pipes

[rman]

How interchangeable are the exhaust systems? Will a 1979 special fit a 1979 standard?
How about a 1981 standard on a 1979 standard? Anyone know? Time for me to start looking for pipes. My friend gave me a set of harley fat boy mufflers.

less concerned over mufflers, more concerned over finding decent headers.

[Jerry]

Short answer: All XS / XJ header pipes are interchangeable.

Now for the got-ya's.

1. Some of the header pipe flanges are thicker than others; a few people have reported that the stock header studs are to short to fit some of the flanges. You may have to replace short studs with longer ones.

2. Rear muffler hanger is usually the rear foot-peg bracket. These vary in design between the XS Standard, Special, and XJ. Result: You may (read: will) have to fabricate or modify the muffler brackets to get them mounted if the system was not designed specifically for your bike.

3. Only seen on my XJ with 3-point case guards. I fit a Jardine 4 into 2 and had to notch the guards to get the exhaust to fit. Since my guards came from an XS 11, and the XJ uses the same frame, I assume there may be very isolated cases where some case guards may not fit all after-market exhaust systems without minor modifications.

All of the above are relatively minor (changing studs can be a pita) but can be done if you are in the minority where these problems crop up.

[thewiz]

set on Ebay right now .... muffler on one side is trashed .... maybe just right for you .... check it out