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Header wrap fix?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr_Shake
  • Start date Start date
M

Mr_Shake

Guest
I have an old Kerker pipe on my 850 that will probably have to be replaced in the next year due to rust, but for the meantime, would heat wrapping the header seal the several small cracks I have in my header? It pops on deceleration, which i think is due to bad exhaust gaskets and header cracks. I am afraid to weld the holes, because it may burn through the old meetal, and I am eventually going to get a V&H pipe for it, but for now, will this help?
 
It may last for a while, though I'm not sure how long. What kills the header wrap is "moving air". It will burn the micro fibers "glass" and this will lead to failure. Try it and report back.
 
Mr_Shake said:
I have an old Kerker pipe on my 850 that will probably have to be replaced in the next year due to rust, but for the meantime, would heat wrapping the header seal the several small cracks I have in my header? It pops on deceleration, which i think is due to bad exhaust gaskets and header cracks. I am afraid to weld the holes, because it may burn through the old meetal, and I am eventually going to get a V&H pipe for it, but for now, will this help?
Click to expand...

Instead of welding try brazing it closed with lead or maybe some high heat solder
 
That's not a bad idea. I am not looking long term, it's just that I graduate in december, and then getting a real job, so I am just trying to get the thing to stop popping till i can afford a new pipe next year.
 
If you have access to the necessary gas welding equipment you can try brazing.

Oxygen-actylene equipment will definitely be best, as it is capable of delivering concentrated heat at a small site, but you could use a portable home-type torch using MAPP gas, which burns hotter than propane.

A standard propane torch will use MAPP gas, and it would give a small flame, hotter than normal propane, but it will not deliver the amount of heat required. for brazing your tube. You might melt the brazing rod, but you can only place blobs on the tube, and they will not do what you need.

You need a torch that is intended to burn MAPP gas, with what is commonly called a "swirl" effect. As the name implies, it will have a heat supply that swirls at the tip, so it covers a comparatively wide area, unlike the oxy-acetylene flame, which has the dual benefit of being more focussed and being hotter.

The temperature and quantity of heat required to braze is there with this torch, but heat transfer/loss into the tube may be sufficiently fast that you need a another person to hold second, standard propane, torch focussed behind the repair site to maintain the necessary heat across the whole of the area while you work. This has been my experience.
 
If you don't have access to the brazer, do this:
Take a tin can (such as a soup can) and cut the top and bottom out of it, leaving a curled sheet of metal. Wrap the metal around the pipe, and secure it on both ends with either a clamp or a length of wire twisted to hold it on. Then wrap that with your header wrap or muffler wrap.
It will last longer, because the first thing the exhaust gases touch is the metal from the can. I saw this done before, and the owner even painted the wrap with black paint to make it match the rest of the exhaust.
 
I'm not exactly sure if my concern is founded or not but I don't like using rusted exhaust plumbing since loose particulate matter can work it's way back into the combustion chamber where it can cause wear. Exhaust systems are tuned to take advantage of pressure waves in the exhaust with the express desire to pack charge into the combustion chamber as a result of reverse pressure waves. I know for a fact that loose particulate matter in the exhaust can tear up rings/cylinders on automotive engines and this lesson I leaned makes me very wary of rusty motorcycle exhausts.

Just my $0.02.
 
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