"Polisher", here on the HAMB knows polishing tips...any tips on how to remove/reduce bluing on chrome plated headers? The plating appears to be in good condition but it's turned blue. I've had limited sucess with a product called "Blue-away" purchased at the local Harley shop on some plated exhaust manifolds but it took a ton of rubbing and only about 50% of the bluing came out. Plus, it was obviously abrasive with some kinda grit in it..... Anything that will chemically remove that bluing? TIA..Rocky
After ridng motorcycles for over 40 years I can tell you I never found away to remove the bluing effect cause by heat on chrome. As you have already found any product that claims to do so is abbrasive and only dulls the finish to a silver color until you fire the engine back up and run it again only to blue your exhaust all over.
Rocky, I have used "lime away", from the cleaning isle of your local hardware store with some success....I know it works OK on Nickel. good luck, reed
Almost forgot, An old timer here in town always told me that if your tune up was spot on, that the blue-ing would be cut to a minimum....especially timing and cruise Air/Fuel. reed
I don't know if this works or not but I was told that if the headers were goated with grease on the inside it somehow acts like insulation and cuts down on the blueing.
i have an old pair of headers...chromed in 1959...they never blued...still use them today...i was told old chrome had different makeup, that use ingrediants illegal today...also told that canada still is allowed to use these ingrediants resulting in better chrome...i think the new england/buffalo guys might know something abuot this...is it just ledgend
No known means that works. Bluing is from heat. It's for this reason that motorcycles are sold with chrome pipe covers.
Personally, I like beautiful chrome headers . . . with blueing and all. I have to make custom headers for my blown 392 in my 34 coupe - at it has Donovan 417 heads which are way different than stockers -- tons of work ahead of me. I've toyed with the idea of modern "Jet Hot" type coatings that don't turn blue . . . but since my rod is kind of a 60's style ride, can't imagine using these modern coatings, just doesn't look right. So - I'm going to have them chromed, will let them turn blue . . . and they'll look exactly as they should -- like traditional chrome headers should look . . . blue by the exhaust ports! Chrome platers can and do alter their processes when they're doing show chrome on headers -- to minimize the blueing. With that said, they will always turn some level of blue . . . the question is not "if", but how much.
I hit the ones on my harley with a buffing wheel. Took them off, buffed them. Done this a couple times and didn't seem to hurt the chrome. Of course they turned blue again,
English Custom Polishing (Polisher's company) does have a high heat chrome polish. I have a bottle, but haven't tried it out- I don't have any chrome exhausts. Everything else he sells is top-notch. If there is a chemical solution to the 'blue' this might be it.
an old trick was to coat the exhaust port and inside the header flange with castor oil befor fire up,it stops the heat transfer to the chrome
You can get some stuff called Blue Away at your local motorcycle shop. That being said, I think that you are removing the chrome as you remove the blue. About the only way I have found to keep new pipes from blueing is to paint the inside of them with a thick coat of high heat paint, sometimes works/sometimes doesn't. Be sure you have all fingerprints and oil wiped off the pipes EVERYTIME you crank the engine or the pipes will blue where ever the oil is.
Yep, I've got a product for removing bluing from exhausts. It is still work. Lime away will remove the chrome very rapidly, and leave the nickel. There is no magic formula that platers use to prevent chrome bluing and never has been. Whether they use trivalent or hexavalent chrome the only difference is in the plating thickness, as hex can be built up thicker. It still blues the same. You should never buff chrome, that only thins and removes it. You'll see a yellow sheen where buffing breaks through. (that's the nickel, which I actually prefer the look of, but it demands more maintenance.) Correct mixture, correct timing, correct octane and a smooth right foot is the only way to avoid bluing that I know off. I have heard of the oil trick though. Don't know if it works. Bluing is caused by hydrocarbons migrating though the chrome, I can only assume that the theory behind oiling the header by the inlet is to bake an impervious wall of carbon onto the header. That is something I have yet to see done and work. Might even try it myself. Then I'll know.
Here is a product that WORKS !!! It is called "SIMICHROME POLISH" and it has been working for me over many, many years. I picked it up at a motorcycle shop years ago. It is made in Germany and imported by Competition Chemicals Inc. in Iowa Falls, Iowa. I am not sure of any major outlets for this product. It is a fine paste type material, pink in color, and it does take the blue off of chromed pipes. I had used it on my T-Bucket for 12 years with no adverce effect on the chrome........... You should be able to find this in any motorcycle parts book and possibly in the back of some major car parts catalog.......good luck.
Coating the inside of the header with grease or motor oil does in fact work. In aviation it's referred to as "coking" which is an layer of carbon build up on the inside of the header, which will prevent bluing.
I remember seeing an article about internal coating of headers that insulates the chrome pipe enough to prevent or dramatically reduce bluing. I can't remember if it was a ceramic or an aluminized coating. I would check with some of the advertisers like HTP in car magazines.
I'm with you. To me blue on the headers is the same as bugs in the grill and chips in the paint. Badges that prove a car is driven.
An old time chromer told me that if you don't do a copper strike, only nickel and then chrome, you won't get the blueing on exhaust. Ol Blue
Won't make any difference. The only reason for missing out copper is to reduce the chances of failure during plating and seperation after.
Back in the 80's a friend had a company coat the inside of his t-bucket headers with the white aluminzied coating that was available back then. Kinda like the old "aluma kote" from Blackjack. I think they just did the first 12-13 inches of the pipes. While the headers eventually turned blue and the chrome deteriorated he said they lasted 2-3 times longer than his first set before he had to replace them due to looking bad cosmetically..
There could be some truth in that bit isnt copper is used to fill the voids in the metal for polishing before the nickle and chrome.. Dave
someone needs to develop a product so that we can have a catchy commercial... head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers! head on! apply directly to the headers!
The main reason you don't copper headers is because it becomes fluid at 1960 degrees F. Nickel is over 2600f. Plus headers are an irregular shape normally and if any dirt whatsover is missed in the cleaning stage after buffing, or if from activation tank to nickel is delayed at all seperation or blisters are inevitable. With bikes it's not quite so bad because the exhaust goes straight into the engine and it is quite easy to see if it isn't perfectly clean, but seperation is still a serious factor if they run lean. I would have though an aluminized inner coating would have burned away, but the oil I can see working well. If they problem is carbons, which it generally is, carbon is probably the best way to stop it. Once it has set the melting point of carbon is around 3600 F,I believe.
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