can a stock exhaust be bent?

[Tristan]

Okay, so I'm finally wrapping things up after working on this damn thing intermittantly for the last 2 years. All in all, I didn't plan my rearset positioning perfectly, so my brake lever hits the exhaust. I need to drop the muffler by about an inch to be perect and figure the headers could just be bent by a muffler shop by a few degrees to make everything ship shape. The headers have zero rust on them and look structurally sound, but I can't help but wonder if a 40 year old pipe that has been heated up thousands of times can be bent without cracking. What do you guys think??

 

[relax-ima-doctor]

I would think it would be okay; if you used a sutty flame Oxy/Acet to slowly heat, bend, and slowy cool... It should be fine

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Only thing I'd worry about is cracking the chrome.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Tim]

So the header and muffler are separate units right? Is this an X into 1 header - what bike?

There might be an option to change the angle where the muffler meets the header. When the header and muffler are installed, but the muffler isn't hanging from anything, is there enough 'play' to clear the rearsets? You might be able to drop the muffler the inch with a bracket from wherever it hangs.

Pics would help.

 

[Tristan]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Don't know where Id be without this forum. Tim, it's a cb350F 4into1 and yes the headers and muffler are seperate. In the "resting" position, the brake pedal is already obstructing the muffler. I can wiggle the pipe about 1/2 inch if I use some muscle, but not enough to make a difference. Unfortunaly the location of the rearset is exactly where the muffler connects to the header, so I can't think of any way I could fix this situation with mounting. And yeah, I'm on my phone sooo no pics..bummer.

So whadya think, can I bend it?

 

[Tristan]

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I bent the pipes successfully!! I got some help from my brother, we heated up each individual pipe with two bernzomatic torches and they bent with no issues...a little resistance, but nothing to be concerned about. I'll post some before and after pics once I get to a pc.