Custom exhaust

[Tacforce650]

Got some great info on getting the tires I needed and will be in this week so a big thanks to everyone that helped me out!

Next item! I'm wondering what kind of pipe everyone is using for their exhaust? 304,303,welded seam, seamless? And where they're buying it from?

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[grepper]

Check out Gordon Scotts site http://www.xs650exhaust.com/. Great pipes, great guy to work with. Not sure of the steel he's using, some have seams, some seamless.

 

[maas562]

I always use 304 mandrel bends from Columbia river. Great pieces and cheapest prices I've found.

 

[h3llb3nt1]

Check out Gordon Scotts site http://www.xs650exhaust.com/. Great pipes, great guy to work with. Not sure of the steel he's using, some have seams, some seamless.

A+++ for Gordon Scott. Great to work with and quality craftsmanship.

 

[maynard911]

Check out these guys
http://www.coneeng.com/motorcycle_components.html

 

[Jack]

Check out these guys
http://www.coneeng.com/motorcycle_components.html

Thanks for posting this link

 

[Tacforce650]

I'm only looking for raw material. No bends. I'm going to be doing the work myself just wondering what the best material would be. Finish doesn't matter either BC it's getting black header wrap. I'm too poor to have someone do it up for me!!!

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[maas562]

To be honest, mandrel bends are the easiest way to build any exhaust. All you do is place and fit them how ever you want and cut as much or as little as you need off. My whole exhaust was built from (2) 180 degree bends and (5) 90 degree bends. I cut what ever degrees I needed off and used the straights where I needed straight. I didn't need to use any separate pieces of straight. If that makes sense?

I have a tubing bender and it's not adequate for building exhausts from thin wall tubing (.060"). You can't bend that tight of a radius, the tubing kinks and looks like crap. It doesn't matter how good the bender is, each material wall has a minimum radius, (.060) is around 4.5" to 5" CLR bend. It's tough to build a exhaust in tight places with that large of a bend.
The other option is pie cuts, but that's just a waste of time unless absolutely necessary.

You can see my exhaust here http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24757
(not trying to jack this thread, just trying to help.)


As far as finish or material, that's up to you. I used stainless because that's what I build all of my exhausts from, bikes or cars. I have a lot of it on hand. Some of mine were a 2B finish, and some were a #4, I didn't care because it got ceramic coated.

If you're just going to use header wrap, steel would be fine. However, it can and will still rust under there.

Just my .02

 

[Tacforce650]

I'm definitely going stainless. I just didn't know if it was goin to matter if it was seamless or not. Obviously I don't need it polished since its getting wrapped. Either way I was trying to keep down on the tig work. It's readily available to me but I was hoping to go one solid piece.

Would thicker wall pipe be too much or do I need to stick with the .060"? And do I have another option to tone down the sound BC I don't want to use mufflers?

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[Paulrxs650]

I used the TC Bros exhaust kit - got all the bends etc to make pretty much any thing you'd need. Quality was good and it suited me down to the ground

 

[coneeng]

I'm definitely going stainless. I just didn't know if it was goin to matter if it was seamless or not. Obviously I don't need it polished since its getting wrapped. Either way I was trying to keep down on the tig work. It's readily available to me but I was hoping to go one solid piece.

Would thicker wall pipe be too much or do I need to stick with the .060"? And do I have another option to tone down the sound BC I don't want to use mufflers?

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I'm doing a tracker myself with a custom exhaust. Here's a link to it's build thread: http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22052&page=2. It's going to be a brushed finish, super easy to do with green Scotchbrite.

I prefer using mandrel 180's. I rarely can use a whole 90 or 45 so I feel the 180's are more economical. They're about the same price and I can get a lot more pieces out of them making it less expensive in the long-run that way. Trying to bend your own tubing is a nightmare without a true mandrel bender and getting someone to mandrel bend a one-off header is VERY expensive. Just make sure to cut your bends across the tangent so they don't end up oval.

Don't worry about the seam, unless you are chroming you won't see a difference. I usually would take the time though to keep the seams in line, usually on the rear, it takes a little more tubing (maybe 1 bend on an XS) but gives a more consistent look. If you are covering with header wrap though it isn't a big deal.

I would stick to 16g. It is much more widely available, more dimensions, thick enough to weld fairly easy. 14g tends to be mostly in wider radii.

It's really tough to make straight pipes sound good in my opinion, they have that nasty crackle. About all you can do is try and stick sonething up inside to stuff them up a little but it really hard on these bikes since the headers are so small diameter, there isn't much room inside, nor baffles available in such small diameter. If you go to a bigger header so you can stick something to stick in like Harley drag pipes, you can really screw up the tune as the header is too big for the motor. It will run ok up top but loses everything down low.