DISCOLORED HEADERS 98 VALK

[98 VALK]

Have a question about my headers on my 98 Valk they are badly discolored and I was wondering if they make anything that would bring them back to life. The bike is immaculate other than this. It was like this when I bought it and had set up for a long while. The previous original owner was 76 years old and just cranked the bike for several years. In fact it had less than 280 miles put on it in 11 years. It has been completely gone over since and all carbs hoses and lines & tires and just about everything else you can think of was replaced & it runs like new now but the discoloration of the headers takes away from the beauty of the bike. Thanks for any help.

[MarkT]

Not really.  Once they have color there's not much that can make them un-colored.  It's from too much heat.  Under your low-mile case, it was probably caused by the P.O. running it periodically in the winter to avoid winterizing, w/o setting up a fan to cool the pipes.  Very common.  There's nothing wrong with them from just the color, just the look.  Some folks either ignore it (most bikes have colored headers if they were chrome, just not as much with Valk OEM pipes as they are double wall), or use engine / stove / header paint, and blacken them out.  Of course you can just buy replacements on ebay or Craig's List. I also generally have OEM pipes on hand for pipe jobs, but I don't sell them unmodified.

[flash2002]

You can always have them powder coated. One of the bikes I rebuilt had lots of rust on the headers. I had them powder coated black and they look like new.

[larue]

Use this and it will clean out the blueing
It's called blue job. It's on eBay
Had much success with it before

[cookiedough]

Use this and it will clean out the blueing
It's called blue job. It's on eBay
Had much success with it before

It works, blue away or blue job, or whatever they call it,  don't need much and have used 0000 steel wool as well.  it helps, but for me anyways,  the blueing/copper color is coming back again after a few years.  Doesn't really bother me as when I first bought it,  have learned to live with it.

After all, it is a 15 year old cycle.