| Author | Message | ||
     Doncasto |
Ferris: This morning's news reports wildfires around Lake Isabella. I hope they are not near you and that you, Fearless and the Bueller young'uns are all well and have not been affected. Don | ||
| Lsr_Bbs |
Uh, care to back that up with fact? They are not allowed any internal engine modifications. The only differences from a stock bike are: - Suspension - Tires - Bodywork (can be fiberglass or c/f) - shape cannot be altered (other than to include bellypan) - Exhaust - hi-flow air filter There's a bunch of other, non-performance things that are required/available for modification from stock. However, this is no different from most any other "showroom stock" type of racing. Neil Garretson X0.5 | ||
| Mistaandypants |
Thanks guys! I polished the pipes with mothers yesterday and they look much better. I think I'll still come back with steel wool because they still aren't quite right. And whatever the header pipe is made of it rusts! Not huge but small little brown dots and specks. On another note. Took it in for 2500 mile maintainance. Told mechanic engine was making a strange sound right at 3500 rpm (almost sounds like a kettle boiling) then it goes away. They retorqued all bolts and hardware still couldn't get rid of it. Any thoughts, should I be worried? | ||
| Awprior |
A kind lady was nice enough to brush her WalMart bag up against my beautiful D&D pipes that I installed a few weeks ago. Any suggestions about how to get off charred plastic chunks without destroying the finish? They're coated, not just plain steel. | ||
| Hootowl |
I made the mistake of standing too close to my D&D pipes while wearing my rain suit. The plastic eventually burns off, but it did leave a little discoloration, almost like it took some of the finish with it. | ||
| Ara |
I wonder if the plastic could be gently scraped off (cold or warm) with a piece of brass sheet or some other soft material. Just an idea. | ||
| Bradgross |
somebody on another board had used a VERY sharp blade going vertical on the pipe not side to side and worked well... BradG | ||
| Leeaw |
Awprior, What worked for me when I did that on my coated header was Colonel Brassy. Used it sparingly and it came right off when Mother's did nothing. I think it is not for chrome or aluminum (I forget which) but use a little and it comes right off. HD dealer told me about it.  | ||
| Andrew |
I've used copper or brass wool to great effect on both chrome and stainless pipes. A little brisk elbow work and the plastic is gone. ymmv, Andrew | ||
| Reepicheep |
MistaAndyPants... Somebody (forget who) told me before I polished my headers that using steel wool will leabe bits of the wool in the headers that will rust, which sounds like what you are seeing. I used sandpaper (600 and 1200 grit) followed by mothers, and it worked great (took a while) with no rusting. May be total BS... never tried the steel wool so I don't know. | ||
| Henrik |
I've heard oven cleaner will help get stuff off your pipes - no personal experience though. A few dyno runs got melted plastic right off my old FXR headers :-) Henrik | ||
| Madduck |
Is anyone planning on going to the Buell open house on August 3rd. Erik will be signing autographs from 10-11 am. No other events scheduled with this as far as I can see. Paul | ||
| Freyke |
DREMEL TOOL.... | ||
| Blake |
In my experience, plastic eventually burns off leaving no visible residue after a few washings. At least on my SS headers. Best thing for refreshing/cleaning the SS headers is a scotch brite pad. Won't rust, and the thin profile facilitates getting between tight spots like near collector, cylinder heads, and where header passes under/over frame.  | ||
| Hootowl |
The D&D header has a photite (sp) coating. It most certainly wouldn't stand up to being hit with steel wool, let alone sand paper. It is SS underneath, so I suppose you could just take it down to bare metal. | ||
| Blake |
As to the 600 supersports in AMA national racing... There is a reason why privateers can't keep up with the factory bikes. | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Gents, Re the Scotch Brite pads, is it imperative to use the pads in the same direction as the 'grain' of the SS on the header? Or will she come out looking good by going all over the place? I'm getting ready to attempt this and don't care to make a mess...  TIA. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Mikej |
