My custom Exhaust Project

[sudds]

Hi guys, Im new on here so be nice :Flip:

Anyway, I got my FZ in april, restricted for a couple of months until my 2 year 'sentence' was up, now living the full power dream, but still a bit fed up of sounding like a hair dryer, and not wanting to fork out £400 for a nice set of cans I had a think and decided to custom build, heres where Im up to.

I wanted to cans to look amazing as well as sound good, so I have a little ace up my sleeve which I shall get onto later.

The first phase was researching materials available and sizes that I wanted. Another thread on here showed a guy making some cans so I have 'borrowed' the basic dimensions. Sticking with a twin underseat set up, I aim to build 2 cans, 2inch bore, 11 inches long with a 4 inch outer can.

The next phase was sourcing materials, I have on order a length of 4" ali tube £20 for 1m (I will only need just over half). Some perforated stainless tube, 2", £15 on ebay. I couldnt be bothered to make the inlet caps so I found a company called PJ Engineering who fabbed up a set for £42, really nice looking too.

I then bought a pair of exhaust hanger clamps, some rivet band for the end caps, some stainless wool to wrap the baffles and a wad of glass wool to fill the cans.

When the cans are built I intend to get a 'Y' seaction made up by a local fabricator to join the cans to the mid pipe. I will make a plate to bolt the hanger straps to.

So the photo below shows most of my raw materials, minus the ali outer tubes, (hurry up postie!)

 

[sudds]

Right now for my little ace, I didnt wanna go out and buy a standard pair of outlet spouts, I wanted something a bit special, that would look rather more expensive and a bit more like the akras or scorpians.

Luckily for me, where I work I have access to an autoclave, tooling blocks, release agents, quality finishing processes and endless supplies of off cut materials to make some end caps from. Anyone guessed what theyll be made from yet? Probably, your're all clever clogs Im sure, Yep, gorgeous, beutifull, CARBON FIBRE, ooouuusssshh!

I hope im not the only person that gets so excited about a nice bit of carbon

So anyway first step was to make a mould. I started with a square block, had the OD machined down to 102mm and the ID 51mm, so I had a cylinder.

I then moved onto the sanding bench and put my creative hat on and mashed away at it with an air grinder, and a bit of elbow grease until I got the shape I wanted.http://www.600riders.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43970&stc=1&d=1343742454
http://www.600riders.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43971&stc=1&d=1343742454

This was then rubbed with increasing grades of sand paper for a sooth finish and then about 459,233 coats (It was like trying to varnish a sponge) of mould sealant, which gives a hard varnish like finish. Its completed with a few coats of mould release agent. I wanted a good finish on both sides of the part so a silicone splash needed to be taken. Basically laying silicone sheet onto the mould, putting it in a vacuum bag and curing it in an oven to create a female impression that will go onto the mould once the carbon is layed on.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43972&stc=1&d=1343742454

When the silicone splash had been made I wantedto do a trial run, and layed up carbon on one half of the mould to make sure it released ok. Which it did, the mould was damaged a bit so it was filled with epoxy where needed, rubbed back and re-sealed.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=43973&stc=1&d=1343742454

 

[pookamatic]

Nice. Always like to see backyard fabrication. Search for 'custom exhaust' - another member recently made a prototype and a couple copies for members with glasspacks. His username is phrank11 (or something similar).

 

[sudds]

Then it was time to lay up the carbon for real on the first end cap.

4 layers gives about 0.8mm wall, which should be plenty.

Some tabs where moulded into the cap to aid release.

The silicone splash was stretched over and the assembly was vacuum bagged (bit more complicated than that, but id have to kill you all if I revealed the secret )

A couple of hours in the autoclave to cure. When it came to getting it off the mould it was clear it would be very difficult without damaging the mould. SOOO, some threaded bar was glued into the mould and a wooden plate positioned over the top, as in one of the photos below, with 3 nuts screwed onto the bars, pushed the plate onto the moulded tabs pushing it off the mould, SUCCESS . Some more epoxy filler and another round of polishing and sealing and it should be good to go for a second lay up for the other end cap, even if it is starting to look like a dairy cow, but hey ho, she works.

The first cap was subject to some furious sanding buffing and varnishing and the end trimmed off to produce myu first end cap, Im really pleased how it came out, cant wait to get the second mould and the cans built and mounted!

