Dehotification of Cat exhaust

[thkmann]

after rereading, i will ask it another way. how did you decat your head pipe? did it mess up the chrome?

 

[hammerhead pat]

after rereading, i will ask it another way. how did you decat your head pipe? did it mess up the chrome?

I'm gonna try to post you pictures of how I did my Original headpipe, not sure I have enough posts, but here goes...

Cut out this area and open up to get at the cat material..

Here is a side view of the glob causing the heat..

. Now use an air nailer to remove most of the material and then a drill and die grinder to get rid of the slivers..

all cleaned up and ready to re-weld..

Hope this helps...

 

[Hoople]

Pat, Nice Job!.

Posts #4 & #7 contradict one another. Can you tell me if the O2 sensors are before or after the cats. It even can be both.

 

[thkmann]

HH Pat, very nice. You really did get "into" your project. I suspect tig welding this might be the best way to put this back together......or did you wire feed? Either way you really took the bull by the horns. Now looking, I may choose to go the Fullsac method. Did everything bolt right back into place due to the metal moving or was it all good? Excellent job.

 

[Iceman24]

O2 bungs are before CAT & header chrome is n/a because you cover w/heat shield so non-visible after everything's back together. Great coverage on CAT removal & I've seen others who mark horizontal line on pipe (center of exhaust heat chamber) and slice vertically to gut CAT. When done - align mark, re-weld, check for leaks & install.

 

[Redfish-Joe]

I like how you cut a window in it. That would save alot of time realigning. Good job!

 

[hammerhead pat]

HH Pat, very nice. You really did get "into" your project. I suspect tig welding this might be the best way to put this back together......or did you wire feed? Either way you really took the bull by the horns. Now looking, I may choose to go the Fullsac method. Did everything bolt right back into place due to the metal moving or was it all good? Excellent job.

I don't have any experience welding so a guy at Midas did it for $25. He said it would probably be best to TIG but they didn't have a TIG, so I'm guessing he wire fed it( I left it with him for a couple of hours). It was a very simple job and by opening up the pipe( not altering the length) it popped right back into place, couldn't have been easier. I learned this technique on another forum and the guy who showed how to do it had done it another way on the first one he did. He cut the pipe in half across the cat material and dug it out from the ends, but after re-welding when he went to re-install, the mounts were off just a bit and he had to slightly modify. Really not a tough job, I spent less than $40 buying the tools to do the job myself. $40 tools+$25 welding vs. $400 for a new headpipe, think about it......:s

 

[wilks3]

Very good job!!! What if you left some material by skip cutting one of the long sides so the cut out piece folded over. Kind like leaving some hinges on one side.
Just a thought. Nice pics!!!
wilks3
:USA

 

[Bgdv1]

Rode yesterday. Biike is more responsive and cut the heat on my right leg big time and bike sounds better.

 

[hammerhead pat]

Very good job!!! What if you left some material by skip cutting one of the long sides so the cut out piece folded over. Kind like leaving some hinges on one side.
Just a thought. Nice pics!!!
wilks3
:USA

You pretty much have to take that piece off to be able to get into the headpipe! Plus you will have to clamp the "Window" you cut out onto the workbench or vise to clean in up!! When welding back together, tack it in the corners and weld away!!