Well, many of you know that Brahma had a heart transplant this January. The Viking exhaust system I put on awhile back has unprotected headers and I have burned quite a few holes in my pants. Well, since my old tune on the wore out engine was lean and discolored the chrome horribly, and my mistreatment of the bike in general by keeping it outside all its life, the headers are also now rusting. So, to cover my lack of care and to protect my pants, I wrapped the headers today.
Disclaimer: this is my first attempt and I believe I will redo this wrap later with a titanium wrap vice this painful fiberglass wrap. The Hi-Temp Silicone coating that came with the kit is white, not the color I want.
Also, I did not take the pipes off the bike before wrapping. This would make for an easier wrap but added wrench time.
The outside temp is around 45°F, Pretty Pillion was going to help but I told her to stay inside for the temp and because I didn't want her to handle the fiberglass wrap. Even using gloves, I got fiber stuck in my hands, no fun.
To start with, the three bikes in the front of the house. Buzzy is under the cover, Rex is almost unseen in the back.
A close up shows the corrosion.
I started on the back pipe as low as I could get.
The YouTube folks tell me measuring is one of the hardest things to do for this task. I only had six inches of overage so good.
The metal bands were a bit fiddly but doable.
I should have started the middle wrap below the first collection point. If I do this again with a titanium wrap, I will start over both the back and middle tube before going up the center pipe.
Those YouTbue guys told me to loop the wrap for the long piece to keep it easy. Yeah, that didn't last long.
I did not soak the fiberglass wrap before application. The instructions did not say to, but I am told on other forums that I could have got tighter wraps if I did and less fibers going around. I did try to keep at least a quarter wrap overlap throughout.
Disclaimer: this is my first attempt and I believe I will redo this wrap later with a titanium wrap vice this painful fiberglass wrap. The Hi-Temp Silicone coating that came with the kit is white, not the color I want.
Also, I did not take the pipes off the bike before wrapping. This would make for an easier wrap but added wrench time.
The outside temp is around 45°F, Pretty Pillion was going to help but I told her to stay inside for the temp and because I didn't want her to handle the fiberglass wrap. Even using gloves, I got fiber stuck in my hands, no fun.
To start with, the three bikes in the front of the house. Buzzy is under the cover, Rex is almost unseen in the back.
A close up shows the corrosion.
I started on the back pipe as low as I could get.
The YouTube folks tell me measuring is one of the hardest things to do for this task. I only had six inches of overage so good.
The metal bands were a bit fiddly but doable.
I should have started the middle wrap below the first collection point. If I do this again with a titanium wrap, I will start over both the back and middle tube before going up the center pipe.
Those YouTbue guys told me to loop the wrap for the long piece to keep it easy. Yeah, that didn't last long.
I did not soak the fiberglass wrap before application. The instructions did not say to, but I am told on other forums that I could have got tighter wraps if I did and less fibers going around. I did try to keep at least a quarter wrap overlap throughout.
I've always liked the look of heat color bands.
