New Project: Exhaust Headers

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Bruce,

Don't worry, I'm not changing the pipes on Godzilla, it's got the mac 4-1 also, works fine for me. This project is more for experimentation on how hard it will be just to make a set of 4-2's,and to help out a local Xsive with rusted thru headers already running a 4-2 setup.

EricHa, I'll definitely be contacting you later regarding this. The Mandrel Bends web site said they could make water jet cut ones for about $10.00 ea! Your price is much better. I could only find 3/16" thick material locally at the hobby center of Lowes, the places that I KNOW I can get thicker material are only open M-F 8-5 and I work those same hours!

I would think you/they could to 1/4" thick, but just want to ask to make sure. Your prices are much better and closer to what I was hoping to be able to find...trying to make these as inexpensively as possible! Thanks!

Don, thanks for that, I'll remember NOT to fire up the plasma when it's RAINING!
T.C.

[ddragon63]

You would be amazed the people that use their plasmas outside with no air filter in this part of the country. Job security for me I guess.

[GLoweVA]

TC, what frame/engine are you using for test fits?
I saw that pic with the flange setup.
I don't remember seeing a spare bike in your garage.

After you get the collector figured out, will the end be normal sized?
In other words, will my mufflers slip on?
The right one might need a little stretching to get the opening back to it's original diameter.

[EricHa]

EricHa, I'll definitely be contacting you later regarding this. The Mandrel Bends web site said they could make water jet cut ones for about $10.00 ea! Your price is much better. I could only find 3/16" thick material locally at the hobby center of Lowes, the places that I KNOW I can get thicker material are only open M-F 8-5 and I work those same hours!

I would think you/they could to 1/4" thick, but just want to ask to make sure. Your prices are much better and closer to what I was hoping to be able to find...trying to make these as inexpensively as possible! Thanks!


T.C.

We can do 1/4", and that was what I told them to price it at. For costing purposes I estimated the piece being 3 1/4" wide by 2 1/4" tall with a 1.5" center hole and the bolt holes 5/16" slotted. Steel would be hot rolled pickle and oil if that's good. We can talk specifics if/when you're ready. We make lawn and garden equipment, http://www.agri-fab.com

I hope that I can help out with this very cool project!

[TopCatGr58]

Just a quick update.

Hey folks,

Just wanted to post a few photos showing that I AM working on this project, just not as much free time lately, and it does take quite a bit of time when mocking up a prototype and such! AND...I'm still learning how to use my TIG welding machine...I'm getting a bit better at it, but still fall back on my wire feeder a lot for now. I think I've got a faulty auto-darkening shield/helmet?

When I'm trying to perform the TIG I can see the green arc, but then it flashes bright yellow at times! My B-I-L viewing the process through a standard shield lens doesn't see any flashing....I first thought it was a problem with the welder, not enough shield gas,etc.! But after thinking on it a bit, and that the shield works fine with my wire feeder....lots of bright sparks to stimulate the auto-dark feature, but the TIG I think just doesn't put out enough, or it gets shielded by my hand/glove and such???? It's a cheap CHICAGO Electric...HF or Northern TOOL helmet so I'll be looking at getting another one with a taller/wider viewing area anyways....and still auto-darkening...but a quality brand one!

Anyways, here a few photos...this first one is the 2nd right side pair that I have gotten almost completed.





And this view is of the left side mounted to my mock up frame/engine.



I don't have the rest of the tail pipe to muffler section on it yet, was mainly trying to see how to get the 90 degree bend tubes positioned and cut and run around the frame and such! They don't look too Frankensteinian, the lower welds to the straight sections are not going to be very pretty, but for now I'm going for function!

T.C.

[natemoen]

Not too bad!

[ddragon63]

T.C. Auto darkening hoods are not really designed for TIG... there are several that work well. The more sensors the better. But I'm talking a hood in the $250+ range. The problem with TIG is its really easy to fall out of position and the lens will unload. if you have a sensitivity and delay setting crank both all the way up... that will help. that way if you fall out of position the delay will keep it darker a little longer. The only way to really fix it is to buy a good hood... 3M now owns the old Hornell company and still produce the Speedglas line. they are our #1 seller. but we are talking about a $350 starting price for a hood. this is most of the time out of the question for the home hobbyist

[GLoweVA]

I'm getting excited!

TC says he's done with them and this coming weekend we can put them on and get the ceramic paint cured. Hopefully we'll get some good pics.
Maybe now I won't have to listen to that puft, puft, puft sound out of all my little rust holes in my headers!

