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Rechroming silencers?

Submitted by michael_coare on Fri, 13/11/2020
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Nortons - General

I still have the pair of Dunstall Decibel silencers that I bought way back in the 70's. One's not too bad, but the other has quite a few places where the chrome has been scraped, is peeling around the exit, and generaly in a poor state.

Can anyone suggest a plater who might tackle them, as I read some while back that platers are reluctant to take them, because the goo inside contaminates their (expensive) solutions.

Now, they've not had a puff of smoke up'em in at least 30 years, and I am prepared to take the risk of a caustic or other chemical clean- after all, I have nothing to lose if they come out of the bath manky.

After all, we used to take the baffles out of our stinkwheels and clean them with caustic soda.....

Submitted by michael_coare on Sat, 14/11/2020

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Thanks Tony, I'll contact them and ask what they consider to be the most effective way to clean out the goo.

I still have a vivid memory of putting these silencers onto my Navigator after their being on my 99 caff racer. That Dommie was a right old oiler, worn guides etc. Taking the Navvy for a thrash down the local dual carriageway one night, looked behind me and the effect was like a pair of Roman Candles- great gushes of bright sparks shooting out the ends, as all the crud got burnt out-brilliant (literally)!

Happy days!

Submitted by michael_coare on Sat, 14/11/2020

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PS I just looked on their website which says

"We must also point out that when sending exhausts could you please clean them out, as the carbon can block our filters. You can clean your exhausts by putting a rubber bung either end and filling with petrol or thinners. You should then shake it daily for a week to remove all the carbon inside. Then just jet wash it out and we will do the rest."

I'll give that a go then.

Submitted by john_holmes on Sat, 14/11/2020

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Don't completely fill the silencer, you need some free space for the agitation to work, if you turn them over frequently all of the insides will be covered for most of the time even with 10% air.

Dunstall used the thinnest steel possible so don't be surprised that after chroming they are wafer thin, they normally rusted from the inside out in 2 years, no doubt yours were protected by an oily coating but the issue of the thin steel remains.

Submitted by ian_soady on Sat, 14/11/2020

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.. I've had silenecers and pipes chromed by my usual plater: http://www.chromefix.co.uk/. He doesn't make any stipulations about cleaning etc and he will also do wheel rims which most won't.

However, I had a quote from him for doing my Francis Barnett pipe and it worked out cheaper to buy a new one from Armours....

Note that it's almost impossible for them to remove rust etc from inside silencers so you may end up with blisters coming through.

Submitted by michael_coare on Sat, 14/11/2020

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Thanks for your comments guys.

I dont have any scales, but for a straight-through box, the Dunstall feels as weighty as a dommie silencer, so hopefully the case is still solid-ish. The rust is more of a surface pickling effect, as opposed to outright corrosion, except right at the lip.

I've looked on Yell, there are a few platers reasonably close to me (W London), a couple do mention cars/bikes, so I'll have a bash at cleaning them out, and get over to see them after lockdown.

 


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