next thing on my mental to-do list is to ensure the exhaust won't rust away. last year i had the bike sometimes outside over night and in the rain, and it already suffered a bit. nothing serious, but i also don't want it to get worse.
after seeing so many well documented builds and restorations here, i started to make a habit of keeping a camera handy. so here's some pictures.
a few brown specks on the muffler
and i think where the pipes go in the collector box can be a weak spot for gathering humidity
anyway, off with the thing!
here you see how it's gotten a bit dull, especially on the backside.
after washing off some road dust it's time to remove some of the surface rust. i'll use my trusted method of rubbing with cola and aluminium foil.
before cola:
after cola:
i hope you appreciate that i'm not wasting my cash on expensive brand cola for this exercise!
after this treatment i apply chrome polish. and now i coat it with tectyl. don't know if you have that stuff in the US: it leaves a clear coat of industrial wax that penetrates into crevices. hardly noticeable but a very good, long lasting protection. (also a #$%* to get off if you ever want to remove it)
at the moment i'm waiting for the first coat to harden, the spray on a second layer.