Learn Me Restoring Stainless Steel On A Muffler

I'm going to refurbish this Dansk "Sausage" muffler on my Boxster. I wet sanded a small area above the exhaust pipes to test and it cleaned up pretty well. The black on the bottom is probably a high heat spray and it looks pretty sloppy. How should I proceed? 

Brushed finish?  Get yourself some brake cleaner, WD 40, and scotchbrite and have at it!

Use brake cleaner or carb cleaner to get as much of the schmutz off as you can, then lube some scotchbrite up with WD40 and keep going till its clean.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

I’vegued the scotchbrite to a dremel drum bit. Made the task less hard on the forearms. I already look like Popeye. 

Wire cup brush on an angle grinder.

Me being lazy and all, spray can paint stripper on the paint. I'd avoid wire wheels as they'll leave heavy scratches. Instead use scotch-brite type pads or steel wool.  Either one will stick to a hook and loop (velcro type) backing pad on a polisher/sander if you've got one of those. Doing it by hand is tedious. I've never done a whole muffler but i'll go over stainless exhaust tips once a year or so. 

I polished the stainless muffler on my dirtbike.

Steel wire wheel (no need for a heavy grade, just a softer one will do)
800-grit sandpaper for the heavily stained parts
Then a series of rouges on a buffer wheel.  Bigger areas I used a 6" pad on my buffer, smaller areas I used a 4" pad on a drill.  Stop when you get the shine you want.  You can go all the way to jeweler's rouge for really mirror finish.

Thanks, several different approaches. I don't have a buffer but could use a hand drill and 4 1/2" grinder and a little Harbour Freight "dremel" might work in the really tight spots. I'm not sure as to the preferred finish, maybe rouge finish the more visible areas.  Would the wire brush or solvent be best for the paint? I'll remove said muffler and also start cleaning the undertary area and the tranny and motor. 

Jon, Javelin, Anthony, etc. -this  requires a separate thread but while I'm in there, maybe some tuning pipes to pull 25 lbs. The trouble is that they are all made to fit 2.5, 2.7, 3.2, and 3.4s. Has anyone customed some smaller id pipes or...? (Boxster 986 2.5)

Maybe a light acid before the hard labor?

Hasbro said:

Would the wire brush or solvent be best for the paint?

I'd start with solvent or stripper.  It's always best to begin with mild methods and only go to harsher methods if necessary.

84FSP said:

Maybe a light acid before the hard labor?

I doubt LSD would help any

I've had surprisingly good results with this: 

It can be a bit labor intensive, but it's pretty much risk free.  I could also see using it as a "finishing" step with a more aggressive starter like a wire wheel.  I found it takes off paint, rust and tar with surprisingly little effort.  It does help to buff with a cloth with some "tooth", like an old towel.  

Chrome polish is a fairly agressive liquid abrasive too. For that matter, something like Ajax powder accomplishes almost the same thing. Basically, there are a ton of abrasives out there that would work with varying amounts of effort. I like steel wool for this because it basically doesn't wear or need to be cleaned/rinsed etc. You can probably get a 10pack in different grades for $10 on amazon. 

Think I might try some Barkeepers Friend.  Works great for cleaning stainless on ocean boats

Thanks all, sorry for the slow response, I work 6 or 7 days a week.  I will get several of the items suggested and try them. And then find some tuning pipes that don't cost $500.00. 

Picked up some goodies, need a solvent.

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