Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it
I've been doing some heavy duty thinking with this exhaust nonsense.
This is where I'm at.
I wasn't happy at all with the front pipe's angular 50p routing & feel that the chosen angle of the front pipe has caused the rear pipe to bend up too early. I was also avoiding the engine mounting bolts (they're getting the blame).
It has helped tacking up the 45mm pipes to see what's what, but when I was setting it up I also came to the conclusion that the 45mm pipe also looked too small. Especially when the 51mm inlet manifold can be seen in the background.
I'm sure I've read, or heard that what ever the inlet manifold size is, the exhaust should be the same diameter also. It could be bollox but I'm running with it.
So all the 45mm pipe was a waste of money & it's now going to be made out of 51mm..
It was always in the planning, that's why I did the header manifolds like I did. They would be able to accept 45mm pipe inside the 48mm stub, or accept a 51mm pipe over the 48mm stubs.
I have done a lot of research concerning pipe sizes & reasons why they make them a certain size. That's why I chose as close to the oem size as I could (45mm), but with the exhaust pipe being totally exposed on the side of the engine I also feel it looks too small a diameter.
So my next job was to look for ideas/pictures I like the look of & copy it, again.
Old Harley XR750 ideas are my favorite & here are some pictures I'd like to copy.
What I've tried to do is copy the idea of using big sweeping bends but use ones that fit the bike I'm building.
The bends that fit/work are 51mm diameter 2D bends. It was a gamble with either 1.5D or 2D bends, so I've only bought 1x 2D bend atm & I think it has potential.
Here's some pictures of the uncut bend held in place. The bend fits onto the front manifold & it clears the frame with around 8mm gap, I think it'll be ok.
Any ideas or Trombone jokes, fire away
