Should I bother removing my headers to clean them? - Page 2

**Beemerboff** · #16 7 Feb 2012

Back to the first post -on protecting a rusting exhaust.

I have a few cans of the MASTER Corporation's Nutcracker formula "Professional Strength Super Penetrant " - it was was being remaindered at a country store/gas station for a few bucks so I bought the lot.

It works exceptionally well as a penetrator, and it is also is an excellent rust converter - it turns rust blue/gray almost like a gun blue, and it seems to prevent the rust reforming too.

Just keep it away from naked flames------.

**estebangc** · #17 7 Feb 2012

If you end up changing the pipes and the bolts get snapped, I saw today. I have no idea how effective they are (has anyone tried it?), but it seems the tool. Welcome to www.aldn.com

***Touring Ted*** · #18 7 Feb 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by estebangc

If you end up changing the pipes and the bolts get snapped, I saw today. I have no idea how effective they are (has anyone tried it?), but it seems the tool. Welcome to www.aldn.com

They look like adapted 'easy outs'... Great for large diameter bolts but VERY tricky to use on an M6. I wouldn't even try on XT studs.

It requires very precise drilling and those extractors are VERY brittle so you have to be VERY careful.

If you snap the extractor, you might as well just carve yourself a new head out of a block of aluminium because it will be easier than trying to remove the broken extractor..

I've removed snapped studs by welding a nut onto the bolt. The heat from the welder also got the stud REALLY hot which made it wind out pretty easily.

**estebangc** · #19 7 Feb 2012

Ummm... thanks for the point, Ted. For a much easier thing (new and difficult for me yet) I was searching if "inverted thread screws" existed (whatever the right name) to use them after drilling and read that YES, there are, but the high risk was: they are extremely strong, so if you happen to break them, forget about drilling again, since the drill bit won't match their strength.

I guess that also applies to this tool...

***Touring Ted*** · #20 7 Feb 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by estebangc

Ummm... thanks for the point, Ted. For a much easier thing (new and difficult for me yet) I was searching if "inverted thread screws" existed (whatever the right name) to use them after drilling and read that YES, there are, but the high risk was: they are extremely strong, so if you happen to break them, forget about drilling again, since the drill bit won't match their strength.

I guess that also applies to this tool...

Yup... They are a last resort. I have used them successfully on smaller bolts but then again I had the bolt clamped up in a big vice and was using a proper Pillar Drill. I wouldn't dream of trying to drill out the middle of an M6 exhaust stud with a hand drill.. Especially with the head still on the bike.

**Beemerboff** · #21 7 Feb 2012

These things work well for PH /pozi / allen head screws that have been butchered, worn, rusted, etc - my mate does small engine / garden equipment repairs and he uses them a daily basis.

But I don't think they were ever meant for removing seized in studs.

I didnt even try to remove my broken studs myself, as I don't have a arc welder , I just paid up to have someone weld a nut on, before I tried something else and made mess of things.

Just my choice - but I will never know if it was a waste of $60- or $200- saved, but I liked the odds!

**bacardi23** · #22 9 Feb 2012

A welder toke you 60$ to weld 4 nuts? Are you kidding me? :O

**Beemerboff** · #23 9 Feb 2012

$60- is about 1/2 an hour labour here in Oz - and is just about the minimum charge if you are running a business.

I don't have any problem with it, but then for all my working life I have been in a business that had to make money to survive.

I think the local Yam dealer quoted me $86- for four nuts and studs, so compared with that its not bad!

**bacardi23** · #24 10 Feb 2012

Well.. That's just way too much. Did they use 24-Karat gold rods? lol

I'm a novice self-employed Certified Professional GTAW, GMAW, SMAW, FCAW welder and still have a lot to learn but.

I made this front gate in sync plated steel (80x40mm and 40x40mm)+ 316L 1" diameter stainless steel hinges for a house for a costumer:

I initially charged 350€ in labor (including consumables) to build it but he wanted to change a few things afterwards AND because he gave me wrong measures for the gate! So I added +50€...

Toke me about two weeks to complete it as I only had an angle grinder to cut the tubing (As some of you might know, stick welding on thin metal like this you better have a very good joint or you will surely blow some nasty holes).

Just one thing I didn't understand was why didn't he want me to grind the welds so it would have that smooth clean look...
Also, that gray-primer paint on that lower steel plate looks damn awful like that.. I warned him but that's how he wanted it.. "Costumer wants, Costumer gets it"

Vando

**Walkabout** · #25 10 Feb 2012

Vando,
Beemerboff is talking in Australian $ while you are using "Greek" Euro.
Therein lies the difference; half a world of separate economies.

60$ Oz is not so much because Australia has not incurred a monetary recession for the last few years.

I recommend that you raise your prices to obtain a more wealthy customer; offer high quality workmanship for a top dollar price.
It takes two to set a price and those who want quality will pay for it; this is not a criticism of your work, which none of us know, but a marketing technique that is used by all industries.

**estebangc** · #26 10 Feb 2012

Vando, OZ is worlds away from Portugal (or Spain) when it comes to prices. It's a veeeery expensive country for us, due to a very strong currency and a great economic growth in recent years. I've seen 1 kg of bananas at more than 20AUD because there were floods in Queensland (and I saw people get them anyway!).

Hey, those doors look absolutely great! Good job. Just in case, only one comment that I imagine you know it well, but just in case: the doors will bend inwards due to their own weight, it always happen in the hinges, just slightly, but quite a lot in the center where the doors meet, so they have to be a little too high when you install them. I mean it especially because there are no poles on the sides and tightened cables towards the center to hold the doors.

Sooooo... those screw removers I posted were not such a great idea/discovery when it comes to the head pipes!

**Beemerboff** · #27 14 Feb 2012

Last time I made a pair of metal gates was 50 years ago, back in Scotland when I worked for my dad.

We could get around GBP 45- for a set including wrought iron scroll in fills, but remember a top of the line Triumph or BSA was less than GBP 300- in those days.

If the gates were on metal posts and they did sag a little, for whatever reason, the bodge was to heat the inside of the base of the post with the oxy torch untill it expanded enough to raise the gate, then chuck a bucket of cold water on the usually red hot post, which locked in the expansion!

**TheBaldReverend** · #28 15 Feb 2012

Well I appear to have won a set of Motad headers on eBay that have seen better days - plenty of surface rust but should clean up nice enough.

I'm going to have a go at a home made electrolysis set up to remove the rust - I'm far too lazy to be using elbow grease

**stuxtttr** · #29 22 Feb 2012

or just clean em up best you can and coat with BBQ paint that way they will look like the originals.

$400 euro for those gates seem cheap. $400 euro for 2 weeks labour seems cheap too but then again you gotta do what you can theese days

I was gona ask the guy across the road to do a spot of welding for me, I thought 2

s was a nice offer

**YamaHead** · #30 22 Feb 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuxtttr

or just clean em up best you can and coat with BBQ paint that way they will look like the originals.

Took mine 1 step further.....Heat-Wrapped & silicone'd 'em as well

.....

Because of how thick the pipes are now, the re-assembly process is a bit different now......just need to hang the pipe before hanging the motor in the frame.