After the sun went down last night, and it cooled down to a bone chilling 90 degrees, I decided to venture out into the garage, with a mission to make myself some exhaust pipes. I had a look in mind and the MAC 2-into-1 exhaust that came on the bike. I had already fitted them on to the bike in several configuration, right on left, left on right, left on left, one piece with the muffler cone off, and so on. So I decided that a short set up would be the best for the look of the bike. I had always had my heart set on a super long exhaust coming out as low as possible and behind the rear tire.
much like this
But all the systems I had looked at were very expensive and not quite the right look, meaning I would still have to add pipe to the end of whichever head pipe I decided to buy.
As I mention before, I had this MAC system that came with the bike, kinda hard to see behind the cowl,
You might be asking your self, "Is he really going to chop up a $250 exhaust system?"
Yes. Yes, I am going to. I figured I had only paid 200 bucks for the bike, and it would be more hassle to try and sell the system and purchase a new one that I wold have to work on any way.
So as I had said, I had loosely fit the pipes on the bike to see what I had to work with. the MAC comes in 3 pieces, and I already knew that I did not want or need, the cone on the back.
The pipes are made to separate probably to make it easier to mount them on the bike.
I knew that I need to separate the head part of the pipe from the area where it joins the collector. ANGLE GRINDER AWAY !!
As you can see the 4 1/2" angle grinder is not quite enough to cut through a 1.5" pipe.
so I finished the cut with a hand saw.
After cutting the pipes you'll notice they have very similar shapes even though they used to run very differently on the bike when it was a full system.
I was planning on just cutting the pipes at a right angle and running them straight down, this way if I ever wanted to, I could weld on longer pieces to make the pipes exit farther back on the bike. The problem was with the angle of the pipes, because they are meant to join together on only one side of the bike and not both sides, they have a tight angle, and without making the full pipes right away they exited pointing right at the engine case. no good.
The head pipe part that I had cut happen to have a slight turn out. I put the pipe from the left side of the bike on the right and liked the look.
So, I had to figure out how to make one for The left side out of the right side.
I had to basically find and elbow, and make it work. I really was not looking forward to welding, so something else was in the works. I had 2 elbows left over from the collector and the pipe had a 45 degree left on it, that had to go to make it work. Keep in mind the left is on the right and the right was going on the left. I happen to have an elbow with the flange from the system, and it matched the turn out on the right side pretty well.
It was just a matter of removing the 45 and the rest of the pipe to make the correct length. Then I could turn the connection until it matched the other side.
here is a top shot.
That is why they call them street sweepers !!!
I am going to tape them with some black heat wrap, for exhausts, to cover up the seem, and cap them with some brass tips I have coming from e-bay. LOWBROW customs. lowbrowcustoms.com/
finished product coming soon.
So if you are not in to the work to make you own exhaust, you can go on Ardcore choppers web site and order some for a low price of $225.00 us
UPDATED APRIL 21 2010
Sorry it took so long. The bike has been finished for a while now, so here is the "finished product" for the exhaust pipes.
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