Dave wrote on 01/02/22 at 15:54:23:


I see, I guess I'll just live with rusty exhaust

It's beyond me why manufacturers use mild steel with chrome plating instead of just going with stainless to begin with.

Or is there just a stainless steel muffler that works with our bikes, I can get the rest of the pipe made.

I might also add that a single wall SS tube will discolor with heat greatly.  It will eventually turn a brownish, golden, bluish color that is not necessarily pretty.  Here is a picture of the muffler system I built for my Baja Bug (running a Subaru motor) out of stainless - this discoloration is from welding the tubing together.  It has not been run yet in this pic.  Gives you an idea of what the color will end up as.

OCH:

It looks like you are well equipped to make your own exhaust system from stainless.

I have bought stainless from Burns and they are a great company.....I have also bought stainless from Cone Engineering, and they make a line of stainless mufflers for motorcycles.  For street use you will want to use the Quiet Core mufflers.....the others are straight through and really won't do much to keep the noise down to acceptable levels.
https://www.coneeng.com/

If you want to build your own muffler that is quiet and flows great, DragBikeMike has an entire thread dedicated to building mufflers that kill the noise while keeping the flow rate up.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1609379913

I have seen the factory stainless exhaust system on Ducati and BMW that turn brown - however I do have a bit of experience with stainless exhaust systems on my Honda NT700, and the stainless system was not hard to keep shiny, it just needed to be cleaned/polished once a year to keep the brown away.  The same is true of the stainless system on my F800GT - I polished it 14,000 miles ago and it still looks good.....it does have a slight yellow tint but it is still shiny.  I used Burns Manifold Destiny to clean it - I don't see it on the Burns Website anymore.  I don't use expensive microfiber cloths for polishing - I use old socks, flannel sheets, old T-shirts, etc.  Bar Keepers Friend also works fine on stainless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM9WDK105Bk

I recently bought a used Akropovic stainless header for my R1200RT.  It came from a GS model and it was very brown after 40,000 miles of use.  I sanded and polished it and it is now very shiny, and I will attempt to keep it nice looking.  I did a process called Citric Acid Passification where you mix Citric Acid to a 4-10% concentration by weight and you soak the stainless for 30 minutes and then rinse it off.  The process is supposed to neutralize any impurities in the stainless that will rust or discolor it - and make the stainless more resistant to discoloration......I don't know if it helps with heat but I thought it was worth a try.  I got the Citric Acid at Walmart where they have the products for canning food.  So far I have only ridden about 70 miles after installing it and the weather has been cool - but it has not yet started to get any tint (I suspect it will as the miles increase and summer heat returns........or I have to sit at a long traffic light or get stuck in a traffic jam).

Dave wrote on 01/03/22 at 02:43:50:


If you want to mechanically polish it, you need a machine like this, they come with different belts, and you can do #8 mirror finish or #4 or #6 brushed finishes. They run for about $150 on amazon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlAEF0KEB50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhARKPkCaBg

I did the passification at home using Citric Acid.  Evidently the home version is used by the folks who brew beer to keep their stainless pots from corroding.

It looks good now that it is done - I just don't know how long it will stay like that!  But as you say......it won't rust or the chrome won't peel.

I recently had a header ceramic coated black by local paint/ceramic shop here in Jersey not far from NYC. They charged 75.00 to do it. I do have a dyna muffler, as well as a chrome VooDoo slash cut with some blueing available. The VooDoo is pretty new, blued  almost instantly. It could probably be ceramic coated black, but it’s probably cheaper to buy a new black one.

A Savage without baffles is obnoxiously loud, and I’m a ride loud, ride safe adherent. Also it just sounds sick, read not sic, without any baffles. It’s like a whiny lawnmower.

This guy lives 20 miles from me, mechanical genius/fabricator. Never had a reason to visit, don't wish to intrude. Sad, he had a trailer with an aermacchi 350 roadracer stolen awhile back.