Down under, an idiot and a 400F

Totally understand, I have just sold my last project,
took me two years to shift it, due mainly to recession
here, but I find you never get back what you put in,
but it does not stop me doing them.
I'm doing the CB400t for my son, so that's a keeper,
I have a Yamaha AS1 in my warehouse, so that's up
next, but not a custom build just a full restoration.
 
Needing to get your money back is where the problems start I think as that's a pretty hopeful end to building a custom bike. Worst case I keep this bike and ride it and slowly save up for the next project.
 
Yes agreed....ride it a enjoy it, everything is for sale,
and when out on the rides, you may come across a
Punter, they come out of the most unusual places.
The chap that purchased my last project had no
Interest in bikes, he just liked the look of it and had
plenty of cash....happy days for me.
 
neevo said:
Should probably take the time to say I am a Pom down under. So any amazing engineering, bike building work is because I am a Brit.

Anything I bugger up... I will claim to be a true blue Aussie ;)
Click to expand...

Wow, after 3+ years it's the first time I've seen that Cool stuff, damn foreigners get everywhere 8) ;D
 
crazypj said:
Wow, after 3+ years it's the first time I've seen that Cool stuff, damn foreigners get everywhere 8) ;D
Click to expand...

I've read that 3 times and still have no idea what you're saying PJ :D

Over 3 years too... Damn, need to pull my finger out!
 
So this afternoon I finished up my paddock stand, popped into the hardware store to buy some wheels and more bolts plus a can of paint and now its hanging in the garage drying.

First job was to install the wheels. I bought some wheels with brackets you bolt to something, but the brackets wouldn't work where I wanted to mount the wheels so I cut up some 5mm steel (a bit overkill but all I had) and welded it into the corners of the stand. Started with the ouside brackets first to get them level and then would match the inside brackets making sure the wheels were straight and spun freely:



I fully welded all the seams for uber strength plus I was having fun laying some beads as the gas lens was working pretty well:



Not perfect beads but I think I'm getting better each time I get the torch out. The gas lens works really well even when extended 1", great for getting into this tight space:



That's it for all the welding :)

The last job for the day was painting. I have painted all my projects black gloss, so for this one I thought I would mix it up a little bit and I'm very pleased with the result:



It's still tacky a few hours later so I will leave it hanging in the garage for a while and probably bring it in the house tonight as we are having frosts each morning and I don't want it to ruin the paint. I will install the wheels tomorrow and whilst I have a couple of bolts to mount it to the swingarm, I am planning another way to attach it to the swingarm.
 
Today was a landmark moment in the build of my custom CB, the arrival of exhaust parts. This is a landmark moment because it officially symbolises the start of motor work (to a certain degree) which means I am finally working on the last big part. I have mentioned before my interactions with Cone Engineering in the US but thought I would echo those comments here with some lovely pictures of their products.

Given the size of my order (relatively small) I was incredibly impressed with the care and attention I was shown by their director of sales Rich Craig, I had a number of emails to and fro as we discussed my exact requirements. He was diligent, intelligent in his information & recommendations and ultimately steered me towards the choices I made.

Needless to say I cannot recommend them enough on their sales advise and care alone.

Well today, less than a week after I ordered them from the US to Australia, my parts arrived. Excited was an understatement.

I opened the perfectly packed box to reveal some petite, but perfectly formed merge collectors. Rich advised against the twin muffler setup I am keen to run (and rightly so), however got me into a solution that allows me to test the setup but also have the ability to revert back to a standard single muffler if it robs too much power.

I opted for the laser cut spring clips and whilst a bit more expensive, I am totally happy as they look very slick. I am very impressed with the collectors, they appear solid, thick gauge stainless and I cannot see any thinning of material around them anywhere. It appears they are shipped slightly flared at each end so that you can grind them back to ensure a totally flat and perfect diameter fit to the mating tubes.

So for all your merge collector, header and general exhaust requirements, go check out Cone Engineering, they looked after me 120%:

Cone Engineering, Inc.
10883 Portal Drive
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
Phone: (714) 828-3580
Fax: (714) 828-6942
Website: www.coneeng.com
HOURS: MONDAY – FRIDAY 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM Pacific Time.

Now onto the cool stuff... the pictures:



The cool spring clips:



The overall plan for the 4-2-1 header into 2 secondaries:









The plan now is to mockup the headers in PVC pipe (ready for bending), then need to work out where I want to split the system so I can separate it into 3 sections (headers/mid pipes/exhausts). Current thinking is to have some tube between the 4-2 and 2-1 bits which is swaged in each section with spring clips although I need to check what this would do to the overall header length. If its too long then I will look to split it at the secondaries instead.
 
