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I've been lurking awhile and this is first time posting. I hope this could help out.

Most Likely it's a simple clean like mines. Anyways, a couple of weeks ago i put the cover on my bike and melted the plastic on the beautiful blued pipes while they were still hot. Bummed i was!. I tried every possible solvent, paint thinner, lacquer, acetone and so on and the crap was on there solid. Did some research on the net and found that Easy Off Oven Cleaner works great for stuff like this, so i bought a can of it. Before all that i used a micro torch to melt most of the plastic and wiped it off with a towel but still left a residue. So i fired up the bike, got the pipes nice and hot and very carefully without getting overspray on anything else used the Easy Off and the remaining plastic and residue came off like melted butter. Just be sure to use Easy Off in a well ventilated area and wear a breathing filter *t-shirt* and some gloves.

Hope this helps, good luck!.

Welcome NSBoarder...thanks for your input.

I did the same thing with a new cover...the valve covers were only slightly warn...so I put my new cover on only to find an odd burning smell...geees..the headers were still very hot...bugger!

To clean my little mess I did this.

I let them get hot...and used a nylon pot scrubber and buffed it off...it worked ok...when it cooled I just used some metal polish to finish it off.

DJ

Reviving an old thread, because I can't find a newer one!

I rolled the bike out of the garage yesterday (cold engine) and gave it a very thorough cleaning. Then started it up long enough to put it back in the garage so it ran less than a minute. Nothing felt hot so I put the cover on it, smelled something and sure enough the cover got burned onto the right header. So now I'm trying to get this black stuff off my bike.

I'm wondering if anyone has found another method to clean the headers since the time that this thread was started almost a year ago? Also, when you mention metal polish, are you referring to any kind of metal polish or does it have to be motorcycle specific?

Thanks.

A solvent like Goof-Off will take most of it off without scratching.

Is that the same type of thing as Goo Be Gone? Tried that.

I got it off finally by using a combination of advice given in this thread and another one.

1. Goo Be Gone, Tar/Bug Remover, Fingernail polish remover worked on some of it but not all of it.
2. Then I tried the 0000 steel wool. That worked on some, but was going to take more elbow grease than I have and was very, very slow in removing the gunk.
3. Then I picked up the plastic lid to the fingernail polish remover and used it to scrape. And actually, that worked better than anything I had used up to that point. But the majority of the mess and the thickest part of the mess wasn't being affected at all.

So, I came back in and did another search and found another thread where someone recommended something else and THAT WORKED!!!

4. I started up the bike to let the pipes just get warm and as they were warming I saw part of the goo start to lift, so I let it warm a bit more and then took liquid soap detergent on that fine steel wool and VOILA! it came right off. All of it.

I used so many different things, I don't know if everything else I used before this had loosened it, or if it would have come off that easily if I had only done step 4. But it is off the header now. So I'm waiting for it to cool completely before i put some polish on them to see what kind of difference that will make. Actually, they look like they are back to normal right now, but I just think that while I'm working on them I'll go ahead and try the metal polish and see what happens. The very, very fine steel wool and the plastic lid used to scrape did not leave any visible marks at all. So I think I've successfully removed the goopy mess without damaging anything. And the nice blue color is still there!

I've been driving like a drunk dodging plastic bags all summer both on my bike and in my Corvette.

About the only thing you can do is get the pipe hot, put on a glove and wipe the plastic away using a damp cloth. You'll have to do this a few times to remove all of the debri. As suggested above, stay away from abrasives. They'll scratch the pipe.

I used Xylene (a solvent) plus very fine steel wool to get most of the gunk off. The rest eventually burned off or maybe I just don't notice it anymore.

I remember someone saying that Easy Off oven cleaner works pretty well. Warning: be sure to wear gloves and work in a well ventilated area.

ProductUser

Gypsy - did you use Photo Shop to touch up those photos? I didn't think the bikes came from the factory that clean!

Nope. No photoshop. I just take good care of it! Actually, it was the first cleaning it has had in about 1000 miles and it's been raining a lot here lately.

CLR and a scotch brite pad.I had plastic from my motorcycle cover on my header pipe and this did the trick.CLR is the cleaner used to clean toilets and showers etc.

ProductUser wrote:I remember someone saying that Easy Off oven cleaner works pretty well. Warning: be sure to wear gloves and work in a well ventilated area.

ProductUser

Exactly that. Easy Off Oven Cleaner works great!. It's effortless and no need to scrub.