Black Chrome Harris?

[PAULJAC47]

Hi All,I have fitted at the mo on my 1981 z1000j what looks like a black chrome harris exhaust in pretty good shape as i reckon it may even be original,never seen one of these before ,only the chrome ones there is some surface rust on the inside,but not too visible would it be worth trying to get this re-black chromed ?,anyone know of any companies that could do this.?

[chrisNI]

I have a black chrome Harris, it dates from about 1984 although it's presently in two pieces as I cut it up a number of years ago to use a different end can, although now I have got an Exhaust Craft stainless front section to replace it it will probably get welded back together again. The black chrome on mine was quite good for a long time, the pipe itself is still solid as can be, the original Harris "Harrises" seemed to be brick shithouse compared with the newer non Harris ones. One way you might be able to tell tell it's age is that the early ones had springs more than an inch longer than the current ones have, I got replacement springs from Hyde's a long time ago and they were way too short. I talked to a bloke there who said he had worked there ever since they had been doing the Harris pipes and he had never seen the longer springs in his time, so that may date it back to Harris's. I had to get the spring tabs moved up the pipe as I'd lost a couple. To the best of my knowledge the only black chrome ones were from those early days anyway Hyde's never made any.

I liked the black chrome, it looked better than the either black or the chrome to me, it's like a bluey dark chrome rather than actually black. I talked to a bloke a few years ago who said he knew of a firm who would do black chrome - specifically in this instance we were discussing Lawson grab rails - he wouldn't tell me who they were but said he could get one done for me if I wanted, suffice to say it wasn't cheap at all so my ELR grab rail is still scabby... It seems hard to find a black chromer nowadays, it used to be more common in the eighties, and even if you do find someone, for this job there's the pererennial problem of people willing to risk their bath with dirty exhausts. If you find anyone I'd be interested to know, though prhaps not for the exhaust.