ST1100 exhaust heat shield.

[GreenZR]

Recently had to replace my complete exhaust system due to the collector and mufflers that have rusted out. This is on my 2000 ST1100 with over 167,000 miles.

I have, and used the complete exhaust system including mufflers from my 1991 parts bike, as they are in great shape.

My question is how critical is the heat shields on the headers? There is no way that I can reuse the original ones.

 

[Uncle Phil]

Can you sand them, weld them up, and repaint them?
I think they are to protect the fairings from melting, but I could be wrong about that.

 

[ChriSTian_64]

These are what they are : heat shields.

You mean, how critical they are to protect the nearby plastic fairing to melt ?

The inside of my lower fairing, the one completely under the ST1100, had started to melt in the front, just a few inches under these heat shield.

Don't know what happend that particular day (previous owner event).
But you can see the plastic started to liquify and small bubbles started to form.

So, it's easy to imagine what could happend to the front side fairing without the heat shields.

 

[red one]

Yeah they are there for a reason. Like Christian64 said nothing to stop the radiating heat coming from those headers.

 

[Oldbikefixr]

I replaced the exhaust on my 1991 two years ago. I cleaned my heat shields up with a bead blaster....steel wool would have worked as well. All the rust on mine was from the steel hardware. The shields themselves worked like stainless of some sort. The original finish wasn't paint but anodized black. Keep your shields, like everyone says, they are necessary to protect your fairing. If yours are not salvageable, they are cheap on ebay.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I ended up painting my 'redone' ones with black grill paint.
I had to have the bolt holes welded up and redrilled but they work fine.

 

[the cueball]

I repainted mine in race red too.. I believe that it adds at least 25.8bhp to the power of the bike.. and well.. red is FAST!

 

[Beeflips]

I replaced the exhaust on my 1991 two years ago. I cleaned my heat shields up with a bead blaster....steel wool would have worked as well. All the rust on mine was from the steel hardware. The shields themselves worked like stainless of some sort. The original finish wasn't paint but anodized black. Keep your shields, like everyone says, they are necessary to protect your fairing. If yours are not salvageable, they are cheap on ebay.

Your work always looks so tidy. I'm impressed every time I look at pictures of it.

 

[Beeflips]

But you can see the plastic started to liquify and small bubbles started to form.

I have some bubbles on mine too. and they were like that when I got it with 23,000 miles on it. But I did notice the bike came from the East coast (Massachusetts) and I wondered if it was a lot of stop and go traffic that did it. A lot of wear on the foot pegs too.

 

[Walleye]

These are what they are : heat shields.

You mean, how critical they are to protect the nearby plastic fairing to melt ?

The inside of my lower fairing, the one completely under the ST1100, had started to melt in the front, just a few inches under these heat shield.

Don't know what happend that particular day (previous owner event).
But you can see the plastic started to liquify and small bubbles started to form.

So, it's easy to imagine what could happend to the front side fairing without the heat shields.

Heat rises, you need to quit turning your bike upside down before they completely melt,

 

[Al st1100]

This might work for you, header heat wrap https://www.amazon.com/LEDAUT-Titanium-Motorcycle-Fiberglass-Stainless/dp/B011B99B0I/ref=asc_df_B011B99B0I/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198093653755&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2564713616520699347&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021626&hvtargid=pla-381548692758&th=1

 

[Oldbikefixr]

Your work always looks so tidy. I'm impressed every time I look at pictures of it.

Thanks. I seem to spend all my meticulous time on the cars, bikes and airplanes. That leaves, unfortunately, no time for the rest of the house.
Seriously, though, I learned the 'keep it clean' from the military. The less 'stuff' there is to absorb and retain moisture, inflammables or corrosives, the fewer preventable problems there are likely to be in all the systems.

 

[Oldbikefixr]

I repainted mine in race red too.. I believe that it adds at least 25.8bhp to the power of the bike.. and well.. red is FAST!

Downside is that only the top half inch or so is visible with the bike completely assembled. Had I thought about that, they would likely still be black.

 

[GreenZR]

Man am I glad I didn't get rid of the heat shields from the 1991 parts bike that I have!

The top ones are the bad ones from my 2000, the bottom ones are from the '91' that I will be able to use.

I'll paint them and get them installed soon.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I'd save the old ones, cover them with naval jelly, let them set, then pressure wash them and repaint them for spares.

 

[jdmccright]

They look quite salvageable to me. At worst, tack weld some stainless steel washers where the holes are to reinforce them. I repainted mine silver years ago and they still look new.