I noticed for the first time the other day that the exhaust on my 79 gs850 was pretty leaky around all the joints where the tailpipes slip over the headers. That wasn't too big of a concern to me really as it has been running and riding very well(in my opinion), but another thing that DOES bother me is that at one time somebody did a botch job of cutting my pipes back a little and then also POUNDED some kind of homemade looking baffles in. Really gnarly looking, all rusty and dented. But to their credit, they seemed to work decently, if not sound the best(bike was $400, I ain't about to complain).
So I got a bug up my arse today and tore the whole works off, with the intention of knocking out the baffles and then researching what kind of aftermarket ones were out there that might work and while I was at it using some 2000°F caulk that left work with me to seal up the joints better.
Of course the tail pipes are tapered, which makes finding a baffle difficult, and I had to severely abuse them to separate them from the headers. Looks like they were maybe squished slightly in a vise, apparently somebody thought they might come apart somehow while riding. I don't get it. Oh, and those baffles were sure enough at the end of their life. First couple jabs I took at one with a 24" extension went right through.
Anyways I got to thinking about what to do without spending TOO much money, and I hit on the idea of keeping the original headers and extending each one out with a piece of 1.5" 14gauge stainless pipe and securing a baffle in each one then painting the whole thing with ACE brand 1000°F BBQ Black flat paint. Still probably cost between $150 and $200, but it's something to do and I'd be real curious to see how it sounds.
Question is; What are the odds that I will never be able to get this thing to run right at all? AND I've also read about how cutting out the crossover pipe can hurt low end power. This bike never had a crossover(to my knowledge), but will dividing the pipes in the manner I'm proposing have a similar effect?
I've got it pretty well worked out in my head and on paper exactly how I would go about building and securing this exhaust, just wondering if better heads than mine can tell me why I shouldn't.
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