What do our exhaust tips look like, originally?

Hi guys,

I usually search the site for my questions, but there are so many pages of exhaust-related stuff, I'm just gonna' come out and ask it...

My tips were painted dark gray by the guys who repaired/repainted the bumper cover for the original owner. Like some other folks, I like the factory combination of the oval tip with slanted sideways cuts to match the contours of the bumper.

Unlike the paint on the air dam (before I replaced the bumper cover) the paint on the tips has held tight... If I were to put paint remover on there, what would I find?

If anyone has 'virgin' tips, a photo would be greatly appreciated!

(I did see a post about using a 'chrome' spray paint, but the stuff evidently doesn't last like this damned gray does...)

My tips were gray.

I have seen chrome ones.

I saw an older Park Ave Ultra with a Riv exhaust I think a '98 or '99, it had the Riv tips but chrome (or SS).

My riv currently has a factory PAU exhaust on it, it has chrome/SS (have not figured out which) tips. The funny thing is they are in the same place as the tips on the custom exhaust for the SEMA Riv. Which are in about the same place as the outlets on prior generation Rivs with duals (at the far corners peeping out from under the bumper).

I assume if you removed the paint on your tips, *if* it indeed comes off, you will find T409 SS, which won't polish worth beans. I would not bother. Consider painting them. IMHO darn near anything but peanut butter will work as paint, the tips don't get that hot even on a long trip.

Albertj

My tips are stainless steel, not painted, but they become covered in soot over time. I think all Riviera tips are this way, never seen chrome tips.

Knowing GM the factory 'chrome' tips really should be SS. Mine seem kind of blue though, they don't look like T304. They are the same color as the SS in the wheel arches and over the windows, though.

Albertj

I thought maybe my big full color 30 page 1998 Riviera sales booklet would show the rear view, but alas there is no image that shows the tips.

1998 Riv wrote:

I thought maybe my big full color 30 page 1998 Riviera sales booklet would show the rear view, but alas there is no image that shows the tips.

THey might have been thinking about changing them.

The '05 PA exhaust fits my RIv *really* well and looks good. Very quiet though.

Albertj

I've always thought mine were polished stainless that just faded to being somewhat obscure through neglect and New England weather.
I was planning on taking a 90* die grinder with a scotch-brite on it and try working the underside of them and see what happens.

albertj wrote:

My tips were gray.

I have seen chrome ones.

I saw an older Park Ave Ultra with a Riv exhaust I think a '98 or '99, it had the Riv tips but chrome (or SS).

I assume if you removed the paint on your tips, *if* it indeed comes off, you will find T409 SS, which won't polish worth beans. I would not bother. Consider painting them. IMHO darn near anything but peanut butter will work as paint, the tips don't get that hot even on a long trip.

Albertj

Thanks for the "tip" Albert. (Oooo, that is SO bad...)

But next time could you reply a little faster - I mean, c'mon, 21 minutes?!?

Perhaps the existing paint, having lasted so long, would make an insulating base for the Duplicolor (or whoever) chrome spraypaint...

Rickw wrote:

I've always thought mine were polished stainless that just faded to being somewhat obscure through neglect and New England weather.
I was planning on taking a 90* die grinder with a scotch-brite on it and try working the underside of them and see what happens.

I bet you find T409.

Albertj

And how will I know if it is T409. (Aged) ?

Eldo wrote:

Thanks for the "tip" Albert. (Oooo, that is SO bad...)

But next time could you reply a little faster - I mean, c'mon, 21 minutes?!?

Perhaps the existing paint, having lasted so long, would make an insulating base for the Duplicolor (or whoever) chrome spraypaint...

Some paints are chemically incompatible and will wrinkle. That said - engine or disc brake paint should work fine. BBQ grill or header paint probably won't get hot enough for long enough to cure right.

Albertj

Rickw wrote:

And how will I know if it is T409. (Aged) ?

It won't polish bright, although it will burnish to a matte finish which some like. Thing about T304 is it will take a mirror finish. Good luck getting T409 to polish anything like T304. Then again, you are a wizard. If anyone can get T409 bright it would be you, but frankly the metallurgy is against you. What you *could* do that would be cool if you can get enough bite and enough space to work it, would be to put whorls on there like it was engine-turned. Maybe overlap the whorls like shingles or fish scales.

As a practical matter, you *could* get a nice nondirectional orbintal scratch pattern on the things, I think.

Albertj

albertj wrote:

Rickw wrote:

And how will I know if it is T409. (Aged) ?

What you *could* do that would be cool if you can get enough bite and enough space to work it, would be to put whorls on there like it was engine-turned. Maybe overlap the whorls like shingles or fish scales.
Albertj

I know! Pull the dash trim out of a '70s Trans Am and peel off the engine-turned applique!

(We really need an emoticon for 'tongue-in-check'... )

I intended on experimenting with a turned finish.
I'll do the undersides first and see what looks the best.
Then when I'm done I could always cut them off and install the new plated stainless ones I bought a couple of years ago and never welded them on.

I don't know, if i get the originals looking half decent I may just re-sell the new tips.

Thanks guys,

I don't think anything could look worse than what I've got now, so I'll try either Duplicolor or Plastikote chrome spray. I can always strip 'em off if it really sucks...

I have to sell the house this season and move to Oregon, which is why I haven't had the time to figure out an "order" for a Deekster-tune, but this little project would be quicker than the other things that I have to get done before I'm gone - Finding that damned seat-memory module, re-adjusting the float on the new sending unit, replacing the oil sender with the Generac 8 PSI unit, and pulling the fans to both replace the lower radiator hose and install the B&M tranny cooler that I bought to follow Jason's writeup...