A little muffler repair.

Alrite well seeing how im looking to buy some new ahrleys.... i would still like to keep my old ones just incase, and they are a tid bit rusty underneath.
I was thinking about taking a wirewheel to the rust, taping up the chrome part of the muffler, and painting the exposed part with black hi temp,1200 F, resistand paint, i mean this is underneath where no one will see it. Will this slow down the rust process, will it burn off? i woud think it would get that hot there, just the haed pipes maybe. IDK, jsut was wondering if this is a good idea or not. I think it would help if i wanted to sell 'em on ebay tho. Oh ya.. may end up drilling a bigger hole in it... just a 1/4-1/2 inch bigger

 

if it's heat resistant paint it should hold up fine, assuming you do your prep work properly so that it adheres completely. And what are you talking about, drill a bigger hole in it?!?!

 

Schooter is the rust just surface or is it pitted through the chrome into the metal. Try an SOS pad first to remove the light stuff and see what you got.

 

SOS leaves behind bits of metal and will quickly rust the part again. Use a wire brush, or better yet a dremmel tool with a light abrasive attachment.

 

Hey Coach, I cleaned my header pipes and mufflers got them spotless and hit them with some chrome polish and have not had any rust return. That was a over a year ago. Also SOS did not scratch the chrome at all. Same as double 00 steel wool and oil. A wire brush or a dremmel tool with too much abrasive would scratch the chrome and make the situation worse. I agree the SOS does leave metal bits and they do rust. You have to use a good chrome cleaner polish to get it off.
I was just asking Schooter too try it to see how bad his rust is. When he gets back to us we can give him further input.

 

its just got rust on the surface... and the main exhaust hole... its about an inch in diameter.. was thinking about drilling it out a bit if my harley mufflers work and than i can thry those.. idk i like tinkering

 

Ok If it is just light surface rust just clean it up like I said. I like to take them right into the laundry tubs and work on them and flush with nice clean water so you can see what you got. Are the holes you are talking about the drain holes in the bottom or the main holes out the back??

 

Touche'

Schooter, if you're wanting to sell them on ebay, clean them up... DON'T modify them!!!

 

do you call the painting i described modifying?
also... do all mufflers have drain holes? cuz i noticed sportster muffler have them... are they supposed to be capped?... ya thanks guys

 

If you paint them, you might as well give them away. If it's only surface rust, then yes... you're devaluing your mufflers by doing anything to them. Clean them up, then put them on ebay.

Dunno about drain holes. I don't see any holes in my Sportster mufflers except the exhaust outlet.

 

I've used high temp BBQ paint on many cycle engines with success. I get the stuff that is good for 1500 degrees and it holds up very well. I use the flat black stuff and apply it with a brush for better covereage.