Plastick bag on headers = BAD

[Jacobien]

Hi,

Was on the motorway this morn when a bag hit the headers. I took it off but it melted so quickly.

It seems to have burned on there pretty tight.

Any advice? I don't want to clean the hole exhaust and I also do not want to remove the whole system.

Damn! My headers were always so clean. Damn damn damn!

Peace:thumbup:

 

[Wolfman]

Hi,

Was on the motorway this morn when a bag hit the headers. I took it off but it melted so quickly.

It seems to have burned on there pretty tight.

Any advice? I don't want to clean the hole exhaust and I also do not want to remove the whole system.

Damn! My headers were always so clean. Damn damn damn!

Peace:thumbup:

I am sorry to hear of this happening, having had it happen to me before....the only way to get it off, is to competely re-polish the pipe...to do this, i would strongly suggest removing the headers, and getting busy with a polishing kit, and a power drill.

The headers are easy to remove, and replace...

:thumbup:

 

[gpostarmy]

:needpics:
Did it just melt onto the metal or did it get hot enough to burn the plastic which will change the scenario. Lots of knowledge on this site but without pics it would be a shot in the dark.

 

[FB400]

You are looking at about an afternoon of work

1) remove the header
2) heat the offending area with a propane torch. Get it hot enough to make the plastic soft
3) use steel wool while that sucker is hot and scrub it off (strongly suggest good gloves)
4) you might want to polish the pipes while you have them off
5) put the header back on

I suppose if the area is accessible you could do this without removing the header but you had better be careful using the torch.

Good luck

 

[BamBam77]

By riding it for a while
Wouldn't it burn off at least to a point where it wouldn't need so much sanding and buffing
I know you'll need to wipe the pipes off while there hot to keep it from spreading

If your going to us a torch why not let it burn off some on it's own first

I'm just thinking what they do to clean a oven get it hot and the food burns off?
It's stainless so it's not going to stain it permanently.:thumbup:

Just my $0.01 if that much.

 

[XTRAWLD]

I agree with BamBam - it makes sense.....Ride it, get it hot and then work on it when you are done riding. Scrape off what you can while it's hot, and ride some more. Until the point comes when this stops working, then you can get some elbow grease......

 

[novaks47]

Whatever method you choose, please be cautious and try to minimize how much of that heated melting plastic fumes you breathe in. Melting plastic gives of some nasty stuff! I'm not saying a little bit is going to kill you or anything, just do what you can to minimize it, like get a fan going, and clean it outdoors.

I'll bet that smelled absolutely wonderful. LOL

 

[Chris_D]

It takes about 15mins to pull and refit the headers. Not hard at all. Then you can have a good go at it.

 

[BamBam77]

There's the right way [Wolfman's]:cheer:
a lot depends on how much is on there.
From what I've been reading and such you can tell the ones who have the best
bikes they really take care of them.
There's some kind of paste that they use on show bikes, in my 40 so years of riding I've never seen it or heard of it till I got on this wonderful site.
Some couldn't stand the plastic being on there and it has to come off NOW
I'm from the school if it runs ride it
There should be a law against me having a new bike once the new wears off its ride the tires off and get something different, not that I don't love it but it's just a tool to get the job done.:thumbup:

 

[granda080]

Better fix...get a belly pan. Just cover it up LOL

 

[BamBam77]

would be like those bobber guys :rockon:
They wrap the pipes with some kind of heat wrap and then start up the bike and i smokes like its on fire.
There's a story about one doing it then going to get some gas.
Smoking like their going to burn the station down, scared everybody at the station big time

 

[Jacobien]

I thank everyone for their replies.

Here's what I did:

Heated the area with a heat gun, took steel wool and it came off very easily. It looked really bad before, the plastic melted to the point where it was black.

I will post pics of a before and after.

Stuff that didn't work:

1) Paint stripper
2) Chain cleaner
3) Carb cleaner
4) Soap
5) Anger

Thanks again.

P.S. Don't pollute LOL

 

[BamBam77]

In 40 years of riding mud yes, dogs close,trees yes,hand yes, but no plastic
but I'm sure it will happen now that I've heard about it.:thumbup:
Thanks to our great site we have the know how to fix it.
And as our friends down under would say NO WORRY'S