Spraying tired old exhaust headers

[barno]

My nice old bike has pretty tired exhaust headers, a little bit of minor rust here and there but only surface, nothing major

I wanted to tart it up a bit without taking the exhaust off (not really capable).

Wanted to get you guys thoughts on

1, give it a light wire brush
2., 250 or 300 sandpaper after that
3. a quick 600 sandpaper over it
4. 3 x coats of (can't remember the brand) matt black high temp paint suitable for engines

That sound about right?

And of course, mask everything else up before spraying haha
cheers
Barno

[Sable]

Just sand the rust off, give it a good clean with solvents and spray it. It's an exhaust, not a piece of bodywork and you'll find it'll rust again eventually anyway.

[cbfb]

It's not too hard at all taking the exhaust off, I would give that some thought if you're thinking of spraying otherwise it will take you more time masking everything off to avoid overspray. The last one I remember doing was on my Bandit and that was real easy.

[Chancebmx25]

Take it off bro, strip it, polish it, then clear lacquer it. Or js use vht high temp paint. Think about it. Take it off for starters

[barno]

I'm not very confident about taking the pipes off. It's an old bike and I don't know if I'd need to get any kind of replacement gaskets or anything like that. Last thing I'd want is to have a bike I couldn't ride cos I couldn't get the pipes back on or something stupid like that!!

I have the high temp engine paint ready to go, along with the wire brush and wife's wedding dress as an overspray masking cloth haha.

[Hoon]

I just wire brushed mine, rust remover spray, wash it and a couple coats of black VHT paint.

You'll never be able to work/spray it properly without taking it off. My advice is to either learn to take them off or find someone who can. Make the difference between spending the whole day and ending up with a shit looking job, or a great looking job that only took an hour or two.

[unstuck]

I just wire brushed mine, rust remover spray, wash it and a couple coats of black VHT paint.

You'll never be able to work/spray it properly without taking it off. My advice is to either learn to take them off or find someone who can. Make the difference between spending the whole day and ending up with a shit looking job, or a great looking job that only took an hour or two.

AGREED. Would suggest getting new gasket(s) before taking the pipe off though.

[cbfb]

I'm not very confident about taking the pipes off. It's an old bike and I don't know if I'd need to get any kind of replacement gaskets or anything like that. Last thing I'd want is to have a bike I couldn't ride cos I couldn't get the pipes back on or something stupid like that!!

I have the high temp engine paint ready to go, along with the wire brush and wife's wedding dress as an overspray masking cloth haha.

Hmmm, I would make sure you can get replacement gaskets before you take the pipes off as has been said, but I didn't bother replacing mine last time I did it. I would be very suprised if you can't find some somewhere for your bike.

[barno]

That's good advice. I'll get hunting.

As far as I can see, there's 8 bolts holding the 4 pipes onto the engine, gasketed I expect, and a few leading under the bike holding the rest in place.