What is it about being able to say you did it yourself that is so satisfying, especially when it comes to working on your own bike. Maybe because when it's time to ride to your favorite hot spot and people are asking you about things on your bike you can tell them "yea I did that." It is right then that your bike feels like it is all yours. In Vol. 41 No.11 we did an article, "Steal or Raw Deal part III," where the bike owner, Chris, came across a set of pipes from CCS Choppers called the S-Bends. In the article, we bolted on the black ceramic-coated pipes, which fit and worked well, but Chris lives near the beach and Johnny Law likes to nab bikes with loud pipes. So as he was surfing the website looking for info about getting a set of baffles for the S-Bends, he mentioned the company also offers do-it-yourself pipe kits. This was something we've wanted to do with another project bike we have been working on. Our other project bike is a custom build with an offset Shovelhead motor and a kick-starter on the transmission, which means there are very few sets of aftermarket pipes that would fit. If they did fit, we didn't really like the style, we were looking for a 2-into-1. So a DIY kit from CCS Choppers seemed like the best bet, especially with the clearance issues of the kicker. When we finished mounting the pipes wrapped them with DEI's new Titanium Exhaust Wrap. The wrap looks great and really reduces heat.
Here is the DIY kit. We initially told CCS that we were working on a Shovelhead motor. There are different sizes of cuts and bends along with the head flange, depending on the motor the kits are different and start around $125. Also the fishtail end you see was a pipe we had lying around. At this time, CCS doesn't have fishtails, but it plans to real soon.
1. The first thing we did...
1. The first thing we did was clean up the flanges with a file to remove any burs and make sure that the pipe fit smoothly into the flanges.
2. Next, we installed the...
2. Next, we installed the flange to the head and slid the first bend into the flange to see how it fit. Then we welded the flange retainer to the first header pipe. A few small tack-welds were applied to hold the pipe in place making sure we had the right angles when tacking the next piece.
3. To help us hold the pieces...
3. To help us hold the pieces of pipe in place and make welding the thin wall stainless steel easier we also used these pipe inserts from Hooker exhaust. You simply install the rings in between the two pipes and weld.
4. As we were fitting the...
4. As we were fitting the pipe to take shape and clear the transmission and the kicker, we needed to make small cuts so that we did not cut off too much pipe and change the angle we wanted.
Next, we built the pipe for...
Next, we built the pipe for the front cylinder and ran it along the lower frame rail to the back 5. of the bike. Then we used a flared end off an old set of FL pipes we had to bring the piece for the fishtail tip together. Then we checked for clearance of the kicker pedal.
6. We made a few changes...
6. We made a few changes to the angle on the downward bend then added a few tack-welds to hold it in place.