Edit: I forgot to mention to him that I've got a set of exhaust gaskets from my gasket kit I got a few months back.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Don,

I was able to find a decent hood with 3 adjustable controls...tint 9-13, delay up to 1 second, and sensitivity so high that the two 200 hundred watt bulbs I have in the garage ceiling are enough to cause it to darken! IT was the Jackson brand sold by AirGas online company...a little over $100 but was designed for TIG down to 10 amps! It works great, nice to actually be able to SEE what I'm doing without the worry of flash RETINA burns! I'm just glad I was able to figure out what was going wrong BEFORE I permanently fried my retinas! The TIG unit is actually working quite well, was able to make some nice butt weld passes with the adapter pieces I had to put on the ends of the collectors...only had to use ~35 amps.

I'm having a little trouble getting the foot pedal control I got off of eBay to work with it....was for "most" chinese 3-1 units with the 5 prong plug, but after attaching it, selecting pedal mode, turning the amp rheostat all the way DOWN/LOW, then hitting the pedal it powers up to 200 amps immediately, and I don't hear the high frequency start buzz or the gas flow? I've got emails in to the seller of the pedal, as well as the welder machine company. The Welder Co. sells a pedal control designed for "Their" machine, but they were sold out when I checked online, that's why I went to ebay. I'm thinking that the welder co. changed the Pinouts of the pedal control to make it Proprietary for their machine vs. allowing the use of a generic aftermarket pedal?

Yeah, George, looking forward to putting these things on your machine and see how they look and perform?

T.C.

[ddragon63]

Ya the wiring may be different. See if you can get a wiring diagram for both. they're no different than a trailer plug. match em up if you can get the diagrams. or you may have to do some investigative work yourself

good to hear you got the hood thing figured out. I use the Jackson Boss @ home myself. They have a HUGE viewing window, and infinite adjustment. I like the fact I can run tint in half settings. The Jackson hoods seem to hold up pretty well. I made a living with a Jackson HSL-100 flip lid for a long time... all they really do is put electronics in the HSL-100 shell. So it feels very familiar to people like me.

[planedick]

Try this

Some foot pedals are wired backwards. Just try starting with the foot pedal all the way down and letting it up some to start instead of pressing down to start.

[TopCatGr58]

Update: Project DONE for this set!

Hey Folks,

First of all, the pedal seller didn't want to bother trying to help me with figuring out the wiring, said his pedal has worked with several of the Chinese welding machines other than the ones he sells, so he just offered to take it back and give me a refund! Also, the Welding Machine seller never replied with any info on the wiring of their machine's foot pedal circuit, so me thinks that they have changed it to make it propietary. They NOW have them in stock on their web site, $125.00 instead of the $90.00 I spent on the ebay one, so only $35.00 more, but at least it will be guaranteed to work with my machine!

Secondly, George came by this AM and we took his old rusted thru Mac 4-2 system off, separated the mufflers from the collectors, cleaned up the mufflers as best we could...again "some" rust, also cleaned up the brackets, clamps, OEM header nuts and such. Then we proceeded to install the fabbed headers. Here are a few photos of them installed without the mufflers!







Here's a short little video WITH sound showing how the headers/collectors sound again WITHOUT the mufflers....a little loud, but a nice rumble!

http://youtu.be/fF4ur2KA0XY

Below in html embed code, not sure if it will work?
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fF4ur2KA0XY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We had to fire it up a few times and allow to cool to try to CURE the VHT paint on the pipes/bike before installing the mufflers. Here's a shot showing the bike and mufflers installed.



Yes..the inner pipe is a little bit lower than the macks, but still has decent ground clearance. We had to do a slight modification of the centerstand lever to get it to fit around the now wider muffler section in it's new position!

This was a fun project, and has taught us a quite a bit about what will be required in trying to fabricate a Stainless Steel system! Recent check on prices and each 90 degree elbow is ~$17.00...we used 8 elbows, plus ~6 feet of straight pipe, and then the 3 different adapter pieces for each side... the 2.5" to 1.75" for the actual collector, then a 1.75" to 2.00", and then a 2.00" to 2.25" OD pair of adapter to get it back up the required size for his large Mac mufflers 2.25" ID to be able to fit/clamp onto.

So...we'll still be doing some "figuring" to determine the better way to make a 2-1 collector and that it'll probably be the 1.75"OD size for Harley and other aftermarket bolt on cans/mufflers!

Thanks for playing along, will post again in another thread when we think we might be up to trying to make some SS sets....again 4-2 systems for now.... as has been noted in this thread earlier, the SS premade collectors are quite $$, and we're trying to get these down to earthly prices and still allow a bit of profit for the B-I-L since he'll be eventually making these things, not me!

T.C.

[natemoen]

Which line of VHT paint did you use? What color?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Nate,

Here's their website, I found it at the local auto store, said it could handle 1300 to 2k degrees temps! Just their silver/gray color.

http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/flameproof/

I used a wire wheel on the drill to scruff up the pipe material in hopes of getting it to stick.

T.C.

[bikerphil]

TC, it's pretty awesome of you to go thru all the trouble to develop this exhaust system when you probably don't even need one for yourself.