Exhaust header operating temp?

[Finbarr]

hi there - my exhaust headers are showing signs of going through seven winters and need refurbishment. I'm seriously looking at ceramic coating but am also considering heat resistant paint. The paint I've spec-ed is good for 600C but I wonder if this is high enough? It's apparently designed for exhaust manifolds, but to me 600C doesn't seem very high.

Anyone know what temperature the exhaust headers actually run at?

Kind regards,
Fin.

 

[ppgser]

Temp

You can light a cigarette on them. Have to stop first which is a pain.

 

[CuzGS]

Give Jono at the ABW a bell, hes covered his with a protective thingy, looks good too

 

[(RIP) Tunneruk]

I would imagine that stove enamel might be up to it.

You could always wrap them, some might say there's a certain coolness about that

 

[ducatiparts.110mb]

When I left mine idling for 10 mins the pipes were cherry red - 770dec C.

 

[theop]

You can light a cigarette on them. Have to stop first which is a pain.

don't have to stop if you don't have a helmet to remove. I light up and smoke on the go when in Greece in the summer all the time. Just have to be a wee quick to drag the first puff while the paper is still burning.

 

[magicstu]

don't have to stop if you don't have a helmet to remove. I light up and smoke on the go when in Greece in the summer all the time. Just have to be a wee quick to drag the first puff while the paper is still burning.

Nutters!! !!

 

[uncle dick]

It's the thermal expansion that'll make it fall off first

 

[ppgser]

An Aeroflow lets you light up on the move but from the headers.. respect.

 

[Finbarr]

Many thanks for the replies folks - I've done a bit more digging, and as someone on this thread has stated, cherry red sits somewhere between 700~800 deg C (experts seem to disagree on specifics).

It's pretty rare that I get my pipes that hot (I don't smoke!) so the process I'm looking at includes light shot blasting to get rid of any burned on rubbish and just tidy them up a bit, followed by thee separate applications of ceramic heat paint good to 600 Deg C all day everyday, with occasional peaks to 800 deg C. Each coat will be oven baked at 200 deg C to cure.

To get both headers and the Y piece done, I've been quoted £200 by Amwell Blast Coatings in Ware, near Hertford in Hertfordshire. It should take about five days.

I initially considered wrapping, but these apparently get tatty quite quickly and give the bike a retro look I'm really not looking for.

The other option was ceramic coatings - there is an outfit in Didcot (near Oxford) that quoted me £600 for a similar spec to the paint I'm going with. This is the low-end of their product range.

If the paint doesn't work out I may we revisit this and go the ceramic coating route, but it is more money and takes a bit longer for no great improvement as far as I can see.

I'll post my findings on or around the 10th of Jan when the paint work should be complete.

Many thanks to those that replied, Merry Crimbo and happy new one.

Speak soon - cheers,
Fin.

 

[MikeO]

Hi Fin,

Unless prices have gone up crazily since 2005, you should be shopping elsewhere. Camcoat charged me £120ish (from memory - certainly not above £200) to do my headers inside and out - same as Johnny Boxer had done (do a search for Ceramic Coating).

JB seems to be getting on well with his, though I don't believe he rides in the winter - mine flaked off after a week's trip to the Highlands one February. Camcoat said that it was clear my headers had regularly got hotter than 900 deg C and they recoated in them in their ultra high temp ceramic coating, which unfortunately only comes in matt black...

Mike

PS I'm curious as to how you know your pipes don't get that hot...

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hi Fin,

Unless prices have gone up crazily since 2005, you should be shopping elsewhere. Camcoat charged me £120ish (from memory - certainly not above £200) to do my headers inside and out - same as Johnny Boxer had done (do a search for Ceramic Coating).

JB seems to be getting on well with his, though I don't believe he rides in the winter - mine flaked off after a week's trip to the Highlands one February. Camcoat said that it was clear my headers had regularly got hotter than 900 deg C and they recoated in them in their ultra high temp ceramic coating, which unfortunately only comes in matt black...

Mike

PS I'm curious as to how you know your pipes don't get that hot...

10,000 miles up and mine look as good as day 1 !

I don't ride in winter, but my bike has seen plenty of water & road dirt through summer

I also clean my bike to a high standard after every trip & have seen no degradation to the Camcoat finish.

Headers only cost me £85

I don't ride on salty roads & have a fender extender & extra mudflap to reduce road crap on headers/front cover

HTH

 

[theop]

Many thanks for the replies folks - I've done a bit more digging, and as someone on this thread has stated, cherry red sits somewhere between 700~800 deg C (experts seem to disagree on specifics).

