muffler?

[Wayne Cox]

At 11:38 AM 11/8/2002 -0600, you wrote:
>How often do you polish you[r] Muffler tip ... for those with SS
>mufflers.  Mine is looking pretty dull and sooty. Speaking of soot, should
>I be concerned by a buildup on the tips? I usually hose them out when wash
>the car.

I've never been big on car washing at all, but used to occasionally polish
up my dual tip Stromung.  Petroleum cleaners, like brake cleaner or metal
polishes like Brasso cut through the soot nicely.  If it's really rough,
you might use fine steel wool - but try it on a small spot and let it dry
to make sure you're not scratching excessively.

I don't think the build up hurts anything but looks.  But hosing it out
sounds bad!  Mufflers are usually packed with fiberglass or metal wool, and
will sponge up large quantities of water.  I doubt they get hot enough to
evaporate much of it out.  You could end up rotting out the packing
prematurely, or rusting the whole can from the inside out.

    -Wayne    '91 NX2k - '93 NK2k - '92 SE-R parts car