Like some of you out there, I've decided to take on a nice motorcycle rebuild project and everything's coming together nicely, except for a butt-ugly exhaust that sticks out like a sore thumb! The 30 year old chrome plating is flaking right off of the headers and the un-coated crossover pipe looks like it might be on it's last legs due to all the accumulated rust.
I've gone through many different refinishing steps in the past, from wire brushing, to naval jelly, to finally giving up and dousing the darned things in RustOleum! The results have been time consuming and completely inconsistent.
This tutorial details a pretty darned easy way of dealing with rust, scale, and flaking chrome, all with nearly identical final finishes. You can also apply the same steps to furniture, bumpers, or anything else that sits outside and corrodes.
I've gone through many different refinishing steps in the past, from wire brushing, to naval jelly, to finally giving up and dousing the darned things in RustOleum! The results have been time consuming and completely inconsistent.
This tutorial details a pretty darned easy way of dealing with rust, scale, and flaking chrome, all with nearly identical final finishes. You can also apply the same steps to furniture, bumpers, or anything else that sits outside and corrodes.
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Signing UpStep 1: Sandblast!
The key to making this process easy is sandblasting. I can not stress this enough. Skip the solvents, the gels, the wire brushes...stick to plain old abrasive blasting. Heck, if was good enough for the Grand Canyon, it's good enough for you!
Different abrasives and grits are available to cover just about any refinishing project. Generally, Aluminum Oxide tends to be the best all-rounder. In the case of this steel-based project, I chose 60 grit, since my prior attempts with finer grits met with failure. Ultimately, you're looking to use a grit that will abrade the finish without stripping away the metal underneath.
You can see from these detail shots that the texturing on the metal still retains the telltale pockmarking from the prior rust. Also, all the rust has been easily removed from difficult crevices like welds, text, and flanges. The intention is to take it down to clean metal and remove all the rust so it won't resurface later. Abrasives are fairly cheap, so experiment until you find the one that works best for your needs.
For those of you bemoaning the lack of a professional sandblasting booth, there are many cheaper, portable, options available online that don't even require one (but they make a terrible mess, so use them outside). A quick Google search or a few minutes on HarborFreight.com should find you what you need. Remember, the abrasive does the work, not the quality of the gun!
Different abrasives and grits are available to cover just about any refinishing project. Generally, Aluminum Oxide tends to be the best all-rounder. In the case of this steel-based project, I chose 60 grit, since my prior attempts with finer grits met with failure. Ultimately, you're looking to use a grit that will abrade the finish without stripping away the metal underneath.
You can see from these detail shots that the texturing on the metal still retains the telltale pockmarking from the prior rust. Also, all the rust has been easily removed from difficult crevices like welds, text, and flanges. The intention is to take it down to clean metal and remove all the rust so it won't resurface later. Abrasives are fairly cheap, so experiment until you find the one that works best for your needs.
For those of you bemoaning the lack of a professional sandblasting booth, there are many cheaper, portable, options available online that don't even require one (but they make a terrible mess, so use them outside). A quick Google search or a few minutes on HarborFreight.com should find you what you need. Remember, the abrasive does the work, not the quality of the gun!
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