Repairing Headers Before And After - Lots Of Pics

CT_Busa

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Bought my 2005 Hayabusa last month. Race only bike that I bought pretty much turnkey. It came with a really cool Brock's Hindle Street Smart Titanium exhaust. But the pipe was flattened pretty bad at the 2 and 3 pipes by the oil pan due to a strapped front end and lowering links. It also had the wrong size clamp on the muffler and there was a gnarly kink in the can. Spent the last two evenings reshaping the pipes, repairing the dents, and getting the kink out of the can muffler. Complete PIA but very worth it. I'm by no means an expert but if you have any questions about the process I used ask away.

Here's some before and after pics. The picture does no justice for the kink in the muffler...

Before-
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Wrong hanger, get a rear peg assembly and do it right
 
Yes definitely the wrong hanger. With the brackets that move the front pegs down and back it compounded the problem. Since it's a dragbike only for me I picked up a sidewinder. So this pipe is going on the shelf for now.
 
Nice work, did you use a stud gun, and puller?
 
My header pipes(Brocks)are also mashed in exactly the same spot from going over a damned parking lot speed bump I didn't notice until it was too late,interested in knowing how you pulled the dents out.:super:
 
It crossed my mind to try a stud puller but once I started working with the pipes I knew there was little to no chance the studs would be strong enough.

I'm still not entirely sure what type of material they are made of. The system said Titanium on the sticker but I'm not sure if that was referring only to the muffler can. Whatever it is, I've never worked with it whether it be titanium or a very high end grade of stainless... and it is hard as nails.

I opted to use MAP gas to heat it. I also have a "B-tank" which is acetylene only used for silver soldering HVAC copper lines but with the wrinkles in the bottom of the header I wanted to keep the heat low and have it move as slowly as possible so i didn't tear the metal or drastically deform the radius of the curved pipe. MAP gave just enough heat to get the pipe red but not to the point of orange. Able to work 1-2 sq. inches at a time was perfect. Sloooow...is...goood!!

Starting from the top of the dent (nearest to the collector) I heated and rolled the pipe from the inside with a pice of 1/2" black pipe (threads cut off and slightly rounded off at the end). I worked the entire length of the dent evenly. Then I stepped up the pipe size and repeated the process with two other diameters until I was satisfied with the roundness of the pipe. That leg of the pipe measure approx. 1.625" ID but with the slight angle of approach through the collector I was only able to use a 1.375" wooden dowel as max size. Once it was generally back in shape I went back to the small 1/2" black pipe (natural gas pipe) to do the fine tuning on the creased edged.

At this point check the fit of the header to the head. Chances are you will need to make adjustments to the straightened tube to get it to seat flush against the head.

Then came the body hammer
Smashed pipes are ovaled and flattened. I used the body hammer one the sides of the pipe (90 degrees from the dent) to bring the sides in and get it more round. This was done with the pipe completely cooled down. Working the body hammer evenly on the sides really brought it back to round nicely. I worked in a rows starting from 90 degrees from the dent until about 45 degrees from the dent on each side. This gave me enough shape to lightly hammer out the marks from the pipe heat and stretching.

Check the fit again and make the final adjustments.

It took me a while to get used to the material of the pipe. It moved decently well and really didn't leave hammer marks. It also doesn't stretch nearly as easily as steel sheet metal when hammering. Cold hammering these pipes took MANY MANY swings of the hammer because it is hard stuff... but pliable at the same time.

It's also unavoidable but the collector ends may become ovaled slightly. I used heat and a tailpipe expander (easy does it here) to get the collector back to round I then made sure both halfs of the header went into the intermediate (4-2 portion of the 4-2-1 system). Slight resizing of the intermediate was necessary and everything fit nicely in the end.

Sorry for the long-winded answer. Wanted to elaborate a little more than just "heat and jam some stuff in there and beat on it" lol. There's was some subtleties that you can't put into words but you'll figure those out once you get going. Let me know how they turn out.
 
Ok well let me tell you the headers aare Stainless steel, the only Ti part is the sleeve of the can!

A stud gun works great, but sometime you will poke a hole that needs to be welded shut.

Your method works great but is very time consuming.

Very nice Job!
 
Thank you. Not knowing what the material was and certainly never having worked with it I wanted to keep the heat low and the movement slow. Knowing now it's stainless I might have taken a more aggressive approach knowing i could weld shut any punctures.

I appreciate the compliment. I was pretty proud that I was able to get to come out that well. Perfect, no but much better yes
 
Thanks a bunch for your detailed explanation bro,really appreciate it.I talked to Brock and he said as long as it wasn't flattened out more than a 1/2" it wouldn't affect performance(mine are about a 1/2":laugh:)so I haven't fooled with it but may yet.:super:
 
Good to know. Mine was at that point too. Being a 1397 and running it all out my concern was those two cylinders not being able to breathe enough and getting too hot. Irrelevant now that I got a sidewinder but at least I have a badass pipe if I score another Busa. May even just sell this one who knows
 
I've heard of that,just don't have room in our fridge/freezer to fit my pipe.:laugh:

Thinkin' real seriously about buyin' a Honda CRX 450 Red,found a super clean 2007 with only 35 hours on it I can probably get for around $2700.:super:

https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2007-Honda-CRF-450R-121174109

Back in the day we used to put our 2 stroke expansion pipes in the freezer. It does work.

You should get that 450. You will love it. The only problem I have had with mine is keeping my 12 year old off it.
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Left my 92 CR250 pipe outside in February filled with water and got a big dent most of the way out when I was a teenager. That FMF pipe was nickel plated steel. I'm not sure it would budge on this small diameter stainless. This Brock's pipe is tough as nails.

Never had the pleasure of riding my CR's 4-stroke successor. I bet it's just as mean
 
Bought my 2005 Hayabusa last month. Race only bike that I bought pretty much turnkey. It came with a really cool Brock's Hindle Street Smart Titanium exhaust. But the pipe was flattened pretty bad at the 2 and 3 pipes by the oil pan due to a strapped front end and lowering links. It also had the wrong size clamp on the muffler and there was a gnarly kink in the can. Spent the last two evenings reshaping the pipes, repairing the dents, and getting the kink out of the can muffler. Complete PIA but very worth it. I'm by no means an expert but if you have any questions about the process I used ask away.

Here's some before and after pics. The picture does no justice for the kink in the muffler...

Before-

Is this exhaust still available!
 
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Thanks a bunch for your detailed explanation bro,really appreciate it.I talked to Brock and he said as long as it wasn't flattened out more than a 1/2" it wouldn't affect performance(mine are about a 1/2":laugh:)so I haven't fooled with it but may yet.:super:

Guess I was concerned over nothing,check out this video where these guys(Engine Masters)mashed the crap out of a pair of headers with dyno results.:laugh:

 
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