So I am going through an RS250 (no, not another Honda RS for me, this one's an Aprilia) I bought a month or so ago, and it kills me that people let stuff go to such hell.
Good example on this was the Arrow Exhaust. They are mild steel, clear coated when new. These were more of a rust coated. Took me a good 4 hours of cleaning, but now they are looking decent to the point where I'm not holding my credit card in hand on TYGA's site, pressing the "Pay Now" button.
So for those of you who have mild steel chambers and want to know how to clean them, here is the easy process as well as how to care for them so the never rust again. All done with stuff you probably have at home already.
Cleaning:
Take out a scotch brite pad. Heavy duty the better. Spay the scotch brite pad down with WD-40 and start scrubbing. Scrub the chambers really good, and use plenty of WD-40. Once you have scrubbed all the rust off as well as the oil residue, use some good parts/contact cleaner and a rag and wipe them down, getting all the rust, dirt, oil, WD-40, etc.. off. If you clean them well enough, you wont be able to feel any oil residue (or WD-40) on them. Keep this up till you have all the rust off, and your pipe are all nice and clean.
Sealing the chambers so they dont rust:
Next take a clean rag and some 3-1 (sewing machine oil, etc..) and put a bunch of oil on the rag and wipe them down, applying a nice coat of oil all over the pipes. Get in all the nooks and crannies really well.
That's it. Warm the bike up and it will set the oil pretty well. Do this every couple rides/track days and they will never rust again. If you clean them, make sure you apply oil again and clean then really well, using a contact/parts cleaner to get everything off them.
I have a set of samba's for my Honda RS250 that I have kept up and there isn't a spot of rust on them. The Arrow chambers I just did this weekend look great, and will stay looking like that for a good long while.
Now onto the rest of the unkept bike.
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Charles Gallant
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