It's pretty rare that I get my pipes that hot (I don't smoke!) so the process I'm looking at includes light shot blasting to get rid of any burned on rubbish and just tidy them up a bit, followed by thee separate applications of ceramic heat paint good to 600 Deg C all day everyday, with occasional peaks to 800 deg C. Each coat will be oven baked at 200 deg C to cure.

To get both headers and the Y piece done, I've been quoted £200 by Amwell Blast Coatings in Ware, near Hertford in Hertfordshire. It should take about five days.

I initially considered wrapping, but these apparently get tatty quite quickly and give the bike a retro look I'm really not looking for.

The other option was ceramic coatings - there is an outfit in Didcot (near Oxford) that quoted me £600 for a similar spec to the paint I'm going with. This is the low-end of their product range.

If the paint doesn't work out I may we revisit this and go the ceramic coating route, but it is more money and takes a bit longer for no great improvement as far as I can see.

I'll post my findings on or around the 10th of Jan when the paint work should be complete.

Many thanks to those that replied, Merry Crimbo and happy new one.

Speak soon - cheers,
Fin.

if you going to spend £200 monkeying around with the old rusty tubes, why don't get a proper used akrapovic set on ebay?

 

[theop]

An Aeroflow lets you light up on the move but from the headers.. respect.

very tricky to light up with a regular lighter... Best things are those glow ones, but othrwise exhaust will do

 

[Nutty]

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

if you going to spend £200 monkeying around with the old rusty tubes, why don't get a proper used akrapovic set on ebay?

He rides a 1150GS

Nobody makes aftermarket headers for the R1150GS, so your only choice is original BMW

New ones are £400 for a pair

 

[B4ndit]

I took another route. My bike is 10 years old and covered 65000 miles. I bought it during the summer and it was pretty manky all round. After spending lots of time replacing things the only bad parts I had left were the exhaust down pipes.

I spent absolutely ages with a tube of cutting paste I had lying around rubbing the exhaust. It was black and pretty sorry looking. Okay it doesn't look like new now but its come up pretty good. Every once in a while now I clean it with lustre lace.

It seems its just the front down pipes that suffer as the rest of the exhaust looks like new. Must be the crap off the road getting thrown over them.

Food for thought. And it might save you some money.

 

[Finbarr]

PS I'm curious as to how you know your pipes don't get that hot...

Well, to be fair, I don't know for sure - I'm simply working on the theory that they get cherry red three times every seven years and that cherry red is around 700~800 deg C. I don't have any imperical evidence of this, it's all supposition based on "he said ... she said" anecdotal stories from others and my own occasional observations.

To me, it comes down to paint or ceramics and the only local-ish company I can find is these guys: http://www.zircotec.com/page/-_primary_range/91

Their quote was £600 and ten days for both headers and the y-piece.
Hence I'm going to try the paint option first. That was quoted at £100 per tube (50mm tube at 1 metre length), so I figured £200 as a rough estimate - it may work out cheaper.

It's true that a week of rubbing with polish will get them looking pretty smart, the problem is, I can't be bothered with a weeks worth of rubbing only to have them deterioate after a few weeks of commuting into and out of London on salty roads again. My 1150GS is an 03 and has done 85,000 miles (all mine), some of which are off-road.

The attraction of the paint is the low on-going matenance that they offer.
I'm very happy to consider alternatives and if you guys can think of alternate vendors that will do ceramic coating inside and out for less than £600, then I'm all ears!

Thank you for the replies!

Kind regards,
Fin.

PS: going to do a servoectomy tomorrow! Wish me luck...

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Their quote was £600 and ten days for both headers and the y-piece.
Hence I'm going to try the paint option first. That was quoted at £100 per tube (50mm tube at 1 metre length), so I figured £200 as a rough estimate - it may work out cheaper.

The attraction of the paint is the low on-going matenance that they offer.
I'm very happy to consider alternatives and if you guys can think of alternate vendors that will do ceramic coating inside and out for less than £600, then I'm all ears!

Thank you for the replies!

Kind regards,
Fin.

PS: going to do a servoectomy tomorrow! Wish me luck...

Read my post, it cost me £85

If someone wants £600

I'd spend £400 on brand new BMW headers, fit a fender extender and large mudflap

 

[ppgser]

You could buy two prostitutes, three bottles of champagne some drugs and a bike for the winter for £600. for god's sake!