Exhaust header - repair, replace?

[dobie42]

Hello all, I’ve got an ‘88, with Supertrapp exhaust, and the header has some road rash damage. It’s a flat spot, with a slight area that is worn through along on edge of the flat. Just enough to leak.

Questions, as I’ve been out of the Hawk game for a bit:
1 - is getting a replacement Supertrapp header a possibility? From what I’ve gathered, they are real hard to come by these days. What are the prospects?
2 - I’ve still got the stock header pipes in a box - yep. How different are they going to be than the Supertrapp headers, in regard to performance? And they would work with the ‘Trapp pipe, right?
3 - repair - anyone have experience with having this type of thing repaired? Anyone in the Denver area have any recommended shops?

thanks for any help! Pic of the damage attached. Pic of the bike is posted in the noob threads, under prodigal son post.
- jesse

[ParcNHawk]

The headers are the best part of the Trapp system. Built in collector and light as hell. With a very slight elbow, almost any can can be used.

Incompatible with the stock headers. You could maybe try to cut out the collector and join it to the stock pipes but the Trapp collector has a very slight gap between the two pipes whereas the stock muffler (collector) has a larger gap.

And, of course, the pipe you damaged is the one that is integral to the collector.

Repair is not impossible. A competent TIG welder can fix that leak for you. Competent and experienced in welding thin stainless.

Cheap-ass fix would be using muffler cement, a patch clamped over top of the cement, and some kind of crash guard from a dirtbike application to cover it all up.

[yorkshire]

what about an elbow of the same dia pipe welded in, maybe 120 degrees, you would have to measure the angle

[dobie42]

ParcN - thanks for the refresher, it’s been a bit since I’ve really looked at the stock exhaust and I forgot about all that BS going on under the swingarm.

trying to avoid the cheap-ass fix, unless I can somehow also make it look trick and hide the cheater aspect of it…

yorkshire - good thought on the elbow, it’s a compound angle so may be tough to find one that would work.

I’ll see what I kind of response I get from some shops on repair - and keep scoping Ebay in the meantime…

thanks.