Exhaust blueing

Yes there is.............its called Elbow Grease. It is possible to polish out/off the bluing but this is achieved at the cost of the top layer of the Chrome plating. Which of course will assist the bluing in returning even faster due to the thinner metal. One of those 'no-win' situations.

There are allegedly coatings you can get applied to new pipes but it has to be done before fitting. Nothing worse than going to a bike show and seeing all those clean chrome pipes showing which bikes are trailer queens. Its a badge of honour not a disgrace .

Frost stock a product calledBlue Away that that comes in a tube and then you polish on and it is meant to remove the bluing on exhaust pipes. Another way to stop it is to spray the inside of the exhaust pipes with car manifold of exhaust pipe heat resistant paint, and this should stop the exhaust pipes from blueing. This is a per the INOA Commando notes in their brillant book.

Some time back, pipes from "Armours" resistedblueing very well. I asked them why and they said they leave out the initial copper plating and add more nickellayers before the final chroming.....Can't think why chemically this prevents blueing but it does seem to...From the posts below this does not now seem to be the case....alas

If pipes are already blued you canreduce the colour just a touch by abradingaway the surface oxidised skin with Solvol Autosol....noting that the chrome layer is extremely thin and you will get down to the nickel under layer quite quickly.

Les

Previously les_howard wrote:

Pipes from "Armours" don't blue. I asked them why and they said they leave out the initial copper plating and add more nickellayers before the final chroming.....Can't think why chemically this prevents blueing but it does seem to...

If pipes are already blued you canreduce the colour just a touch by abradingaway the surface oxidised skin with Solvol Autosol....noting that the chrome layer is extremely thin and you will get down to the nickel under layer quite quickly.

Les

Hmmm. My nice new Armours pipes have blued within 100 miles!

My Armours standard pipes have blued at the top aftyer 900 miles, Whereas my RGM 2 into 1 was absolutely fine after roughly the same mileage. I don't recall any Dominator pipes that I bought in the 60s and 70s going blue.

In 1976 I purchased some swept backs, from Armours, for my bike but the tube curved angles were wrong at the silencer end. Somewhere between an SS and standard head. You can see in the 2002 White Atlas photo where they were previously heated to correct the angle. Note that there is no bluing or rusting near the head after 30 years and 90,000 miles of use. These pipes were made from very thick tubing.

Hi Terence, I have heard that spraying the inside of the header pipe (at the head end)with heat resistant paint will prevent the pipe from blueing. I know it's too late for your pipes, but I have tried it on one of my restorations and so far, no blueing.

Again, a bit late for existing pipes but with new pipes 'Kreem Blue Shield' worked for me on my BSA Rocket Three exhaust manifold and downpipes. It's best to apply a number of coats on the inside of the pipes allowing about 24 hours between coats. The downpipes have remained as new and the manifold is just very slightly 'tainted'.

Point noted about the Armours pipes Tom And Phil. Maybe they are made differently now then?..I don't know but I'll change my previous message to incorporate your findings...Thanks....Les

PS The reason that Armours gave as regarding the plating process they use (No copper .....extra thick Nickel) does seem to have some credence to it....Copper has a thermal conductivity of 401 whereas Nickel has just a conductivity of 91. So if you leave out the copper and replace its thickness (plus a bit more) with Nickel you are going to transfer less heat to the chrome outer skin which is cooled by the surrounding air. It is only when a very high temperature is reached that chrome begins to oxidise and blue. And by the way,other causes of high exhaust pipe temperature are:

1) Too lean a fuel mixture

2) Retarded ignition.

3) Revving an engine when stationary (no air flow)

So, before anyone blames the pipes quality or lack of it, one must be certain that the engine is not running out of tune and producing excessively high exhaust gas temperatures!

les