YBW, that's a pretty good deal...appears to be in great condition!
I'm hearing you have to trim an inch or so from the end of the pipe to fit a TW. Can someone verify?
I'm in process of doing the same mod on my bike.
I've installed and/or polished a number of SS headers for bikes.
What you do depends on what finish you want.
On a scruffy old trailie, just use as is. The finish will stay as-is.
A step up would be to shine it up with course - medium - fine steel wool. A lotta work, but a nice finish.
Or for a big step up, find someone with a metal polishing biz and they can polish it all the way to "bumper chrome" level. It's almost indistinguishable from chrome plating, but...with decent care it will look that way forever.
Some discoloration will occur at the flange end where it gets very hot. You can just "let it mellow" yellow to brown, or polish it almost back to chrome level with SemiChrome or similar metal polish. SemiChrome works very well, a *very* fine abrasive plus some chemical action. In a pinch toothpaste will work, but not as well!
A few weeks ago one of our members posted a SS pipe he had prepped for his bike. He had hand-polished it with 800 grit abrasive paper or cloth and it looked GREAT!
It was a very nice "satin" finish with a fine grain, very professional looking. If you can't find a metal polisher I would really consider that. Also a lot of work.
Mine is now polished to chrome level, but I was lucky to find a metal guy who was a pro and didn't even charge me...we BS'd about motorcycles and racing at Bonneville and became buds.
Now, for the extreme level: I am really anal about my bikes. My TW will never see the kind of off-road action most bikes on here get. It's basically a camp-bike, beer-getter, errand-runner around-town kinda bike. I do like to explore any unpaved road, even woods single-track just not too wild & woolly or rocky. Hell, I'm 75 effin-years old and can't afford many more wipe-outs! But I like beautiful bikes, so...
I know a guy who does hi-tech baked aluminum/ceramic hi-heat resistant aerospace coatings...jet turbine blades, etc. A growing part of his biz is using this coating for hot-rod car headers, springs, suspensions, anything they might normally chrome plate. It is *extremely* durable & *much* cheaper than chrome. And it won't flake, peel or chip. Or discolor. It might get a mild ashy look near the exhaust port every year or so but Semi-Chrome will easily bring it back.
The hot-rod bike & car guys know this coating not only keeps the exhaust temp lower but aids in extracting exhaust gasses quicker & more completely. Like the that butt-ugly header-wrap, but better & better looking.
On a top level 450 single 4-stroke MX bike, this coating produces +1 HP on a Dyna Jet dyno.
Now get this...coat the inside as well for another 1 HP.
Coat inside and outside for +2 "free" HP!
The engines run enough cooler that they only have to change the engine oil every other moto instead of every one! The riders report they can really feel the heat difference.
Get that heat and pressure out of the engine & pipe.
This has nothing to do with our little slugs, but does illustrate the technology.
Here is a sample car header. The guy I know charges $20 per foot for coating pipes. That's per foot, inside plus outside. You can do "either or both". Min. charge is $50.00.
For my TW, he's only doing the inside...I want to keep the shiny outside.
I'm also thinking of getting a nice "grill" too, to go with my pipe...wattaya think?
Two of my (former) bikes with baked aluminum/ceramic coatings:
The KLR 650 was coated inside & out. It was being prepped for Copper Canyon, MX and TAT rides that never happened...dammit!
This system is carbon steel, not stainless.
This MZ super moto 660 single with dual exhaust ports & pipes was coated only on the inside.
