Looking to do exhaust wrap on my ride!! Anyone have any pointers on how to do it?

 

yea go to grocery store get a cheap big plastic mixing bowl...its after halloween i bet you could get a cheap big candy bowl. Also go to soap isle and get your self some of those yellow thick rubbermaid lunch lady gloves. go home soak wrap for about 15 min before you start then every little bit just got over it with you other hand and twist it in the direction your wrapping to keep it tight and help squeeze some water out...also i see you have an iron so your old heat shield screw ties will work great. i did just this and used them and mine has been trouble free for about 6000 miles.

 

Cool thanks and of course I have to remove the pipes right? How much overlap should I do ?

 

yea you deff need to take the pipes off. overlap try to keep it between and 1/8 and 1/4 if you go to much you can cause hot spots on the pipe which can mess with exhaust flow. also do it over a big cardboard or something that wipes clean easy if your using a colored exhaust wrap b.c it stains.

 

Taking the pipes off are not necessary. I wrapped mine while they were still on. Being that I did the job solo, it made it a little easier to get a tight, even wrap. However, it is a little more difficult when you finally reach the engine end. Time and patience are key for a nice finish.

 

make sure the material you are wrapping has some sort of protective coating on it. they make some sprays that work well (kind of like silicone based) if it's bare metal i'll eat away the pipe

 

Although it's not necessary to take the pipes off, as JustJump mentioned, it makes things WAY easier. Also, as far as securing the pipewrap, I've wrapped multiple sets of pipes, and the best way I've found to do it is to use Stainless steel hose clamps, the kind with the worm screw, to secure the wrap at the top. Give a little bit of play room for the flanges to move around, make about 2 full wraps, pull the pipewrap tight and put on your clamp. For a clean look, wrap back over it, and you'll never notice it there. THe clamps hold up better than safety wire does, and if you wrap over them, again, you can't see it's even there. I used stainless safety wire at the end of this set of pipes, double wrapped (For example: I went around clockwise, twisted one full twist, then went counter-clock, cut to length, then did my final twist together to pull it up tight.), then secured. It gives a good "semi-dirty" old school feel that is one of those little subtle things.

Depending on what pipes you're wrapping and how far you're going, you can also wrap over the mounting bracket on the pipe itself. Slide the double-nut into the slot, put the bolts in all the way down, then wrap over them, once you've finished wrapping, and have secured the end of the wrap, just take a gerber tool or a sharp smooth blade over the head of the bolt in a cross patern so that you can pull the wrap away just enough to pull the bolt out.

Here's a picture of my shortshots that I just wrapped a week or so ago. It's a cool custom look for a manufactured set of pipes.

 

just wrapped my short shots used hose clamps to secure them and took off the pipes. Make sure you wet the wrap and take your time.

 

Anyone who has wrapped their pipes, looking to get rid of their heat shields? I am trying to go the opposite direction with my wrapped pipes and wanting to add heat shields back on.

Ideally looking for chrome, but black would work too. 2004 Sportster.