exhaust fab part 2

Here's a part of my step-by-step process I photo documented last night.

Put the piece up on the bike and figured out how much angle I needed, and marked with pen.
Since I already cut this piece I need to make sure I cut it on the 2.5" center line radius since that's what this bend radius is. If I don't cut on the CLR, then it won't be a circle. Even when I cut on the radius, it's a little tiny off, but fixable in the weld.
Here I'm measuring 2.5" to the center and checking the center with a machinist square.
Now that I've got it aligned, I'm checking to make sure that it's not rotated by checking the height at the clamp and at the end to make sure they're the same. Crude but effective.Now I setup the laser and make sure I shoot it through my little mark showing where the center of the bend is, and mark the line enough to cut by.
Well, I didn't shoot my self cutting it. I usually use a hacksaw. Now I'm just cleaning up the cut with the sander.
I realized I need to extend the straight part to make sure that my alignment is right when I go to tack it up. This straight piece will be about 18" long so a small deviation will really show at the other end. So I'm marking my cut on the straight pipe using a pipe cutter. The kind you spin around. My blade is not made for stainless, so I only mark it this way then cut with a angle grinder.
Cutting by eye with angle grinder.

Deburring:Deburring again with a deburring wheel:

Now I'm taking it from polished to "brushed" by creating my own brushed look. I'm using 120 grit. I then take it to the deburring wheel to smooth the 120 marks, then I take it to another cut and polish wheel to further finish it.You can see the change from polished to "brushed".
The bends have a fairly course surface finish from the bending process. The pipe I got was polished. So all the parts first get finished before welded. On the right is the finished product. Horizontal is the polished. on the left is the finish from the bender which takes lots of work to get rid of.Tack it up. I sharpened this image to show the final finish.Final product, ready to weld to the existing setup:
Kinda boring, but there it is. I've got two words: labor intensive

kick ass two stoke

can't figure out what this one is but found on special79's blog here.

exhaust fab

Diagram of right side and 2-1 connection:

Diagram of left side:

Got the first two bends and flange at engine tacked up:
Top view:
Front:
Zoom detail:

New Redwing boot video

I wear Redwings. They're my favorite work shoes. Just got 'em resoled after almost daily wear for 2 1/2 years.

http://www.redwingshoes.com/Red-Wing-Video---The-Factory

Stock VX800 exhaust - CHOP

Ok, for anybody who's curious about the stock VX800 exhaust, you shall be curious no longer. Except now you'll end up being curious about why the heck Suzuki engineers designed it this way.

Check the stock left side / rear cylinder exhaust:
You can see I've already cut it just before the little beauty cap, in the above pic.
Now a close up of that section:
That's looking down the pipe in the direction of the muffler.
A quick measurement of ID on the smallest pipe:
That's reading 1.25" ID. Slightly screwed up for the photo since I was trying to hold the calipers so you could read 'em. It's really 1.25" ID on the money.
Just to follow through on that thought, here's the other end of the same pipe, just before the muffler mounts:
That's reading just shy of 1.6". The inner pipe has an OD of 1.75 and is a 16 ga pipe.

Now let's go the start of the exhaust pipe, just where it leaves the engine. Still on the left side:
That's a solid 1.25" ID.
Now on to the right side of the bike / front cylinder, just after the engine flange:
That's a 1.25" ID also. It's about a 1.4" OD.
Now the right side, just before the beauty cover and where it goes 3 in 1:
Pretty much the same all the way through on the right side.
Here's a view down in looking from muffler towards the engine, where the 1.25" pipe dumps into the 1.75" OD pipe just before the muffler:
Last but not least, here's the right side pipe just after the engine:
Talk about screwed up. During the bending process maybe, the internal pipe ruptured so exhaust was flowing in the little pipe and in the outer pipe. Bad for efficient exhaust removal.

Based on comparisons I've made to other readily available bikes, the VX has significantly smaller exhaust pipes. A stock SV650 with 325cc per cylinder has a ~1.5" OD 409 stainless pipe that is significantly thinner walled than the VX.
My DL650 V-Strom has 1.5" OD 409 stainless pipes that seem to be about 18 - 20 ga.
So, is the VX stock exhaust too small for the engine size? Not sure.
Is my 1.75" OD 18 gauge custom system too big for the engine size? Seems like maybe a little.
1.5" seems too small though for the VX and the next step is 1 5/8" which is what I started with, but decided I didn't want 16 gauge (which is what I bought). Plus 1 5/8" is a pain to find bends and fittings for since it's non-standard.

And now for a tail teaser shot:
Ciao,
-Stepen

Abandoned paperboard plant

This is a cross post of some of my photography, from my flickr account. Thought I'd share some of my other adventures with my motorcycle friends. I get out sometimes to take images of abandoned industry. Not as much lately as before, as my main focus is on the bikes these days, but it helps my creative side and is just super fun and weird to walk around these places:


-Stephen

tank progress

Finally got things straightened out and laid up the primer and base coat. Working on the detail work now:


Quick mock-up:IMHO the yellow stripe on black is too thick. I should have gone thinner. It was a major pain that stripe, so I'm not sure if I want to back track and change it...

Painted up Nathan's Puch moped parts as well after many, many hours sanding and prepping. He built a nice little tank from scratch outta steel. This is his first fully custom handmade gas tank. It's my first custom tank as well. Tanks suck.


Puch stickers on and ready for the clear coat.