Muffler Restoration

[PilotMarky]

Has anybody on the board been able to restore the lower mufflers and get them re-anodised?

I have some pretty deep scratches in mine, and the only way to fix is to completely sand them and rub scratches out. Unfortunately, this will also remove the anodising/coating.

I know if there is any steel in the parts for anodising that the anodiser will not do it.

Just wondering what people have done in the past for this?

Thanks,

[re5rotary]

Hi re anodising old aluminium is not always successful anyway. Even when you sand out all the pits and scratches corrosion in the alloy will often show up as pits after anodising. I made up new outer sleeves for mine and used the original endcap. Worked out really well regards Terry

[MK]

On the RZ 350 people often manufacture sleeves from Al, stainless or carbon fibre and shove them over the damaged cans.
Fixing was done with rivets or screw clamps. If stainless you could also weld it.

As far as I remember the 500 has Al cans, so don't try to weld stainless sleeves here

And just in case you would use tube material: I prefer sheet and a slip roll to exactly get the diameter needed.

[PilotMarky]

Cheers all... So far I have sanded the crap out of them and got all the scratches out... Maybe now I will paint silver or maybe ceramic coat.. Will keep you all posted.

[Ronnie]

If the scratches are rubbed out, rub some scotchbrite along them to regain the appearance. Works a treat. Only go left and right though, don't start going up and down

[PilotMarky]

Yep, got the texture sorted just need to protect it now with the right finish

[rd84]

I was thinking of using a clear etching lacquer on restored aluminium on my bike - does anyone have any thoughts or experience of this ? - would a clear engine or wheel lacquer be better ?

Cheers
Paul

[PilotMarky]

It's a tough one that. Getting things to look original especially. I clear powder coated a lot of my parts, like the fork lowers and triple clamps for example. I anodised the kick starter and swing arm. They look almost exactly like stock. That's why I am struggling with the mufflers because they are finished with what appears to be paint or something like. It was quite a tough finish as sanding it down took a fair bit of effort. Maybe it is ceramic?

[silverstrom]

Or save yourself some grief and just buy these http://www.ebay.com/itm/191636949475?ru ... 26_rdc%3D1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[2smoke]

They are anodised like the swingarm etc..
Personally I would find a paint match.
Maybe use flat or matt clearcoat.

[PilotMarky]

Haha! I have emailed Mariko to ask about scratches/dents already! Awaiting a response. They are normally pretty quick to get back to me. Got lots of parts from them.

I am thinking about taking it to a ceramic coating place. It's funny coz when you look closely at the ends there appears to be a bead of excessive coating around the edge. This leads me to believe it's some othe type of coating and not anodized.

[Speed Freak]

Has anyone tried to brush and anodize them afterwards?
This should get all corrosion out of the material and then it should look as good as new.

Are the RZV mufflers all stamped "51X"?
I guess only the 1GE bikes have 1GE stamped mufflers

I`m searching for at least one unscratched "1GE" stamped muffler to restore it.
Sadly my left one is scratched down at the welding area and my 2 spare parts from the second bike are opened and welded (ready to scrap them).
All 4 were already opened, i guess to make them louder


Maybe if it helps: My mufflers are at the moment "polished" aluminum - i guess they become like this if you polish the original finish.
They still have some original black paint on it, so i guess they are not grinded by the previous owners.

[PilotMarky]

From my experience, it seems to not be possible to re-anodise because of the steel contained in there in the form of the screw studs and the internals. The way they sanded leads me to believe it wasn't anodised originally. Next time I am working on the bike, I will take a picture of the end which shows a beading effect of whatever the finish is. This is what makes me think it is some form of paint/ceramic.

[Gary Papesh]

or you could use Boeshield T9 to coat the muffler once you have it sanded to your liking.

[2002tiil]

You could just turn the mufflers around so you can see the good part of it.