J&P Community

 Just finished another sportster restore and my 72 xlch with kick and electric start seems to be running too hot and the pipes blue up really fast. just starting to troubleshoot it and listing all probable causes before I start to wrench. could timing be to far advanced? I have comp duel fire ignition, I'll need to recheck timing. I have quick silver carb just factory rebuilt jetted for 1000cc, fuel mixture adjustment? I was burning some premuin leaded gas, a HD employee told me premiem burns to hot, I change to unlead regular with lead alternative added. Push rods were adjusted, could the valves be hanging up? both pipes blueing equally, I'll recheck maybe change to a different spark plug? I believe I have HD 3-4s curentlly. Anything else I should look at???? Tahnks

 First check timing, then jetting.

 If you're bluing, it could be running too rich (as well as hot).

 H.D. service manual for Ironheads 70-78's. Use 'premium' gasoline (94 pump octane or higher). Change/adjust ONE thing at a time. It took me 2 summers to get 'close' on my 72 Sporty (huge S&S carb problem).

What you should have done is to prep clean the pipes inside, then spray the insides with VHT high temp paint.  Black of course; what this does is to pre condition the pipes so that the motor carbons the paint and not allow as much heat to escape into your pretty chrome.

If timing is ok, then suspect an over rich condition at low to mid range. But, it is nearly impossible to keep big bore motor's pipes from not getting some blue effect;  thats why they invented ceramic coatings for inside and outside usage.

The VHT paint trick works well giving you sometime to "pre carbon" the pipes and figure the correct jetting to get as close as possible.

 But...sometimes they just turn blue!  Everything is correct and dialed in...and they turn blue!  Don't fret about it...it's a sign that the scooter isn't a garage queen...it's just the nature of the beast!

 I have used Blue Away with good results. It is expensive and takes a lot of work but does a nice job.

 For new pipes try these,

Kreem Blue Shield  # 440-157

Chrome Guard  # 440-749

Make sure you follow the directions.

Joe,

 The 1000cc '72 Sportsters were produced by over-boring the 900 cyls. They had a cronic over heating problem because the walls were too thin. They remedied that in later years by making dedicated cyls for the 1000's.

And acctually too far retarded, not advanced, will cause an engine to run hotter.

Too lean of a fuel mix will run hot.

Some cheap pipes will turn blue very fast.

 Welcome back FX,,,,Thanks.....      

 (hey, I had a 72XLCH....)

 Thanks guys, blueing seems to have slowed, a friend tried rechroming pipes and I,m starting to think that the old drag pipes (with baffles) and free chrome may not be just the right combo.  I even blue creamed them but I quess thats hat happens when you try to save a buck. I may look at a 2-1 header and a old school cigar muffler after the 105th here in brew town. Otherwise the bike seem to run fine ignition wise.

 an engine properly tuned for performance, will blue the pipes, due to the high exhaust temps. you can de tune the motor some, and reduce the exhaust temps, but you will lose some power. performance tuning almost always results in a slightly lean mixture, which causes high exhaust temps, and it's a fact of physical science that if you heat metal, it will change colors. i guess i'm showing my age, but i like blue pipes for about the first foot or so of pipe, shows you're tuned to go fast and doing it

I hear ya but I've seen some scoots with such bad jetting and timing caused blueing it was amazing they ran at all.

Another alternative is to have your pipes ceramic coated. There is a firm called "Jet Hot" that does super trick high temp ceramic coatings for anything; pipes, even jet engine components. Their prices are not bad and they can even deliver an almost chrome like finish that wil not blue. They even have a ton of colors if you like.

 Had to use the wife's log-in--mine's still fried since the site up-grade.   Old skool rule..........60 to 80 mph = blue pipes,    81 to 99 mph = dark blue pipes,     above 99 mph = purple pipes.  Nobody had to speak--- all we had to do was glance at the pipes to see how our friends had been riding since we saw them last.  New skool = pipes have to retain chrome appearance!  As long as it's tuned correctly, keep riding and don't sweat the details.

doorgunner 

romanpool:

 snippet...Had to use the wife's log-in--mine's still fried since the site up-grade.  

doorgunner 

send an email to webmaster@jpcycles.com

and he should be able to fix ya up.