As I mentioned a few days ago, I did finally remove the exhaust to have a good look at it.  It’s pretty rough.

The pipe in the picture is the lower pipe, from the left hand cylinder.  It’s far worse than the upper pipe..as can be expected since the upper pipe is shielded by the lower pipe.

A little bit of elbow grease though has resulted in the less rusty sections that you see.  Some areas are completely pitted and will need a good grinding.

The back side of the exhaust heat shields are also pretty rough as you can see…but nothing that can’t be cleaned up with some work and possibly some Dremel attachments.  I suppose I’ll end up sanding most of the chrome off in the process of cleaning these up, but that’s ok.  They need to be clean for now and I’ll get them rechromed in the future.

The muffler is pretty well shot.  I’m having a very hard time finding a replacement, so for now I’ll try patching it, sandblasting it, and painting it with a high temperature tolerant black.  As far as I can tell from pictures I’ve found, the muffler was black from the factory.

I’m debating whether or not I should just get the pipes coated black.  It may look pretty good and will also be cheaper than chroming…but it’s just not original.  Any opinions?

Here’s a picture of the main heat shield from the front side. It’s not too bad from this side except it has a crease that needs to be straightened.  Also, the screws REALLY need to be replaced…I barely managed to get them out, due to them being already stripped.

So, I’m going to bust a nut trying to get these pipes cleaned up before they pick up the bike next week.  I’ll send it over to the shop without a muffler and try to get that patched and blasted while they’re looking at the engine issues.

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