The Blue / Blued / Bluing Pipes on my V7 Merged Threadfest

[emac 53]

Thought I should ask the experts. The dealer who I bought the Cafe 7 from said all of the V7 exhausts blue and just live with it. I brought a product which I was told would remove most, not all but most. It was a very expensive powder called something Blue, It did nothing  total rip-off $21 later blue, blue ,blue. Lots of pics I see on this forum have header pipes looking shiny chrome and not blue, are these just new owners who are so proud of their new Guzzi? I know I was. I have heard of coatings that can withstand big temps, do these work? I am I being totally anal? Over to the experts..........

[Perazzimx14]

Hot-Jet ceramic coating works as does headed wrap.

[goog64]

Sounds like you got the blues  ::)

I've seen lots of small blocks (Nevadas, V7s, Brevas) with blue pipes. I think it looks good - looks like you ride that thing!

[Tazturtle]

Pipes blue. It's what they do when heated. The reasons Harleys and such don't is that they have chrome covers on them. Blued pipes look old school and authentic (IMO)

I find the pipes on my Racer (with Arrow mufflers) have lightly blued, while the ones on my wife's Classic with standard mufflers have blued a lot. I think a free flowing pair of mufflers will help your exhaust to run cooler and blue less.

[Dogwalker]

Unless having coaxial pipes with a lot of space between the internal and the external tube, chromed pipes will become blue, and inox pipes will become bronze.
Live with it. ;)

[GTR 350]

They sell a pipe coating on Ebay that you coat the inside of the pipe with (before it blues).  I am sure it helps, but eventually it will probably blue.

A lot of heat with the small blocks.

[Dogwalker]

Another way of not having colour changes is to have black chromed pipes, as the 80's Larios and Le Mans.



However, black chrome is somewhat less durable than normal one.

[Tazturtle]

The pipes are a common feature of modern lean (hot) exhasts.

The Triumph Bonnevilles are even worse - the pipes can blue all the way down to where they run under the engine, because they have air injection to cause a secondary burn above the exhaust valves to clean up the exhaust emissions. First job when you buy a Bonnie is to block off the stupid (although kind to dolphins) air injection.

[oldmanjob]

Cool Blue after 21000 miles of smiles ;-T ;-T :bike :bike




The old(loving the blues :D) Bill ;D

[roofus]

How blue your pipes get is pretty much heat related. I had a Virago that had very large diameter pipes with large radius curves. Its pipes remained blue free!

The smaller the diameter of the pipe and the tighter the radius of the curve, the bluer they get. The pipes on my Cafe look much like yours, the bigger pipes on my Stelvio are not blue at all!

One time, I tried getting the blue off a stainless steel kettle I let overheat, but I found no products worked despite the claims on the various product jars and bottles!

[wittangamo]

I don't really mind the blue on my Cafe, but it's asymmetrical. One pipe is blue at the top where it meets the engine and gold on the vertical portion underneath. The other is gold at the top with a noticeably larger patch of blue below. When another forum member reported something similar in an old thread, someone suggested checking plug gap and throttle balance. Did that. Still following the same pattern at 7500k. I can live with it, but I'm curious why only some bikes do this. Luck of the draw?

[Dogwalker]

Stelvio pipes are inox, they don't blue, but bronze.

http://www2.moto.it/static/annunci/20120402/moto-guzzi/stelvio-1200-8v-2011-17255811.jpg
http://fastguzzi.nl/stelvio/img/DSC_3440a.jpg

[guzzisteve]

The way the FI is set when new is critical to not having blue pipes(before bike is started). The air bypass screw should be at 1/2 turn out or right close to it, no more. If you get to 3/4 turns they will blue w/you sync the bodies at a higher rpm. The only problem is idle speed, will be about 1050rpm, a tad slow for a smallblock.

[Offcamber1]

Muddy say da blues is cooool man!

It is not a Harley, why would you even care if the head pipes get a little "tone" to them?

[roofus]

Stelvio pipes are inox, they don't blue, but bronze.

http://www2.moto.it/static/annunci/20120402/moto-guzzi/stelvio-1200-8v-2011-17255811.jpg
http://fastguzzi.nl/stelvio/img/DSC_3440a.jpg

True but irrelevent! Stelvio pipes would become more bronzed/brown if they had the diameter of the Cafe pipes. Discolouration is all a function of how hot a particular location on the pipe gets!

[Dogwalker]

The Stelvio engine is more powerful than that of the V7 cause it process an higher amount of gasses, and they requires bigger pipes. With the diameter of the V7 pipes it would barely function.
It would be interesting to measure the temperature of the pipes on the curve in front of the cylinder of the two Bikes after a similar ride.

However, it must be said that, in the everyday use, we use a larger fraction of the maximum power of V7 than that of Stelvio, so the bigger diameter of the pipes of the Stelvio is probably less used, and then less hot.