Started the exhaust this weekend. I began by putting the bike on the paddock stand (which works a treat by the way) and looked long and hard at the old damaged header before deciding to chop chop the hell out of it and see if I could use it as a selection of bends to make my template out of.

The front wheel was massively in the way and I was really struggling to get anything I was happy with, plus the stainless headers were a little too heavy duty to get any serious work done... surely there had to be a better way???

Well it turns out that the PVC pipe I originally bought to mock up the exhausts was too large diameter, so I decided to take it back, swap it for something a little more appropriately sized and have a crack with the PVC instead.

Given the front wheel was always going to be in the way with the motor in the bike the first logical step was to take the motor out and pop it on the stand, but to ensure I had all my measurements, I thought I would snap some pictures of the important bits of the bike so I had a reference for clearance and routing of the pipes:







I got the opportunity to crack out the exhaust collars PJ made for me and with a little painters tape around the pipe, I was able to attach them to the head:



I worked on the outside header first as this would sit on the top of the collectors and also was inside the 3rd cylinder. The 90 degree bends I bought were perfect for the top curve but I had to chop them and spread them for the lower bend. These bends will be a bit more gradual in real life but the template is designed to get the overall dimensions and angles:



Next up was number 3 cylinder, this had to finish underneath the number 4 cylinder as I am tying in 4-1 and 2-3 cylinders and the merges for these will be stacked on top of each other:



I got them pretty close but need to be careful when I finalise the templates as these pipes need to stack pretty neatly as they need to be welded up pretty close, fingers crossed I get it right.

Once 4-3 cylinders were done I used the angles/lengths to copy for 1-2 cylinders and this part moved along pretty quickly:







Overall the design is copying the original header I had and its to my taste aesthetically. Ideally it would be a bit shorter as the ideal header length is 21.5", however I will have to make it approx 26" as the ideal would have the merges on the front down section. The lengths on the pipe attached to the head are also a bit long, but that has been done so I have some wiggle room when I get the pipes bent and can shorten to get then as tight to the motor as possible.

I suppose exhaust design is all about aesthetics over performance. Hopefully I get enough of each to be happy.

I finished today with the glue gun, filling all the cuts in the joints with hot glue to try and set their angle. Once that is done I will drop the motor back in the bike and look to link the merges, and build the secondaries out to the exhausts.
 
You really need to tack weld the pipes on the bike.
It's a good idea to compress forks as well, with conventional forks you remove springs but USD are way too much hassle for that so use a ratchet tie down
At least you won't need extra clearance to allow for forks bending backwards under braking ;D
Did you try a heat gun on the PVC so you don't need the elbows?
 
Hey PJ, next step is to go back and mount the templates on the bike with the motor in. That's when I will check frame and fork clearance. I didn't try to heat gun the pipes, might have worked but a bit late now :D

Anything else to think about?
 
Can't think of anything off hand, sure I will, just hope I remember what I thought of when I'm back on computer ;D
 
I think you are making a serious mistake not having the wheel in the way as you mock up. From the looks of what you have they are going to be seriously in the way of the wheel/fender. You need to remove your fork springs so you can run the wheel up and down through it's full motion to see if it clears everything. Carpy made a set of 500/550 pipes your way, they cleared everything at a stop but when under compression the pipes hit the fender brace limiting steering. Not something safe when you're wide open going into a turn and you find you can't turn the bike. Fall down , go boom.
 
It aint a simple job to remove fork springs from USD forks
Probably going to need shorter section coming out of port and widen around oil filter. Should be able to 'loose' a few inches and get closer to ideal length
 
crazypj said:
It aint a simple job to remove fork springs from USD forks
Click to expand...

It was as simple as removing the fork caps and removing the spring on my CB400f. Where's the hard part I'm missing?
 
crazypj said:
USD = Upside down forks off a GSXR. Look at the pictures a few pages back
Click to expand...
My mistake, I was thinking USD (U.S.Domestic). My point being is that those pipes need to be tucked in and shortened a whole bunch to clear the back of the wheel under compression. Having everything that is going to be there is best when mocking up builds.
 
o1marc said:
My mistake, I was thinking USD (U.S.Domestic). My point being is that those pipes need to be tucked in and shortened a whole bunch to clear the back of the wheel under compression. Having everything that is going to be there is best when mocking up builds.
Click to expand...

Marc & PJ, I hear the thoughts on the headers being a bit too long out of the exhaust ports and clearance to the front wheel. I deliberately made them long so I can cut them back a bit, but next step is to get the whole shebang back on the bike and check everything.
 
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