Topic: The Spring Attack has begun - Headerwrap Complete

[ProTeal55]

Hey ,

With the weather in the upper 60's today  , I had to work on the bike.
Gathering all these parts without putting them on thre bike was killing me.

I wrapped the pipes today, and am fairly happy with the results. I decided to do this while the pipes were on the bike,
much harder than if they were removed, but I had some time to kill , and wanted to enjoy the weather as much as I could.

The headerwrap was from Thermo-tech, which I picked up (at a discount ) from my old V-Twin shop. I highly recomend to anyone
who wants to do this to get the wider of the two wrap's. My job could of been cut in half if I got the wider stuff. 

All in all I think it came out ok. Looks much better than the peeling paint that was on there. Soaking the stuff in water allowed me to get a real tight wrap aginst the pipes, and kept the fiberglass dust to a min. I would also wear gloves, as I did, to keep this stuff away from your skin. If you have ever dealt with house insulation, you know what I mean....

After I was done , went for a quick ride. Didn't go to far becasue my front brake is at DRAGMAN's house, and the rear brake isn't enough in my book to stop the scoot safely.

[KCs76Cafe]

Looks good. Reminds me I have to do my header.

Did you ever get your front brake line figured out?

[Frankenkit]

Call me a newbie, but I've never seen header wrap, and I'm wondering what it does...

[KCs76Cafe]

Someone with a more technical answer will probally reply but it helps keep the heat in the pipes and off of the front of the engine. Plus if you have not so perfect pipes like mine.......it will hide the ugly. 

I've got to take my 4-1 off and media blast it then paint it with the 1500* flat black header paint, then ride it to cure the paint.

Just wondering.......I guess the sensible thing would be put the pipes back on and ride it to cure the paint......then do the wrap? Would be nice to get it all done at once though while the header is off of the bike.

Can you believe this pipe used to be chrome?

[MRieck]

Call me a newbie, but I've never seen header wrap, and I'm wondering what it does...

The exhaust gases don't cool as fast and it keeps velocity up.

[ProTeal55]

I've got to take my 4-1 off and media blast it then paint it with the 1500* flat black header paint, then ride it to cure the paint.
Just wondering.......I guess the sensible thing would be put the pipes back on and ride it to cure the paint......then do the wrap? Would be nice to get it all done at once though while the header is off of the bike.

If you are gonna wrap your pipes, I wouldn't even bother painting them. If you are doing the paint to "go over" the surface rust on that pipe you have, I can understand. If you are doing it to increase performance, dont bother. You won't gain anything by wrapping & painting....

Last fall I painted my pipes with many-a-coat of high temp enamel paint, and cured each coat with a few sec's of the bike running. I took the time and did the best job I could. All was good for about two weeks of normal riding, then it started flaking off, and became a ugly mess. Thus why I wrapped the pipes.

Did you ever get your front brake line figured out?

I have yet to get my completed front-end from DRAGMAN as of yet, so the brake line project/ordeal has yet to be started. I cant wait to have some nice dual disc up front. Riding today with no front brake at all was def. alittle on the scarry side...

[lassenc]

How wide is the wrap, and how long? I've got to pay ~15 USD pr. meter

[ProTeal55]

How wide is the wrap, and how long?

The wrap I bought was 1'' wide, and came black. If I were to do it again , I would def. get the wider size, as it would cut the overall time in half...After letting each "strip" sit in a bucket of water for awhile before putting in on the pipes, it turned to a dull grey, which is fine...I forgot how much came in each pack(I ordered two), but my cost was around $35 per package.

[Frankenkit]

Do you sand/clean the rust from the headers first before wrapping?  The only reason I ask is I'd think the wrapping would let water get trapped between it and the header itself (though I haven't actually seen it in action) lending itself to the production of more rust.

Thanks for humoring a noob!

-Kitsune

[KCs76Cafe]

Thats what I was thinking too Kitsune. 

Im going to media blast mine then paint with the header paint then wrap the front section. My header is about gone......not too much I can do but this. Its gonna take me awhile to save up for a new one.

[ProTeal55]

I would def. sand as much as the surface rust as possibile , and then coat with a high heat paint before wrapping. My pipes were in decent shape(no rust), I just couldn't take the flaking paint look.

Just a note. After painting, and wrapping your pipes. Dont be alarmed at the amount of smoke the first few times you start/run your bike with the wrap on the pipes.. It looked as if my bike was on fire , with all the water,paint, and other assorted crud buring off