Another way to restore the piggies...

[Hedgehog]

Bike was a bit noisy on long rides so I checked the piggies....




They had been cut off a bit short   to use the ingenious soldered copper pipe method of restoration as featured on this here Forum, and I don;t have a welder. Plumbing fittings are different over here so I couldn't tap a new thread in the holes and screw in pipes either...

Then I found that Mark at Horseapple would sell me a pair of cut off piggie plates for just 20 bucks. Brilliant!




But how to simply and inexpensively attach them with only limited tools ?   ??? Here's what I did....

First, I ground off the stubs...




Then I used some dowels to line up the holes..





Then I drilled some holes for self tapping screws.. Next I added some Gun Gum (exhaust repair stuff that contains glass fibre)..




The I screwed the entire piggie plate assembly onto the rear of the main exhaust chamber... smoothed the gun gum down around the edge and its done..




Its simple, very secure and works fine - more of a mellow note now...no change in performance noticed... I'm no mechanic and there are more elegant ways of doing this, but it was cheap and it worked!

Time for a beer!


HH

[Bone]

Great idea and it works

[Michvalk]

Well then....I guess that is exactly how you do it! Good job!

[Fla. Jim]

Very well done!

[Cholla]

Good job  I like it!

[RainMaker]

Brilliant!   

[R J]

Was you ever in the Marine Corps?

We were taught to improvise and that is exactly what ya did.

Semper fi to ya Bro.

[BonS]

That's my favorite piggy restoration job yet. I've used copper pipe with couplings, screws, solder and welding and don't like any of the methods as much as your approach. Even working with the original piggie cuttoff's they don't like to line up all that well. Next time I'm stealing your solution!  

Are you happy with the alignment after putting the tips back on?

[gordonv]

Wait just a minute!? You left the dowels in there? How does the exhaust get out, isn't your engine/pipes going to explode??

OK, great job. A lot easier to do than to find a welder somewhere.

[BnB Tom]

Proving once again, "Necessity is the mother of invention"! 
        Very Good.

[Hedgehog]

Thanks for all the kind words  - I did wonder if folks would just laugh at it - its a bit of a bodge job really...

The Pipes lined up fine thanks to the dowels. I used these to hold the piggy plate on, and then wobbled it side to side to feel it was located OK. After that I drilled one screw hole and half screwed in a self-tapper. That held it in alignment. Then I drilled the other two holes and unscrewed the one screw and removed the dowels. After that, because the screw holes lined up, so did the exhaust tubes - automatically.

I'm no mechanic - but I reckon if we were ever reduced to living in caves again then somehow I'd have central heating, a cooking range, a beer cooler and some other improvised 'essentials' rigged up out of bits and pieces. They wouldn't look great, but they would work!

At school they called me Rooter because I was always rootin' around in bins and skips just looking for something useful...

[valkyriemc]

Here's my metal glue gun;

[Patrick]

Nice, I was ready to say it was good ole American ingenuity, but, apparently it wasn't.. It sure looks nicer than some and it just goes to show that there is more than one way to milk a cow..

[Bigwolf]

That looks like a great way to accomplish piggie replacement.  Great work!

Wolf

[Hedgehog]

UPDATE:

Just gone for a longish ride and the replacement of the Piggies is confirmed as a success. No leaks around the edges with the exhaust putty, which is now rock hard and all looking fine.

Best of all its now got the best of both worlds.... a gentle rumble at idle and at low revs, but drop it into second or third for an overtake and it turns into  a beasty howl!! Brilliant. Guess that's how Honda intended it.

A bit of a bodge job , but not a bad one. I'm amazed.

[GJS]

Nice, I was ready to say it was good ole American ingenuity, but, apparently it wasn't.. It sure looks nicer than some and it just goes to show that there is more than one way to milk a cow..

So I really need to know the other way to milk a cow! ???
I sure hope it does not mean the milk comes out some other hole.

[Hedgehog]

Re Cow milking there's at least three ways I can think of...

1. Manual
2., Machine
3. Mammalian (Just suck).

Same stuff either way. 

[fon1961]

nice job!

[Chattanooga Mark]

Hedgehog,

     Your piggie restoration project is such a great idea that I just ordered a set of Interstate piggies for my Interstate from MarkT. My piggies were cut by a previous owner and I'm wanting to restore it back to the original sound. I'm very glad the mufflers weren't also drilled out.
     I think I'll go to the local plumbing supply store to look for chrome pipe to use as tips to extend the piggies a couple of inches past the exhaust tips. I know I saw a picture of someone who had done that as well.

Thank you for your post and pictures !!!

Mark

[hubcapsc]

Hedgehog,

     Your piggie restoration project is such a great idea that I just ordered a set of Interstate piggies for my Interstate from MarkT. My piggies were cut by a previous owner and I'm wanting to restore it back to the original sound. I'm very glad the mufflers weren't also drilled out.
     I think I'll go to the local plumbing supply store to look for chrome pipe to use as tips to extend the piggies a couple of inches past the exhaust tips. I know I saw a picture of someone who had done that as well.

