how to avoid blueing on pipes?

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Lorenzo

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I know: blueing on pipes may be quite nice, but in my case it would be "oranging" because I am going to mount stainless steel pipes and I believe many of you would agree it is not that great..

now, I have one question: I heard that it is possible to coat the pipes when they are new, so that they will keep the chrome shine looking without any colouring. Unfortunately, I could not understand what is the procedure to do it..

Any help would be very apreciated, thank you!
 
Best is don't start the fire in the first place. Old school was grease or engine paint layers to cook/coke an insulating layer, for as long as that lasts. Newer way is cermaic coating, best done on brand new header either just inside or outside too, which means no more chrome showing anymore. Aluminized coats look like old school folding lawn chair tubes finish. Most big bikes have a cover over the real piples.
 
Hey Lorenzo,
Very difficult to avoid. Get timing and Carburation right before fitting the new pipes.
Good luck, AC.
 
If you will use standard pipes (no double walls, ignition timing set properly) and they are still not getting coloured your carb setting is way too rich :!:
Lorenzo I also have a set of stainless pipes they became kind of goldish/bronze and match well with the bronze exhaust lockrings.
 
For new pipes I buy the highest heat BBQ paint I can find and pour it in the pipes, swirl it around until well coated, then drain it back to the can. That has kept all my new pipes from bluing. Not much to do with used pipes though unless you can somehow clean them out really well.
 
lrutt said:
For new pipes I buy the highest heat BBQ paint I can find and pour it in the pipes, swirl it around until well coated, then drain it back to the can. That has kept all my new pipes from bluing. Not much to do with used pipes though unless you can somehow clean them out really well.

I have been speaking with a company specialized in powdercoating and they are used to use a special ceramic coating which is superior to the BBQ paint. Their problem for doing it inside the pipes is that they should sandblast the surface for better grasping the paint - which is difficult to do on the surface inside the pipes..

any suggestion or comment?

ps. of course, my pipes are still brand new and never mounted..
 
lrutt said:
For new pipes I buy the highest heat BBQ paint I can find and pour it in the pipes, swirl it around until well coated, then drain it back to the can. That has kept all my new pipes from bluing.
Lorenzo said:
I have been speaking with a company specialized in powdercoating and they are used to use a special ceramic coating which is superior to the BBQ paint.

Not saying a ceramic coating wouldn't be better than paint, but considering the cost difference and how successful the paint application is, I'd not spend the extra money. We tried to maximize the paint's adhesion by using the gas tank cleaning technique of swishing small sheet metal screws and gasoline back and forth inside the pipes and then drying/painting and it always worked very well at preventing subsequent bluing.
 
nortonspeed said:
If you will use standard pipes (no double walls, ignition timing set propperly) and they are still not getting coloured your carb setting is way too rich :!:
Lorenzo I also have a set of stainless pipes they became kind of goldish/bronze and match well with the bronze exhaust lockrings.

Sounds like nortonspeed is the only one who knows....
If you run the exhaust "cold" by running the carbs horribly rich you can avoid turning the pipes color. If you get the jetting "right" before OR after putting new pipes you WILL turn the pipes color. NO amount of pipe coating will prevent it... only delay color change. Only chance of preventing it is if you run the bike around town only like a moped. If you actually produce over 25HP like going down the highway 80mph or up a steep grade..... blue/gold pipes you will have....eventually.
In not much more than 60 seconds on the dyno the pipes will glow in the dark if the bike is tuned and makes any decent non destructive power. At that temp you will color change chrome or stainless. Stainless mostly can be buffed out.
It's what you learn when you run a dyno...
 
Proper tuned Cdo will require choke or tickle, which specially only fills the pilot mixing chamber w/o flooding anything, or its too rich once warmed. Can get stuff like Blue Job and rub off the stained/oxided chrome but leaves finish disctinct satin dull, which to me looks worse than shiny smooth blued. You can repolish the section of course, ugh. Face it our Norton don't rev to 10K nor live w/o some heat use evidence. Makes me wonder if a market for double wall pipes or fancy header covers. Welled tuned air cooled push rods make best power when EGT gets into uppeer 1300 to lower 1400 F. If ones ign. time is off much it can turn pipes cheery red transparent in seconds all the way to the muffler entry. In '04 Ohio rally a hand full of famous experts and me got to see this a number of times before whole camp woke up to shut off our horrific noises.
 
Yeah, blueing is a function of making good power with a proper tune.

I used to think blueing was because of the copper plating that is a substrate to the chromium but then somehow/someplace I was told that that ain't so.
 
I like my whiskey aged, women with experience and pipes that have color!
 
Get your pipes made , linished and plated by Paul Bryant of Viking Exhausts in New Zealand, I have had mine since the end of January, first big trip out after fitting the same day was 1300 km over that next weekend and many rides of 250 km or more every weekend that I am home.
Timing and carburation is correct, just a slight honey colour right at the head is all I have. Paul maintains it is in the linishing and prep as much as a good chrome job.
Regards Mike
 
Lorenzo
I find the yellowing of stainless pipes distasteful on a British Bike. If the pipes have not been used you can have them flash chromed by some platers. This process involves putting a very thin coating of chrome directly on the stainless. This has the advantage that the pipes will eventually blue rather than yellow which is more traditional and in keeping with a Norton.
ando
 
I got my headers made 32 years ago , to this day they have never been blue, they have a slite gold colour but no blue, I have done over 120,000 miles with these headers and if I give them a good polish they will come close to the chrome that was put on them after I got them made, but after all this time they are starting to get thin in places, I braised up one hole about 10 years ago, to me blue pipes mean they are running too lean, but that my opion.

Ashley
 
I knew a guy once who had a number of exhaust pipes re-chromed for bikes he restored. He had the plater skip the copper plate and only use nickel and chromium over the steel. Then they did not blue or blister, they just got a bit of a golden brown.
 
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