Wrap a Motorcycle Exhaust
Wrapping your motorcycle's exhaust system with a heat-retaining fiberglass wrap can improve your motorcycle's appearance and performance with a minimal investment. Looking similar to a fabric bandage, the insulating fiberglass band is wound around the exhaust's header pipes to hide embarrassing blemishes and dings. The wrap also serves to trap heat within the exhaust, helping the spent exhaust gases flow smoothly to the muffler's outlet. The headers will need to be removed for this task, making some technical skill mandatory. Expect to spend at least one hour removing, wrapping and reinstalling the exhaust system.
Instructions
1. Place the exhaust wrap roll into a bucket filled with clean water. Allow the wrap to soak for at least 15 minutes.
2. Loosen the muffler's exhaust clamp with a socket wrench. Pull the muffler off of the header pipes. Remove the nuts from the header pipes' flanges on the motor with a socket wrench. Pull the header pipes out of the cylinder.
3. Clean the header pipes with an ammonia-based window cleaner spray to remove oil, grease and dirt from the pipes' surface. Dry the header pipes with a lint-free rag.
4. Complete one full wrap around the header pipe with the exhaust wrap. Leave enough of the header pipe below the wrap to allow the muffler to slide into place.
5. Slip the stainless steel cable tie over the first wrapped layer. Tighten the cable tie to secure the wrapped section in place. Cut the excess cable tie material off with wire cutters.
6. Wrap the second layer of wrapping material over the first layer. Overlap the first wrapped layer by a third of its width. Continue to wrap around the pipe, leaving a third of the previous layer exposed.
7. Cover the upper end of the header pipe with a complete wraparound of the wrapping material, leaving enough room at the end of the header pipe for any clamps or flanges that will attach the header pipe to the cylinder.
8. Slip the stainless steel cable tie over the final wrapped layer. Tighten the cable tie to secure the wrapped section in place. Cut the excess cable tie material off with the wire cutters.
9. Reinstall the header pipes onto the motorcycle.
Tags: header pipes, header pipe, wrapped layer, cable material, cable material with, cable over, cable secure
