Why our exhaust cracks, and stuff...

July 18, 2005

After getting my can welded at the local muffler shop last year, I was suspicious that it would crack again... soon. Well, I was wrong, maybe. It's been about a year, and it's cracked again. I only found out because I got a new whole exhaust system for an S440 cheap. Check out the pix, it explains a lot!

Dang it!! Cracked again!! They crack where the head pipe is welded to the muffler end cap. Things move on race bikes, and you need to account for that. That's why most bikes have a joint where the pipe meets the can.

The dirty system is the cracked one that just came off my scooter. The ~Shiny~ one is the nice new S440 setup. Please note that Cannondale got wise; there is a joint between the can and the pipe. When stuff moves, it doesn't have to fatigue the end cap!

No, it's not the same picture twice. Apparently the pipe was made on a monday, because the pipe is too long in the adapter. Looks like it was cut off too long, and the next guy just stuffed it in the jig and welded the coupler without looking at what he was doing. Took a bit, burned up 3 tiny cut-off wheels, but now all is well.

It couldn't be that easy. The picture on the left shows the SS spacer that's welded to the can, the SS spacer that's free on the mounting bolt, and on the left is the old oil check window that I removed when I put the sight glass in. It's been drilled out, and on the right you can see it acting as a spacer to get everything lined up just right. Now I've got parts to clean up and get ceramic coated, and parts to experiment with. I'm certain that there is an aftermarket exhaust that will adapt to the 'dale pretty painlessly.