I wanted to make the muffler and pipe stand out from the car without spending a fortune on chroming, so I removed the muffler from the exhaust pipe and mounting brackets in order to clean it. At first, I thought it was hopeless as you can see:

Thanks to a tip from a fellow Lotus owner, I searched for cleaning products throughout my warehouse that had citrus in them, and proceeded to soak the muffler with it. I applied the solution with a fine grade emery cloth, using circular motions to slowly clean the grim away.

The cleaner, named "Goo Gone", really got results. You can purchase the solution at most hardware stores. Other citrus substitutes that I was told work well are "De-Solv-it" and "Bio-T".

Once all the cleaning was done, I had a local machine shop polish up the stainless with their air-powered toys; the result was a chrome-like shine. Another fellow Lotus owner recommends using "Never Dull" to clean and keep shiny every 2 months or so.