WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
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Cruiser
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 237
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From:
WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
Hey Guys
Burnt my leg quite badly the other day when I accidently touched the left header on my Bassani Powercurve headers, so I applied some fibre glass
wrap around the left down pipe & right donut sections to try and reduce the heat coming through heat sheilds.All went well until I fired it up as per the instructions to melt the wrap to the headers and after about 3 minutes I noticed the donut section was glowing red near to head. Is this normal or do I have a promlem, as far as I can tell the front header doesn't glow red.Could it be caused from the fact that the pipe sweeps around at a fairly tight radius.
Thanks
GlennsGlide
Burnt my leg quite badly the other day when I accidently touched the left header on my Bassani Powercurve headers, so I applied some fibre glass
wrap around the left down pipe & right donut sections to try and reduce the heat coming through heat sheilds.All went well until I fired it up as per the instructions to melt the wrap to the headers and after about 3 minutes I noticed the donut section was glowing red near to head. Is this normal or do I have a promlem, as far as I can tell the front header doesn't glow red.Could it be caused from the fact that the pipe sweeps around at a fairly tight radius.
Thanks
GlennsGlide
Elite HDF Member
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 4,391
Likes: 10
From:
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
I have seen both of my pipes glowing after a ride, when the garage is dark. Makes sense that the rear would be the first to light up, as it gets the least amount of oncoming air. I have also read here where others have experience this, so I wouldn't worry to much about it. If it is major concern to you, you might try shooting it with an in fared temp indicator. Do you have an oil temp gage? You might check just to make sure you are running in the correct temp range, IMO.
Cruiser
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 197
Likes: 0
From:
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
My rear pipe used to glow red after every ride, but I've not seen the front glow red, yet. When the bike was stock, it glowed a bright orange. When I first got the Sert and tried a canned map it still glowed, but a duller red. I've since richened the AFR even more, so I don't get a glow at all now after rides.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,609
Likes: 1
From: Indy area
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
It probably only needs mixture attention at idle more than anything.
If the pipes are wrapped with insulation, where's the heat going to go? It'll try to dissipate where it can, and if it can't, it'll be carried right into the muffler, causing problems there next.
If the pipes are wrapped with insulation, where's the heat going to go? It'll try to dissipate where it can, and if it can't, it'll be carried right into the muffler, causing problems there next.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 2,106
Likes: 12
From: SoCal
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
GlensGlide,
Although commonly done, wrapping the header pipe is not recommended by any major header manufacturer. Call most makers, and they will say that it voids the warranty.The wrapretains the heat even more, and superheats the piping. It's done for race engine applications that are torn down and redone on a regular basis. I wrapped the rear head pipe on my Hooker True Duals a couple of years ago for the same reason. Heat. The heat was so intense, it toasted the left sidecover. I took the wrap off after one year to do some work on the bike. Large metal flakes came off with the wrap revealing the pipe underneathto be very deteriorated. So I did what I should have done in the first place, and sent the pipes out to be ceramic coated. With all the good coatings these days from companies like Jet-Hot and the like, there really is no reason to wrap the pipes to cut down on heat. Most folks do it though for appearance.
The other thing that helped me was getting my afr set correctly. Remember, the TCs come real lean and hot from the factory.
Good Luck.
Mark
Although commonly done, wrapping the header pipe is not recommended by any major header manufacturer. Call most makers, and they will say that it voids the warranty.The wrapretains the heat even more, and superheats the piping. It's done for race engine applications that are torn down and redone on a regular basis. I wrapped the rear head pipe on my Hooker True Duals a couple of years ago for the same reason. Heat. The heat was so intense, it toasted the left sidecover. I took the wrap off after one year to do some work on the bike. Large metal flakes came off with the wrap revealing the pipe underneathto be very deteriorated. So I did what I should have done in the first place, and sent the pipes out to be ceramic coated. With all the good coatings these days from companies like Jet-Hot and the like, there really is no reason to wrap the pipes to cut down on heat. Most folks do it though for appearance.
The other thing that helped me was getting my afr set correctly. Remember, the TCs come real lean and hot from the factory.
Good Luck.
Mark
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,928
Likes: 117
From: Ashby, Ma
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
Any bike running so hot that the pipe is glowing is a problem in my opinion.
It is probably running extremely lean due tohigh volumeair intake and exhaust. Have you dynoed this set up? How do you know you have the AFR set properly?
It is probably running extremely lean due tohigh volumeair intake and exhaust. Have you dynoed this set up? How do you know you have the AFR set properly?
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Road Warrior
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,296
Likes: 1
From:
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
My 2000 BMW R1100RT had headers with no heat shields. The headers would glow red which was easy to see at night. Completely normal for that bike and, I bet any HD too. I would find a friend whose bike was running normally and ask them to start their bike and fast idle it for 2-3 minutes in the dark just to see if the pipes would glow.
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Tourer
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 302
Likes: 16
From: Cedar Rapids, Iowa
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
If you don't want to use header wrap, then think about a qualitity ceramic coating INSIDE and OUT! I had mine done and now after 10 minutes of hard riding I can grab any part of the pipe. No more tink tink tink (chrome cooling)after the bike is shut off either!
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 352
Likes: 0
From: Washington
RE: WTF Rear Pipe glowing red
I second all the 'running lean' replies. I recently had a simlar issue...not on my SG but on my son's dirt bike he races. He put all this new crap on it (ooops....I meant to say 'mods') and next thing we knew, the new header glowed red and the bike was overheating. He wanted me to buy him a fancy new set of aftermarket radiators, I wanted him to rejet the carb and richen the mixture up. I won and the bike ran much cooler (no more glowing pipe). He crashed the bike the next time he raced, separated his shoulder, and crushed his stock radiators. I bought the fancy new radiators afterall.
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