Kerker!

I just received a Kerker exhaust for my 1981 GPz550. I bought the exhaust on eBay. These are very desirable, so I just closed my eyes and clicked the buy it now even thought I thought it was overpriced. I just didn't want to miss it.
Well, I just opened the box, and I was very happy to find it in much better condition than I expected. The pipe has been repainted... and the eBay pictures had been weak. But incredibly the pipe seems to be dent free with only minor scratches! With a good cleanup it should come out looking very good, close to "like new" I hope.
The headers have a rough texture. I assume this is from rust and pitting. Old headers are just like this; with the exhaust heat the original finish dies quickly and corrosion sets in. But the headers are still very solid with no scrapes or dents. Again with some nice finishing they will look fine (although they will keep the pebbled texture, I don't know any sensible way to fix that).

The inside of the exhaust looks very clean and the baffle is solid. I was shocked that wasn't rusted to bits. Its a street baffle, so it won't be too loud.

More pics:

Reason to use a sealed battery

This is the battery box from my 1981 Kawasaki Gpz550. It wasn't obvious from the top with the battery in place. but careful inspection showed it to be rusted completely through some of the supports.

Luckily I found a fairly un-rusted one on eBay and will refinish it an install... probably with a lightweight lithium battery. ;-)

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Follow up!
I bought a only slightly rusted replacement battery box from ebay and had it blasted clean and powder coated. Relatively expensive, but this thing is a complex shape to wire wheel clean and I figured the powder coat might be more durable than the original paint. Came out looking brand new.