I just spent $300 As part of an upgrade option so my pipes blue rather than go a **** brown colour. Blue looks great enjoy it! 
Why is the exhaust pipe turning blue and how to remove it?
- Thread starter BrownBrady
- Start date
Best keep the 100 bucks and watch a youtube video. Everything is on the there, including carb maintenance.
Get your self the manual (often available digitally for free) watch the YouTube vids and spend the $ on a colourtune kit and vacuum gauge to tune and balance your carbs/fuel injectors.
I have no clue what you just said. From BrownBrady's videos, he seems to be willing to do, or go the diy route. He did a few things to his cbr. Then you get someone like me, with no mechanical ability whatsoever, and after watching tons of videos, and having a Haynes manual, still took 1 1/2 hours to do an effen oil change. I envy all of you that are able to wrench on your bikes.
BrownBrady, get the carbs tuned (or whatever it is you have to do) and forget about the blue hue on the pipes. I personally think it looks nice. Of course, you could always wrap the pipes....
Well that's easy. Colourtune is a tool that replaces the spark plug so you can see what the spark looks like, you can have balanced carburetors/fuel injectors and still be in a lean (not enough fuel, bad for valves) or rich (too much fuel) condition.
Vacuum gauges allow you to balance the carburetors so that they get a similar amount of fuel.
When balancing carbs I like to balance/colourtune/balance. Using a carb/fuel injector cleaner regularly helps too. I like seafoam but you'll find opinions on which is best vary just like seafoam.
That being said it is quite common for certain cylinders to run hotter than others; the inner pair of an inline 4 and the second cylinder of a v-twin.
Edit the reason one would do this is to check if the bluing is from a lean condition.
Your next oil change will go quicker, Joe! That said, some people just don't have a "mechanical" intelligence, just like some people don't have a musical intelligence. (Multiple intelligences theory)
CruisinGrrl, coming from a bmw airhead with equal cooling on both cylinders sticking out the sides, I've thought about the 2 inner cylinders running hotter than the outside ones in an inline 4 motor on my honda cb750. I asked in a technical forum for my honda, if it wouldn't be a good idea to use a different heat range spark plug for those inner cylinders. It turns out that even back in the 1970's Honda engineers addressed this issue with differences in the valve cam lobes of the 2 inner cylinders to balance out the heat. I didn't know that.
CruisinGrrl, coming from a bmw airhead with equal cooling on both cylinders sticking out the sides, I've thought about the 2 inner cylinders running hotter than the outside ones in an inline 4 motor on my honda cb750. I asked in a technical forum for my honda, if it wouldn't be a good idea to use a different heat range spark plug for those inner cylinders. It turns out that even back in the 1970's Honda engineers addressed this issue with differences in the valve cam lobes of the 2 inner cylinders to balance out the heat. I didn't know that.
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So CruisnGrrl dumbed it down for me and basically all I heard was that when I need my carbs tuned, I'm taking a ride to Trenton ?
Thanks Schneller, I hope so. I actually quite enjoyed it. And received some tips from this forum. Had trouble where I couldn't fit a torque wrench. Did the tighten-ride-adjust-ride-pray-that-I-didn't-strip-anything technique.
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Thanks Schneller, I hope so. I actually quite enjoyed it. And received some tips from this forum. Had trouble where I couldn't fit a torque wrench. Did the tighten-ride-adjust-ride-pray-that-I-didn't-strip-anything technique.
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To contribute to your mechanical education, I'll pass along these 2 bits of old-timer wisdom:
more damage is done by over-tightening fasteners than under-tightening. (think: stripped threads)
and, more damage is done by having too little/no oil in a motor, than having the wrong kind.
and just for fun: most carburator problems are electrical, and vice versa.
So CruisnGrrl dumbed it down for me and basically all I heard was that when I need my carbs tuned, I'm taking a ride to Trenton
Thanks Schneller, I hope so. I actually quite enjoyed it. And received some tips from this forum. Had trouble where I couldn't fit a torque wrench. Did the tighten-ride-adjust-ride-pray-that-I-didn't-strip-anything technique.
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You're better off taking it to a proper mechanic.
Riceburner
Well-known member
What if he bought your dinner first? ....or at least lunch....lol
Riceburner
Well-known member
I'll give ya "mechanical" intelligence, but not "musical" intelligence. That's more of an innate talent IMO. I can learn mechanical...I can't learn to be musical...at least not as much as mechanical.
I bet that there are people out there just as devoid of mechanical intelligence as you and I are of musical intelligence. By intelligence I don't mean knowing how to change a plug, anyone can learn that. I mean understanding and "feel". I learned how to play chords nice and clean on my guitar, but I will never be capable of playing a song to my or anyone else's enjoyment.
Riceburner
Well-known member
I see what ya mean now. I suppose there is that "feel" for DIY. That's what torque wrenches are for. 
Ok, the first time, but the next time will be quick. It's good to learn not to be dependent on others, even if you don't like doing the work, you understand what's involved so some mechanic doesn't try and take advantage of you.
MarcosSantiago
Well-known member
I'm late to this topic, but this is my contribution: Mothers Classic Mag and Aluminum polish will remove the blue color. As already mentioned, it will come back unless the mixture is sorted out / modified.
Blue pipes do not mean lean mix. EFI bikes have bluing. See H2R.
MarcosSantiago
Well-known member
OK, so what do they mean?
It's just heat. Higher performance engines have a lot of flow, which means more heat past the exhaust manifold. Modern pipes are short to a very hot catalytic box and don't cool down as easily. Any race bike has blue pipes.
If it suddenly happens on an old bike with chrome exhausts, it may mean a rich mixture and gas burning past the manifold, or a thin, single walled pipe.
You can put thermal coatings inside the pipe, but it's just normal on most bikes.
If you obsess about it with polishers, chrome won't last long. Looks great on that H2R.
Hell, some people are even faking it, poorly..
