In a message dated 3/30/05 8:43:51 AM, wes@CS.UCHICAGO.EDU writes:

<< I also really can't afford to spend too much on the exhaust....  That
said, I don't want to do this again. >>

You have a choice to make: spend the money now on the real deal and put it
behind you, or spend it as installments on the aftermarket junk every time you
have to revisit the exhaust system in the future.  In the past, I've even
installed used VW pipes which outlasted new Dansk stuff and the used OE pipes also
fit as they should.

DIY coatings?  I've tried several exhaust coatings on pipes for bikes.
Prepped the pipes to within an inch of their lives, including bead blasting.  The
coatings lasted less time than it took me to prep the pipes.  Unless some
miracle in an aerosol has come about recently, I'd say your best hope is used (or
new) peanut oil applied often to a warm (not hot, it won't stick hot) exhaust
system.  This idea came about after I heard of a friend spraying the raw steel
headers on his sprint car with hydraulic oil and after I saw the impervious
coating which built up on a cast iron Dutch oven which I use for deep frying.
The early reports from The Tube Guru, who has the wherewithal to implement this
attack on rusty pipes, are positive and promising.

Unfortunately, there is no one prescribed method to remove the studs because
you cannot predict exactly what will confront you until you are well into the
job.  My personal worst exhaust stud encounter was one which someone had
tapped to 10 mm then proceeded to strip that tapping.  The stripped hole swallowed
a HeliCoil as if it were a pencil inserted into a golf cup.  Only by luck was
I able to find a keyed insert which could be used.  I hate to say this, but
set aside some time to review the endless text regarding exhaust studs which
awaits you in the "archives".

George