My flamed exhaust.

[cruizer]

Just thought I would share my steps in the making of my flamed exhaust as i shared them on another board. Please feel free to crituque me, and tell me what I can do to improve my efforts and create a better final product.
I did get a buildup on the edge around the tape. I waited until the final layer of powder just started to flow, pulled it from the oven, and removed the tape. I didn't see any buildup then, but I did after the final cure. Any ideas what could have caused this?
Also, is there like a dull overcoat? Most bikes don't look this glossy. I need to tone the whole thing down a little.

This is my test piece, before I do the actual one on my bike. I bought this off of eBay. Mine will also be a different color, and I am going to try and do a couple things differently, like make the fade bigger, and tone down the gloss.


First, I apply the first color of the fade.



Second, I apply the second color of the fade.

[cruizer]

Third, cook to perfection.



Since they don't make high temperature vinyl that is easily removable after baking, I have make my own. I took high temperature tape (2" width) and layered it onto wax paper.

[cruizer]

I spent alot of time making a flame template for an exact wrap around of the exhaust. (I made copies so I could do more)



I place that flame template over the top of the tape on wax paper. I secure everything with tape on a fake marble granite counter top board. I use a freehand cutter to cut out from the template.

[cruizer]

I apply transfer tape to the back and flip over. Then I remove the wax paper from the flames I want to transfer to the pipe.



I then transfer the tape to the pipe. FYI, these last few steps sucked ass. Much cussing was involved.

[cruizer]

(I forgot to take a few step pictures)
Apply the overcoat, bake slightly, remove the tape, touch-up what you can, and finish baking.



It's not perfect, but then again, if I wanted perfection, I would hire someone else to do it. It does look pretty good though. I have been practicing on paint cans too.

Lemme know what you think.

[sswee]

You're lobster claw flames look much better than most I've seen in awhile. That kind of work takes alot of time and practice to get cherry. You have an excellent start. I think another fade on the last row of flames would really set it off. I am just not sure which other color would do the trick.
Good work.
SS

[pickleboy]

Originally Posted by sswee

You're lobster claw flames look much better than most I've seen in awhile. That kind of work takes alot of time and practice to get cherry. You have an excellent start. I think another fade on the last row of flames would really set it off. I am just not sure which other color would do the trick.
Good work.
SS

i agree with sswee, it looks great bro. as for the 3 color fade maybe try yellow to orange to red

[Deecoat]

Looks great! Where did you get the flame drawings? I would like to do something like that on my valve covers.

[cruizer]

Thanks for the compliments and suggestions! That took alot of time and patience to do! I already have a couple offers to do some for other people. But first I want to see if it stands up to theat of the exhaust on the bike. I really don;t think the exhaust temps get above 200 degrees, but I don't know for sure.

Deecoat,
I drew the flames myself. I looked for pictures on the internet, and freehanded them. Those took me longer to do than anything else, because I have pretty much no artistic talent! lol I drew them to form a complete 15 inch circle around the exhaust. So when you rol the paper up, it matches perfectly.

[Banditperformance]

Try dark Purple or blue for teh tips of the flames. Purp guives and illusion of the flames being transparant at the tips so the base color(black) can be imagined that it's being seen through the tips. I think it looks cool anyways