rust or gunk on the exhaust flange? (sexy pic included)

[Anonymous]

OK. Maybe not a sexy pic. But "flange" is a pretty neat word.



It is only on the right side. The left side is clean. My first guess is that it is rust. My second guess is that it is some type of sealant applied by a previous owner (there isn't any leakage I can detect around the flange). In any case, I'd like to remove the flange and clean it off. Then replace the gasket and put it back together.

What do you think this stuff is?

How would you clean it off?

Would you leave it alone?

Thanks board. I look forward to sharing more pictures and so on as I get more into the bike during the winter months. So far I have got a lot of useful information from here. I am reassured that the GS was a good investment by the fact that there is an active community such as this for support information.

[DaveDanger]

To my eye, that looks like simple rust. I can't imagine why one side would rust so much more noticeably than the other, but you are riding the proof that we've all been searching for for so long. That life on other plan.. dang. I've been staring at this screen for waaaaaaaay too long.

[Buffalo Breath]

rust

Since the bike leans on the left while on the side stand, the right side gets the brunt of the weather, soak it down with some PB blaster or the like take a punch and hammer and give a medium tap to the heads before you try to break them free

[Clone]

I was sure those flanges were aluminum 8O Rust or sealant, it has to come off, so soak it and scrape it. Are you dismantling the bike? It kind of looks like it needs some TLC.

[Guest]

A wire wheel attached to a drill cleans the flanges up nice. I just did some for an exhaust I sold.. they turned out nice and shiny.