Stainless steel tart up, ideas, tips please

[Simon13]

How can i get this to look a bit better?!

i've tried wet and dry 600 and some autosol but after an hour or so i think i would still be doing it in 2009

any ideas? i'm not wrapping it

galvanise in zinc etc? chrome plate

I just want it a bit shiney and not going all cack looking after 5 mins!

I quite like the way it's gone lots of colours with the heat but........

[--alpina--]

I say spray it with some heat temp spray of not happy withit, but sold now as stated so not worth it... lol



Jimi

[jonb]

nice shoes si!

try 240 wet and dry, then 1500. then polish.

[Cabrio]

Try teflon coating...but wont shine bu will maintain colour...may be able to paint over teflon...cant beat stainless for what you are after but worth a try

[Simon13]

they are my tramp shoes

ill give the 240 a go

i suppose it all has to be done by hand too

[Cabrio]

Could give it to an exhaust company to tidy ...as have machines for the job...get a pad/polisher for your drill or DA

[Simon13]

now there is an idea!

[Andy335Touring]

Ceramic coating ?

[tonyppe]

when i ran the stainless exhaust place i used the polisher mops and soaps loads. but if it has surface rust, then its 'that type that rusts' T409 grade. its going to go gold-blue anyway.
on my car, i got exhaust manifold paint (silver ) and sprayed it. was nice.
your not going to get the colour out with ur hands tho. you need a machine! and you get filthy doing it
i ended up looking like a black man. like i had come out a chimney.
want me to sort it out for you?
if its rusty tho, it will have to be grinded off.

[--alpina--]

Hey tony, what exhaust place did you work at? out of curiosity was it longlife??



Regards

Jimi

[tonyppe]

yes it was the old 'longlife'
ill be back down there next saturday at the garage opposite fitting my prop + subframe etc. will probably be able to pop over and user the polisher quick. they let me use most other stuff ;) (ssshhh)

[--alpina--]

Tony, im looking to get a stainless exhaust from the middle to two back boxes, where do you recomend, as i was told longlife does a good joband got a quote for Ԛ£500 as i already have a 6 branch manny..

Can you recomend me please.... So whats there now, is longlife exhaust still around there?



Jimi

[nwmlarge]

ceramic coating would be my choice
tidy and functional

[tonyppe]

its still longlife, i just dont run it anymore, my old boss and someone else runs it. Ԛ£500 is a good price for what you have told me, new brackets will need to be made with rubbers on and welded to the car. thats Ԛ£250 a side.
obviously im goign to recomend longlife, but you could try somewhere like flowerpo, no harm in getting a quote up. if you do tho get them to go through exactly what they would do on the car eg.-
what pipe sizes, where the boxes will go, where the pipe will travel, where the pipe and boxes will be hung, and what size tailpipes you will use :p
they should be able to go through it from start to finish. no um-ing and ar-ing really.

[--alpina--]

Thanks for the reply tony, what Flowerpo ( ) said to me in Harlow (extreme motorsport) was that my engine size would destroy the boxes as there not recomended for bmw fullstop, i thought well they must be shite quality, so i phoned longlife and said they can cater what i want and no problems......


Jimi

[thebigone]

you could try a mild alumilium oxid powder blasting, then ask for it to be wet blasted. or a stright steel blast or glass blast, they would come out a nice satin finish. Ԛ£Ã”šÃ‚£about 50/60

[tonyppe]

well our engines exhausts run really really hot, so if they fit standard silencers to the centre, all the fibre glass melts and either gets exhausted or just turns into glass balls and rattles around in the metal box.
what needs doing is making a silencer as normal (forming the box, tig welding the dual end plates in) and then filling it with stainless wire wool only.
we have made exhausts for 5 - 6 - almost 7litre engines, so its nothing to do with how big or how powerful the engines are..
i found this out the hard way as mine was the first one i did, and i never told them i was doing it lol still, sorted now

[tonyppe]

i want a 6-branch, how much do they go for, i can probably only afford 2nd hand tho
hand me downs. if it dont fit me ill stuff paper in it..

[--alpina--]

OK so your recomendation would be??? Longlife or?



Cheers mate for your reply, i only need advice from a man who has experiance with exhausts..



Jimi

[tonyppe]

definatly longlife, they use t304 grade completely rust proof stainless as standard. all metal will change colour with the heat though, but will go back to mirror finish with autosol if wanted. my exhaust is still a mirror finish now but has a tint of gold. also give great customer service as thats the other half of what they build a reputation on.
i have heard of a company called matt simpson (simpson racing?) they mandrel bend the exhausts (so its same width all the way through the bend, whereas longlife compression bend and the pipe ovalises a little (you still get the same volume through the bend, its just oval slightly. )
also simpsons use gas purging, where they block off the tube, fill it with argon gas, and then weld. this is the smoothest type of welding. but last time they were a little more expensive than us.

[--alpina--]

thanks for your reply tony, do you still work for longlife? and if so what one was it, i think the quote i was given was from the one in south london, but if you know any near North london that would be great.. also i was told alot of people goes for Mild Sport, what kind of sound is that? any car to compare with and also is there a way you can have a specific sounding note of an exhaust if you want?



Cheers

Jimi

[tonyppe]

i used to work at the one in south london. there is one in battersea though.
yes, mild sport is in between quiet and mid. this will make your car purr, it wont be obtrusive or 'boy racer-ish'. it will be subtle and still be noticeably different from standard (although standard arnt quiet anyway)
under normal driving it will have slightly more volume standard, and under hard accelleration this will increase to the new m3 type (think its e46? quad exhausts and 330 odd hp)

[psychochild187]

would polishing it stand up to the heat ?

[tonyppe]

it would change colour again. to a gold then on to blue depending on temperature
but colour can be polished off again