Still havent figured out what I want to do with my exhaust system. I know there is a leak at the port connecting to the cylinder as i see a bit  
smoke in front of the headlight when stopped at night. My muff has turned blue from running leaning. I am thinking a new muffler or perhaps painting the exhaust tomorrow just for shits and giggles. Will bbq paint work and will it hold? Any one have pics? How do I seal the the connection of exhaust to the cylinder?

I used high temp flat black on mine and it worked great, i also used header wrap to hide the blue pipe from the previous owner.

(sorry about the size, photobucket is being difficult)

Blinded by the light? thats the HID light i just installed.....very nice...

the nice part about flat paint is if you do get a scratch you can touch it up and never see the difference.

as far as sealing the pipe, use muffler putty (available at any part store) its a paste and hardens when it gets hot

Savage Eddie wrote on 05/21/09 at 21:31:20:



Looks good. I may go flat black but I like the glossy look on Jim's. The gloss may go better with my black tank with the chrome trim. In term of muffler putty, I used versachem hi-temp steel for connecting my muffler. It how broken after one season from all the bumps and pot holes in ottawa roads. Is this putty flexible?

If you're going to paint the whole pipe, header as well, you should use a paint designed for that purpose. Most auto parts stores offer a high temp ceramic based header paint, about $5 a can, although it only comes in flat black. If you have leak at the exhaust port you should try and get hold of a copper washer of some kind. You could make your own out of copper flashing available at Home Depot and such. The reason for copper is that it expands when heated to maintain a good seal.

I suppose it would be blasphemous to suggest going to your friendly local dealership and buying a new exhaust gasket. Most manuals say the gasket should be replaced with a new one every time the pipe is removed.

There is a lot of crush that occurs on that gasket when you tighten up on the exhaust bolts. I've been lucky to get only two or three pipe removals on a gasket before it starts to leak. When you get a new one match it up to the old one and see how much it has been compressed.

i think its supposed to burn a little at first. it cures when it gets hot. i dont think that was as bad as the smell from the header wrap. i stopped after 2 miles and i thought my bike was on fire!

Would painting the exhaust from the Header back cause any problems? I know you guys have painted the tail ends, but could you paint directly from the exhaust port from the engine?