[Kazicht]

Mine are pretty blue... I just live with it. Gives it a more authentic look I suppose  ;)

[guzzisteve]

 If you want bigger bore stainless heavy duty pipes, I have used these pipes on a Monza.

http://www.keihan.co.uk/catalogue.html#

[youcanrunnaked]

OMG, your bike looks awful with those blued pipes!  Quick, sell it to me.  I'll give you $500 for it.   :D

Translation:  Yes, you are being totally anal.

[Dilliw]

There are internal coatings you can use but they usually require "virgin" pipes; you would have to buy another set of headers and have them coated.

Ceramic coating is becoming popular especially around here in Charlotte NC (home of NASCAR) and now there are many options/colors/textures available beyond Jet Hot.  Porterhouse on Guzzitech did a great job matching the carc and frame finishes on a G11:
 


I've heard of a chrome like coating called Armor Coat or something too.  Lots of guys coming out of the woodwork doing coatings and the price, compared to buying an aftermarket exhaust, is pretty good.

[kirkemon]

I've used this - it seamed to prevent bluing, but pipes have a golden color, which really isn't too bad. Best results on new pipes.
http://kreem.com/blueshield.html

[rboe]

My Griso started out nice and shiney chrome. On the ride home (110miles) they got a bronz patina even though they are double walled. Goes with the brown seat; it's no longer on the showroom floor and like grey hair; proves the bike is being used. About the only other choice is to put it in a glass display case and just look at it.

Riding in the rain will be worse!

[Dogwalker]

If you want bigger bore stainless heavy duty pipes, I have used these pipes on a Monza.

http://www.keihan.co.uk/catalogue.html#

Good prices it seems.

[emac 53]

Thanks for the advise. I will just live with it until I can't stand it any more.

[rossw]

The blue, I can live with. The rust however... ::(

[goog64]

The blue, I can live with. The rust however... ::(

Are your pipes rusting already Ross? Or some other parts? You're a fair way from the beach!

[rbm]

Hi,

There have been other threads on this board that briefly discussed products for removing bluing discolouration on chrome header pipes.  There's not been an indepth discussion of any one product so I thought I'd share my recent experience with Blue-job Chrome Polish.

I'l begin by shamelessly recommending a URL to visit where a wonderful write up can be found about the Blue-job product.  There is no point in me repeating the information when Webbikeworld has done a magnificent job of describing the product.

Blue-Job Chrome Polish Review by Web Bike World

Although Web Bike World did not get the result from using this product as they expected, I found the product did an outstanding job of restoring my damaged pipes and mufflers back to their pre-damaged condition with moderate effort and in a short time.  

The background starts when I recently brought my V7 in for to the local Moto Guzzi dealership for a valve adjustment.  The headers on the bike were slightly blue at the exhaust ports when I dropped the bike off at a repair depot, as depicted in this photo:



I received the bike back from the repair shop with both pipes blued right to the muffler, as shown in these photos:







The repair shop denied all culpability so I was left to repair the problem on my own.  I thought I'd give Blue-job a try.  I purchased a tin and read up on how to use the stuff.  The recommended practice now is to use a Random Orbital Sander (ROS) to speed up the process. I highly recommend this method myself after trying it.  Instead of purchasing the Blue-Job Exhaust Wipes (a seperate product), I went to a local drug store and bought a package of 200 unsterilized non-woven surgical wipes for about $3.00.  These are wipes used for cleansing wounds.  They are 4" X 4" squares which fit perfectly on the ROS.  The loop and hook on the ROS secures the wipe.  I sprayed a little water on the wipe and sprinkled a tiny bit of Blue-job powder on the moistened wipe.  I'll emphasize that it does not take much powder.  After all, the can of Blue-job only contains 14g of powder.  I did the entire exhaust system including both pipes and mufflers with just under one can.  The moisture on the wipe will create a paste of the powder.  This paste along with the vibration action of the ROS quickly removed all the bluing and golden tarnish, leaving behind the original chrome finish.  Certain spots were difficult to get to so I resorted to hand polishing those areas.  The task involved cleaning all pipes and mufflers and took me 2 hours to complete.  The chrome was fully restored to its original sheen, leaving only a few areas with a only hint of blemish.

I highly recommend this product.  When used properly, it removes bluing, golden tarnishing and residue from chromed components.  The package emphasizes that this product will not work on plastic chrome, aluminum and other surfaces.

[QCGoose]

Good to hear of the positive results, as I bought a little jar of the stuff a couple weeks ago and am looking to use it on the bikes soon.  ;-T

[totalmotorcycle]

Hi all,

 I just purchased a new 2013 Moto Guzzi V7 Stone, so far, about 50 miles on it and the headers are turning blue. Is this normal? Or should I bring it back to the dealer (reason?).

Thanks.

[geeseman]

Buy it at MPH ? give them a call I am sure they will tell you it is normal are both headers bluing equally ?