So far I have spent a fraction over £100 which isnt too bad, just hope im not stung too much on the 'Y' section. Stay tuned for the next installment .

 

[sudds]

Nice. Always like to see backyard fabrication. Search for 'custom exhaust' - another member recently made a prototype and a couple copies for members with glasspacks. His username is phrank11 (or something similar).

Cheers dude Ill have a look.

 

[ebster1085]

Here is another really nice homemade exhaust by one of our members:

Yamaha FZ6 Forums - International FZ6 Motorcycle Community Forum - jtarkany's Album: Custom Exhaust

 

[sudds]

Here is another really nice homemade exhaust by one of our members:

Yamaha FZ6 Forums - International FZ6 Motorcycle Community Forum - jtarkany's Album: Custom Exhaust

Yep thats the one I was thinking of earlier where I got my inspiration from :thumbup:

 

[Motogiro]

How the, what the! That's so coool! :rockon:

 

[motojoe122]

Thats gonna look AWESOME!!

 

[JasonB]

I'm liking the look your your efforts so far fella. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the build and more importantly what they sounds like!

 

[PB4UGO]

Looks amazing can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

[philz]

Wow, nice work there! Can't wait to see the final version.

 

[jtarkany]

Yes, yes, yes! This is great! Looks like you are making an amazing exhaust :thumbup:

 

[ChevyFazer]

Very nice! Can't wait to see the finished product!!!

 

[sudds]

Right, some updates. Postie did his job this morning and delivered my ali tube. I need to chuck the 2 cans in a lathe to turn the ends down slightly so the carbon caps slip on easily, they will also then sit flush with the cans which will look hot.

I keep getting too excited so i sort of placed all the bits together on a table to get an idea of what itll look like. The carbon caps will sit further on the can than in the pics below so the whole assembly will appear shorter when finished.

I'm still not sure on what finish to give the cans, I could mirror polish or rub them to a matte texture, or maybe anodize/powdercoat?

I'm just waiting on a length of stainless which I will use to make a sleeve to slip the inner 'tube' of the carbon into and will be welded to the outside of the baffle tubes I you get what I mean, Ill post a pic when done obviously.

Thanks for all of the positive comments :thumbup:

 

[why_not_Zoidberg?]

Oh damn that is sexy lookin. No you are not the only one that gets hot n bothered over CF

 

[TheRabbi]

I'm still not sure on what finish to give the cans, I could mirror polish or rub them to a matte texture, or maybe anodize/powdercoat?

Do you not want to go with the CF look over the entire can?

 

[sudds]

Do you not want to go with the CF look over the entire can?

Yeah but not on my first go, it would of been a lot more money to lay down inititally and more painfull if i screwed up, as i cant make big tubes at work at the moment. I also quite like the carbon/alloy combo.

 

[sudds]

Got another little update for you guys.

My stainless tube arrived in the post today, so I cut the 2 small sections I needed. You can see in the pictures they act as a joiner for the carbon tips and the baffles. I can now get them welded to the baffle and weld the baffle to the inlet cap.

I hope to get on the lathe tommorrow to turn down the ends of the ali cans.

Thern it will be about drilling and riveting the end caps to the ali, and polishing up.

I should have one can complete by next weekend. And the other to the point at which the second carbon cap can be joined straight on to finish it, (I have been off work this last week and next week so I will begin work on the second carbon cap in about 9 days time) The aim to to have everything finished and mounted on the bike with connecting 'Y' piece in 2-3 weeks time.

 

[ChevyFazer]

Looks very clean so far, very professional looking work!!!

I will be very interested to hear the final product as well as like to know if the carbon fiber end caps effect the sound at all. When I made my exhaust---this--->http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-mods/40828-machine-gun-exhaust.html

I had 3 main goals in mind, cost, being loud as hell, but mainly looking good. I achieved all 3 but I'm still not very happy with the sound. When riding the bike it sounds like heaven, but hearing someone else ride it has a high pitch "tinny" note over powering the deep rumble that I like. I've cut it open 3 times now changing baffles and re doing DB killers to try and eliminate that "tinny" note but it's still there. I wonder if adding some end caps would help? I think what's going on is the sound reverberating off that fairly thin stainless outlet that is causing the sound?