I snapped this picture a today as I was repositioning my heat shields. It's a shot of the inside surface of the stock exhaust heat shield section that use to cover the cat area of the stock header pipe. I noticed it a couple of years ago when I removed the stock header and went with the FM 2-1-2 stainless header. So I thought it might be interesting and took a shot of it while I had it off today.

What may look like water droplets in the photo below is actually the finish on the inside of the heat shield bubbling-up, most likely due to the heat exposure from the cat. The inside of the heat shield appears to have some kind of low quality chromium finish, but it is definitely not the same quality finish as on the outside. Anyway, this is just another physical indication of how darn hot it gets in the general vicinity of the cat. There is a blued area which seems to also indicate a concentration of heat.

No wonder the rear brake switch housing was compromised by this extreme heat on so many bikes to the point of a national recall.

 

The heat will also melt the sheathing on the wiring that runs along the frame behind the cat, but there are those here that will tell you there is no significent heat increase in the area of the cat.

Bill

 

Agree. I've read some of those posts. They remind me of that story, The Emperors New Clothes.

 

When my bike was stock in 800 miles the outside of the shield turned blue.

 

Not surprised. Unfortunately typical for many.

 

i made alittle heat shield to cover my brake lite switch and the wiring around it before i gutted the cat, and just left it in place afterwards.

 

Good idea for sure. I have yet to have my brake switch replaced. I can see no apparent damage or melting. And with the low esteem I hold for someone doing work on my bike a the dealership, I'll probably do it myself at some point if I just run out of other stuff to do.