Thank you for your post and pictures !!!

Mark

These are probably better (thick metal tubes, nicely chromed) than plumbing parts...

http://www.bigbikethings.com/ExhaustTips.html

-Mike

[Hedgehog]

No problem Mark - glad you liked it.  8)Its a workable solution for someone without a welder (or the necessary skills)

... 500 miles on all is still good with mine.

Quieter and yet still with character. Sure to pass our UK 'MOT' annual test also.


Sure Hubcaps is right with his suggestion also.

[MarkT]

Hedgehog - your repair method sans welder is such a good idea I'd like to save it as instructions on how to replace the piggies w/o expensive equipment and skills.  If you don't mind.  I can't add it to my site at the moment because I still have a problem with my EOL'd proprietary web authoring software - but I'll get that fixed when I can spend some time on it.

Mark - your piggy plates left today.  You should see them by Wed.  Thx.

MarkT

[bobm]

i also restored my piggies using "The Hedgehog Method" and 2 weeks later all is well ... definatly prefer it to no piggies

[MarkT]

Don't cut off the piggy stubs flush with the end plate, per Hedgehogs pic above.  Leave a little metal weld, this is what is holding the baffles inside to the end plate - there's no weld on the inside at that point, so if you cut the piggies off flush leaving no weld, your baffles inside can shift with time and corrosion.  Sure, your piggy plates will be slightly further out, but they are anyway.  Just 1/8" or so more so your baffles inside don't come loose.  Shouldn't matter much - add some more of the muffler goop and you might have to relocate the screw hole for the third screw that fastens to the piggy, if you use it.  And might want to trim 1/4" off the ends of the piggies  (I/S, or longest piggy for std/tourer) if they protrude and that bothers you.

[Chattanooga Mark]

Thank you Hubcapsc, that's exactly what I remembered. I'll order the six pipes from BBT.

Thank you MarkT, someday I'd still like to get your 5" Organ Pipe system with your crossover.

Thia site is fantastic,

Mark

[Hedgehog]

OK Mark  - go ahead and use the pics etc... that fine with me. Glad to help other riders. The club site is also welcome to use this also. 

You are right about not grinding completely flush on the old stubs, however, the welds are quite thick, so its possible to cut it down to ALMOST flush and then pack out the very slight gap between the rear of the silencer chamber and the piggie plate with some exhaust paste (as I've done).

Alternatively it now occurs to me that one could make a spacer out of sheet steel (obviously with the three holes in it!) to go between the exhaust chamber and the piggie plate. This would allow a very small stub to remain ensuring the pipes are secure and still keep the joint with the piggie plate flush.

Mine doesn't rattle, so I think I just about did it right, but point taken.

Perhaps your idea takes this to 'Hedgehog MK II'!

[R J]

Nice, I was ready to say it was good ole American ingenuity, but, apparently it wasn't.. It sure looks nicer than some and it just goes to show that there is more than one way to milk a cow..

So I really need to know the other way to milk a cow! ???
I sure hope it does not mean the milk comes out some other hole.

Milking a cow:

1.   By hand, a squeeze and a squirt.

2.   With an automatic milker, stick it on and let the machine do the rest.

That be 2 ways of doin it.

The   made me do it.  Sorry.

[mmurffy03]

first fat lady with implants

[Art708]

Nice, I was ready to say it was good ole American ingenuity, but, apparently it wasn't.. It sure looks nicer than some and it just goes to show that there is more than one way to milk a cow..

So I really need to know the other way to milk a cow! ???
I sure hope it does not mean the milk comes out some other hole.

   I always thought you unscrewed the tail and dipped the milk out.

[R J]

Nice, I was ready to say it was good ole American ingenuity, but, apparently it wasn't.. It sure looks nicer than some and it just goes to show that there is more than one way to milk a cow..

So I really need to know the other way to milk a cow! ???
I sure hope it does not mean the milk comes out some other hole.

   I always thought you unscrewed the tail and dipped the milk out.

No unscrew tail, that is the dump handle for poop.

If ya just unhook the tail from the leg and then use it as a oump handle you can get cholate milk....   Ya have to strain it however to get rid of the big chunks.   Hook the tail back on the leg when done, or you will have a real mess.

[gordonv]

Paul grinding away on the end of the muffler, leveling the surface to apply the piggy plate onto.


notice the holes in the muffler too?

Don't forget to cover the whole bike with a bed sheet or something. We had debris everywhere.

We used a small pilot drill to mark the location for A screw location. Then drilled it out larger on the plate, and drove the screw in to hold the plate. Then while it was in position, drilled the other 3 (in our case) pilot holes, 1 at a time, and again, enlarged the plate hole, then drove the screws in. Removed the screws and the dowels, applied the cement, and screwed it back on. Followed the directions on curing. Then move on to the other muffler.

In Canada, we used Kleen-flo Muffler Cement. No fiber in it. It crusted over very quickly, like icing does. 1 5 oz tube, and had some left over.