Does anyone know if it is possible to get the original finish back on a standard set of 900S/L exhaust cans? I have a set that are fairly scratched (not deep ones) and would like to get them looking better. I have searched the 'net and can't find anything...... Any help/advice welcome please! Cheers, Steve.
If they are anodised aluminium, you have a fair amount of work ahead of you.......the anodising is hard, so it will take ages to rub out the scratches........once done, you will have shiny back to ally patches, so you then ask do you re-anodise or keep polishing............If you re-anodise you will have to remove the original first..... .....oven cleaner will get a lot off, but you have to watch what the oven cleaner is doing to the ally as well......it eats it. Then you have to decide if you are going to DIY anodising ( I think these people do a kit High Quality Tools and Equipment | Frost Auto Restoration Techniques) or you have to get a specialist to do it. On the other hand, you could always go for some appropriate ally tube, remove the old can and rivet new ones on.....or do it in carbon fibre...............PJ Engineering - Home Page - Manufacturers & suppliers of High Temp. Carbon Fibre, Stainless & Titanium Tubes and Performance Motorcycle Exhaust parts in Lincolnshire, UK My cans got tatty so I switched to carbon. AL
I've just refurbished a set of original low level cans this week. It's easier if you remove the ali tube. I took mine apart as I'm in the middle of removing the baffles and loudening them up a bit. First drill out and chisel off the 3 rivets in the end pipe. Then with a flat chisel gently tap the end section off. I then used a big socket on the floor and with both hands pull the tube downwards whilst slamming the whole thing down on to the socket. Make sure the hanger bracket has been removed as this holds the tube on. It's stiff at first but persevere and the tube will come off. You now have the inlet pipe and internal baffles, the end piece, and the tube all separated. I converted my bench grinder at work, spent £40 on supplies, then set about restoring it. The stainless inlet and outlets came up shiny real easy. I used a medium scotchbrite wheel on the ali. The ali is tricky but go slow and steady and it comes out looking good. It's shiny but had a satin finish. Hopefully it will dull down over time. I managed to get a good even finish on the tube and removed all scratches. Fortunately they were in pretty good nick to start with but there was one long scratch which came out easily. I may get them anodised later if the finish isn't satisfactory. Now that I know how easy it is to get them apart I won't be bothered if I have to strip them again. I can't send a pic at the moment as they are having some welding work done to remove the baffles.
Thanks Al & Gilps for your help and advice. I think self anodising is beyond me but I will look into maybe having it done by someone who can do it. I would like to see a photo of your Gilps when they come back if you can? The pipes are rather tatty looking and I may well have a go at improving them. Thanks very much. Steve.
Okay, just picked up my cans from the welders. They're not fully back together yet as they've picked up a couple of marks during the modification process so I need to go over them again before final assembly. This is what they look like currently. Should look good when they're on. Can't wait to hear what they sound like.
Fyi this is what a cored out can looks like before I put it back together. That's wire wool wrapped around 1 3/4" perf tube, with all baffles removed and the tube welded front and back, with a thin strip of metal left in place to joint the front section to the rear and to retain the mounting points.
my original cans had a baines bora conversion to do the same thing. yours will sound absolutely awesome
A few weeks ago I contacted Baines as I had heard about the Bora conversion. They said they would look in to it, dropped me an email a week later to say they were still looking in to it, then when I heard nothing more I emailed them but they didn't reply and I've still not heard from them. That's when I decided to do the job myself. It's been relatively painless and fairly cheap too, even after paying to get the welding and cutting done. After putting the whole thing back together, I'm not 100% happy with the finish on the alloy tubes, so I'm going to look into getting them anodised. They're just too shiny.
Thanks for posting the photos. They don't look that shiny in the photos. It would be interesting to know how much it will cost to get them anodised. Cheers, Steve.
I've found a place close by in Wootton Bassett so I'll give them a call Tuesday. Their web site gives a guide price of £40 "per run" whatever that means so hopefully that's the price to get both done. I'll keep you posted.
Here's where I got lazy. My plan was to do most of the donkey work myself by cutting out the baffles, purchasing the perf tube and packing online, then get someone on-site where I work to weld the tube in. Cost of parts would be about 40-50 plus maybe 30 for the welder. Then the welder on site suggested Bells exhausts whose factory is just over the road from our estate. Anyway, they cut the baffles, recommended 1 3/4 tube, welded it in but added a section at each end of the tube to give a better fit, crimped the tube in places to force the gases out in to the packing to give a little sound deadening, wrapped it in wire wool, and will do the final riveting when I have reassembled it, total cost 144 plus vat. It was well worth the extra just for the advice on tube size and to save me the cutting job.
I called them initially. It was them who asked me to email my request. I don't mind that they can't help, but I could have done without the 2 week delay caused whilst I waited for a response before deciding to do ityself. Their loss.
Thanks Gilps, just in the process of coring an exhuaust (not an SS) and I wanted get a bunch of quotes to see hw much I should be paying.
Sounds like a lot of money just for that work, TBH. Most of which you could have done yourself, apart from the welding.
You are right, sort of, and that was my original plan. However, after talking to these guys, who make performance exhausts for cars and bikes and seem to know their stuff, they recommended using 1 3/4" perf. If you trawl the web there's a few threads where people seem to use 2" perf, mainly I think because it's easier to weld at each end due to the size of the inlet and outlet. I wanted to use 1 3/4", based on their recommendations for noise vs. performance. They didn't want to splay/spread the 1 3/4 perf as it tends to split when you do that, so they fitted a piece of 2" tube at each end, spread it slightly to make the joint to the ends, then compressed it down to 1 3/4" to make the weld to the perf. They have also crimped the perf at certain points. Apparently this causes the gases to move around and exit the perf in to the sound deadening material, rather than just shooting straight out of the back. This gives some needed back pressure and sound lowering. I know it's still not huge amounts of work, but I priced the materials at about £40, so its cost me about £100 for them to do the cutting and welding. After what this rebuild has cost me so far, I can live with that.
More Pics Man! Also, any idea how loud they are / will be? I've got a set that will need a re-furb would like to get them a bit more free-flowing whilst keeping them well under the 105db track day limits Also also, was it the place in Bassett that ended up doing them? I'm only 10 mins down the road so they could be handy :wink:
