The exhaust on the CX is more-or-less mechanically sound, but the chrome is nasty.
I did the SOS/Oven Cleaner thing and it cleaned it up a lot, but in some places (10-15% of the surface) the rust has eaten entirely through the chrome plating, leaving pits down to the base metal. Also, on both mufflers, there are two spots where the inner baffle appears to have been spot or plug welded to the outer skin and those have rusted nearly all the way through and bubbled the chrome in an area about the size of a dime. The head pipes aren't horrible, just some speckling. I've treated everything with rust converter.
New mufflers aren't in the budget at the moment (Jeebus, they've gotten expensive!) so I've come up with a plan to make them a bit less ugly cosmetically.
Step One is to plug the major divots at the welds with Hi Temp JB Weld and sand them back to the outer contour. The JB product is advertised as being safe to 2400° so that shouldn't be a problem.
Step Two is to scuff things up with a ScotchBrite pad and paint the mufflers with VHT Gloss Black. Again, if you can believe the advertising, it should handle the temps okay.
I think the head pipes will be okay as is with a little buffing. Not sure I'd trust paint on them and I'm not a fan of the wrapped pipe look.
Comments/Suggestions/Experience welcomed. (Along with the usual rift of shat... )
I did the SOS/Oven Cleaner thing and it cleaned it up a lot, but in some places (10-15% of the surface) the rust has eaten entirely through the chrome plating, leaving pits down to the base metal. Also, on both mufflers, there are two spots where the inner baffle appears to have been spot or plug welded to the outer skin and those have rusted nearly all the way through and bubbled the chrome in an area about the size of a dime. The head pipes aren't horrible, just some speckling. I've treated everything with rust converter.
New mufflers aren't in the budget at the moment (Jeebus, they've gotten expensive!) so I've come up with a plan to make them a bit less ugly cosmetically.
Step One is to plug the major divots at the welds with Hi Temp JB Weld and sand them back to the outer contour. The JB product is advertised as being safe to 2400° so that shouldn't be a problem.
Step Two is to scuff things up with a ScotchBrite pad and paint the mufflers with VHT Gloss Black. Again, if you can believe the advertising, it should handle the temps okay.
I think the head pipes will be okay as is with a little buffing. Not sure I'd trust paint on them and I'm not a fan of the wrapped pipe look.
Comments/Suggestions/Experience welcomed. (Along with the usual rift of shat... )