What would you do?
What would you do?Offered up the 'new' pattern silencers from Thailand today, & whilst they went straight on & fitted easily, they looked awful, sort of 'hung-down' with the tailpipe ends being around 4" or 100mm lower than the originals, & no way of adjustment.
I will cut a 'wedge' out of the inlet pipe, bend upwards & re-weld later to be somewhere in line with the wheel-spindle. But for now & to get it running I turned to the original silencers that came with the bike, I very nearly binned them as they were so tatty, & badly dented all over, but as I lifted them up I realized how light they were, also, no rust, ............eh?? Gave them a good de-grease, then put them on the buffing machine, wow! They started to come up all shiney, the bl**dy things are stainless steel, that's NOT original is it?? I then thought i'd come over all smart-ar*ed & make some sort of 'tool' to shove in from each end & pry/persuade the dents out, but no, there are several welded-in internal plates that prevent tools going in. SO, dear friends, what would YOU do? keep them & tart them up as best as possible or bin them, I'm not after a 'show' bike & not into having all 'correct' nuts/bolts etc. just want it to look reasonable & run right. https://www.dropbox.com/s/de3hnlk4fed7u ... 1.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xi9g571a8cyer ... 4.jpg?dl=0 GSX1400 Red/silver
GSX1400 Blue GS1000G Brockhouse Corgi CB77 CA77 T140 BSA 250 I DO have to grow old, I DO NOT have to grow up.
Well, seeing as you asked, I'd probably make a wooden pipe bender. By that I mean I'd get some 2x4 hardwood and drill a hole the same diameter as the existing down pipes, radius off the edges, clamp it in a vice and gently try and curve the pipes so the silencers sit right. Just a suggestion, it might not work, might even end up with rippled down pipes but I'd give it a go. Alternatively you might be able to tweak the inlets to the silencers by inserting a piece of heavy duty tube into the silencer and giving them a bit of persuasion in the right direction. I think your idea of cutting a vee would be OK if you did the cut right where the silencer joins the pipe so the weld is almost covered. Also, I have seen one of these dent removal guys remove a dent from a stainless steel canopy and when he'd finished it was perfect but, he did have access to both sides. Might be possible to drill a hole opposite the dent and knock it out from the other side, weld up the hole, grind off the weld and polish. Having said that, how about drill a small hole in the dent, insert a self tapping screw and pull the dent out.
Hi Modelman, I have repaired cb72/77 silencers in the past by splitting them down the original weld. Inside cb72's there is a tube 43mm dia 340mm long welded to a bracket on the inside wall of the silencer, its located about 150mm from the front. Shine a torch down and see if you have that. this tube make it impossible to dolly any dings from that end. The baffle end has 3 discs with holes in that the baffle slots through, only the disc near the exhaust has holes in the other 2 are blanks so if you shine a torch down that end you will see what I mean if the internals are the same as cb's. They will need to be TIG welded so unless you are or know anyone who is very skilled with a TIG welder I would recommend you use them as they are. the main problem with welding stainless ones is carbon inclusion, this makes it awkward to weld.
I hope this info is useful. Al.
Thanks Geoff & Alan, I am not prepared to 'modify' the downpipes as they are now like new after
re-chroming, also, if I screw up, i'll then require new pipes as well!! I think I'd make maters worse if I drilled & tapped out from the opposite side, probably end up with loads of dimples. I've pulled dents in the past by inserting screws in car bodywork, but I won't try it on stainless cans! I don't think i'm clever enough to split the cans, bang 'em out & re-weld, again I can foresee a disaster!! As for the new replacements, altering the inlet is the only way to go, but I feel that if the inlet was 'force-bent' it will end up with an oval-ish & belled end, then be a loose/leaking fit, the inlet is a very good tight fit at the moment & if I cut & bent just after the downpipe, the fit is retained. This new joint will be under the footrests so almost out of sight. I think i'll keep them on for now to get the bike running, & start chopping the new ones!! GSX1400 Red/silver
GSX1400 Blue GS1000G Brockhouse Corgi CB77 CA77 T140 BSA 250 I DO have to grow old, I DO NOT have to grow up.
Hi Modelman,
The stainless steel mufflers are probably original (Unless you got a new set from Overlander in Australia) They were fitted to the early years models. Pretty rare these days. I'd fix those, although we've had reasonable luck with aftermarket items, they don't look the same as originals. All the best Richard
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