Paul/Madduck, There are one or several groups heading out from there when they get ready to leave to various destinations at various paces. Pick a group, say hi, and join in if they don't mind. I believe one group will head west from East Troy and meander around the south Kettle Moraine region for the afternoon. Just casual BRAG-club and group rides, nothing really official from the Factory as far as I know. Ride your own ride sort of pace. MikeJ (Will probably be there.) | ||
| Denisea |
Don, Just talked with Ferris. He's okay. A fire started across the street from him, close enough to burn part of his yard though. Phone lines still down so may not hear from our friend online for a bit. Denise | ||
| Fogcity |
Ok - took the M2 to dealer today due to an INCONSISTANT problem of not starting/dying. When it wouldn't start I checked for spark and got none. 20 minutes later it started right up. Of course, riding it to the dealer today it acted like a champ. I checked the EXTREMELY obvious such as loose spark plug wires - everything looks connected. The mechanic said he can't do much unless it won't start/die for him and he may ride it home tonight (God help me) and see if he gets lucky. I posted on this question before but was wonderring if anyone else had some brillant ideas  Thanks | ||
| Doncasto |
Thanks, Denise. Glad to hear Sir Ferris and Lady Fearless are OK. Across the street is WAY TOO CLOSE! Don | ||
| Lsr_Bbs |
It sure can't be the rider, could it Blake!?! It's not like a tenth of a second a lap doesn't add up; or a few more mph exiting a corner isn't important. Seriously though...it's called tolerance stacking. They can economically build more powerful engines than a privateer. But don't count out the suspension bits that a privateer effort typically just can't afford. Regardless, they cannot internally modify the engine; and if anyone did believe that another team was, they would be protested. Supersport racing is just too competative (and important to the mfgrs.) for teams to overlook rules infractions. Neil Garretson X0.5 | ||
| Mistaandypants |
Reepicheep I never polished them before, and I used a cloth with the mothers polish. So my pipes have never seen steel wool. Is stainless really not supposed to rust? The problem is I took the bike down dirty. It was 20 yards from the ocean. Every morning there was a salt crust on all the cars you had to wash your window every morning to drive away. I've never seen sea spray so bad. All the bolts on my car started rusting even though they never had before, and it's 6 years old. | ||
| Highoctane |
Mistaandypants, Just to remind ya that stainless steel sometimes do rust. It depends of the quality. And like you say, salt is very bad for everything. It is a good enemy for steel of any kind!!!! If you don't want to polish them you may have to paint them flat black with barbecue paint every year! Just an idea!! | ||
| Blake |
Jim, If you want to keep the satin finish, rub the scotch brite in the same direction as existing finish dictates. That's what I did. It makes the finish a bit finer grained, but still maintains the satin look. I'm not a big fan of polishing anything but the bodywork. | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Blake, Thanks. I don't enjoy polishing either, but I do have an S2 which carries with it certain obligations...  Personally, I'd rather ride than wrench or clean... Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Anonymous |
August 3rd is the same day as the Greatful Dead Reunion at Alpine Valley also in East Troy. | ||
| Chainsaw |
Fogcity: If my truck was having the problem you describe your bike as having, first thing that comes to mind: Ignition Coil failure (I don't know if an M2 has one, maybe the ignition module) Second thing I would look for is a short in the wiring, if the positive cable is rubbing against metal on the frame, you could get that intermitent go / no go. Thirdly (is that a word?) check to see that the cables to the starter are tight. All of this has happened to my 1972 GMC Jimmy, maybe truck troubleshooting will cross over to Buells...  | ||
| Court |
I'm not sure, after the nasty "Hot Tub Incident" that Buell riders are allowed back at Alpine Valley. In addition, it's dangerously close to the former site of the Thursday Night Pulp Fiction Creative Thinking Classes that spawned much of what you eventually came to know as the Buell S-1 Lightning. | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Fogcity: Sportsters have exhibited similar symptoms when the battery cables go bad, which happens more often than you might think. Carefully check to make certain those cables are attached properly (sometimes they appear fine when in fact they have internal damage). The Buell cables could be from the same supplier... Jim in Santa Barabara |
