Topic: header wrap on a 76 cb550 cafe racer

[nhugheslp640]

i just bought a 76 cb550 cafe racer. the bike looks good but the header is getting a few places of rust on it. i thought about wrapping the header but i have read that doing so will cause the header to rust and possibly cause other problems. has anyone done this, and if so how did it go. this is my first bike in over ten years so its been a while since ive worked on them

[Funkbyte]

I wrapped the pipes on my '75 550 and like the way they look and have had no problems. I have not taken the wrap off to check on the rust issue so I don't know about that. The wrap does help hide anything existing and give a tougher cafe look. I would suggest hitting them with the high temp paint afterword to help hold the wrap tight and give better color to it.
I would suggest to do a dry wrap first to get the right length and also be aware that it will increase the overall size of the pipes. I had to work a little bit to get my exhaust flanges to fit correctly after putting on the wrap but it was worth it in the looks dept. Let me know how it goes, I always love to see other 550 cafes.

[razor02097]

Never wrapped a motorcycle header but I can tell you that header wraps trap moisture and will rust out a pipe rather quick if you let the motor sit.  Header wrap isn't really suppose to cover rust or a cheap header its to try to move the heat through the header instead of heating the engine bay.  Also being on a bike you may have to re-wrap the header more often then if it was on a car due to kicked up road... stuff...

On an opinion note though header wrap looks great

[NickC]

Scuff it
Paint it
Wrap it
Ride it
 

[78CB750CAFE]

Scuff it
Paint it
Wrap it
Ride it
 

same formula has worked for me almost 2 years, and 10K miles

I just rolled back the first few inches last week to check mine and it looks just as good as when I did it.

Do a good job removing the rust and priming/painting it before the wrap and don't leave the damn bike out in the rain and you will be fine.