
> I'm a bit concerned about this as I really love the stock GPz exhaust.  I
> have no desire to ever go with an aftermarket pipe.
>
> So I'm contemplating having to remove the header at some point and getting
> it blasted and re-coated.  I'm thinking of aluminizing it or having it
> ceramic coated.  But unfortunately I won't have a 'winter storage season' 
> in
> which to do projects like this.  I'm riding my bike everywhere, every day
> and there is no winter down here of note.  (In eastern WA I would usually
> lay the bike up just before Thanksgiving and bring it back out sometime in
> late February, with my electric vest.)
>
> So anyway, if I do this project, I'll want to do it before the rust gets 
> any
> worse and corrodes any more metal off, and will want the bike to be out of
> commission for as little time as possible.  I have no idea what the
> turnaround time is for this kind of work.  I'm guessing a Saturday's worth
> of lazy wrench time to remove and replace the header, but I wonder how 
> fast
> the shop could get it done.
>
> What I'm contemplating is a coating like what Performance Coatings in 
> Auburn
> WA does: http://www.performancecoatings.com/index2.html  in Satin Black.
>
> Jeff