Stock exhaust problem

[jkluczyk]

So this is my stock exhaust
http://imgur.com/a/KQeWO

The two headers



and the two mufflers



One side kind of fits right the other side is really wonky.
I'm wondering if i should try to get these welded back together or find another exhaust system for my basket case.

or try to clean up the 2 into 1 pipe and try to get after market tips on it.

[crazy steve]

If your welding skills are up to it and the exhaust is good other than this, I'd take at least a shot at fixing these. Where they've broke at will be hidden by the heat shields. I would recommend mocking them up on the bike to assure proper alignment and do some heavy tack welds, then pull them for finish welding. You'll have to remove the rear heat shield mounts by grinding off those welds to get good access for the muffler welds, then reinstall the mounts. Looks doable to me....

[motoman]

If your welding skills are up to it and the exhaust is good other than this, I'd take at least a shot at fixing these. Where they've broke at will be hidden by the heat shields. I would recommend mocking them up on the bike to assure proper alignment and do some heavy tack welds, then pull them for finish welding. You'll have to remove the rear heat shield mounts by grinding off those welds to get good access for the muffler welds, then reinstall the mounts. Looks doable to me....

.....yeppers....assemble, tack together good with a wire feed. Remove, and I would reccomend if at all possible to torch weld a heavy,wide bead around pipe,if at all possible, while still a bit hot, install that pipe temporarily including rear hanger portion until cool. Then remove, disk-sand smooth leaving welded area crowned for strength. Repaint area with Dupli-Color Aluminum DH1606 high heat ceramic. BTDT, some 33yrs. prior when going off an unseen curb....two-up. Even today, one would have to know exactly where to look in order to see the repair, which wound up broke completely when I made the repair. Even as a cerified welder, I'd be hard pressed to repeat that nice a job decades later without ALOT of practice first.

Reason for torch welding(no brazing), is the heat is spread over a larger area, reducing a straight heat line following the break area. Re-locate and spot-weld the retaining nut for heat shield, paint and most all repair is covered with heat shield. That particular paint can be had a NAPA and such. Doesn't change color or yellow over the years either.

[jkluczyk]

.....yeppers....assemble, tack together good with a wire feed. Remove, and I would reccomend if at all possible to torch weld a heavy,wide bead around pipe,if at all possible, while still a bit hot, install that pipe temporarily including rear hanger portion until cool. Then remove, disk-sand smooth leaving welded area crowned for strength. Repaint area with Dupli-Color Aluminum DH1606 high heat ceramic. BTDT, some 33yrs. prior when going off an unseen curb....two-up. Even today, one would have to know exactly where to look in order to see the repair, which wound up broke completely when I made the repair. Even as a cerified welder, I'd be hard pressed to repeat that nice a job decades later without ALOT of practice first.

Reason for torch welding(no brazing), is the heat is spread over a larger area, reducing a straight heat line following the break area. Re-locate and spot-weld the retaining nut for heat shield, paint and most all repair is covered with heat shield. That particular paint can be had a NAPA and such. Doesn't change color or yellow over the years either.

Oh boy, i'm a novice at welding...and the welder isn't on site. I'll remove that extra layer on the pipes and try the tack weld and rinse and repeat and hope it fits.

[CaptonZap]

Oh boy, i'm a novice at welding...and the welder isn't on site. I'll remove that extra layer on the pipes and try the tack weld and rinse and repeat and hope it fits.

Since you say you are a novice, a word of caution. To get a successful weld, you must clean the weld area down to bare metal. No chrome, no carbon, no rust, just clean, bare metal.
An eighth to three sixteenths of an inch back from the edge, on both sides, should be enough for a MIG or TIG weld.
Not knowing what is in your tool crib, I'll leave the method of cleaning up to you.
Personally, I use a Dremel tool with a coarse stone.

CZ

[motoman]

Since you say you are a novice, a word of caution. To get a successful weld, you must clean the weld area down to bare metal. No chrome, no carbon, no rust, just clean, bare metal.
An eighth to three sixteenths of an inch back from the edge, on both sides, should be enough for a MIG or TIG weld.
Not knowing what is in your tool crib, I'll leave the method of cleaning up to you.
Personally, I use a Dremel tool with a coarse stone.

CZ

Wouldn't worry bout the chrome needin' removed. 1500degrees is its break-down point, and welding WILL remove it from the heat alone. As CZ stated, cleaned of any loose or foreign matter is key to a good 'root' bead. After that, everything on top is just cosmetic 'icing'. Guess you understand the tacking together of the two pieces is done with both installed(header flange/muff hanger bolt). Like I previously said, installing while hot so angle can be tweaked a bit to align muff hanger mount if needed, and then let cool. Welding after tacked together, it WILL 'crawl' a bit, changing rear mount location. Installing while hot will allow it to relax in the 'bolted in place' position. Forcing things to align holes will put a strain on fixed portion and will break again.

[CaptonZap]

Wouldn't worry bout the chrome needin' removed. 1500degrees is its break-down point, and welding WILL remove it from the heat alone. .

The problem is that underneath the chrome is a plate of nickle, and under that is a plate of copper.
When you melt all that, you get some strange alloy of steel that is not as strong as the original steel, and what steel is there cannot stand to lose too much more strength, seeing as how it broke in the first place.
Oh, and when the chrome vaporizes, the fumes are TOXIC, so stand up wind if you weld over it.

CZ

[fredintoon]

So this is my stock exhaust
One side kind of fits right the other side is really wonky.
I'm wondering if i should try to get these welded back together or find another exhaust system for my basket case.
or try to clean up the 2 into 1 pipe and try to get after market tips on it.

Hi jkiuczyk
what I did when my mufflers rotted out was to cut back the header pipes 2 into 1 joiner boxes back to good metal and weld in short lengths of tubing to mount aftermarket mufflers on.
I used a pair of 1960s Triumph mufflers I bought at a swapmeet for $30.



If your mufflers are still good and just busted off the headers I'd say rather than trying to weld the mufflers back onto the headers,
try welding up the two halves of a cuff joint between the headers and mufflers each side to reattach them the same way you'd mount an aftermarket slip-on set.