Project Virago

Thanks Crash, initially I will be using exhaust wrap, but, once I am happy with the system it will be sent off for coating in satin black, was going to put some photos up tonight of the system pipes cut and ready for an experimental fit but photobucket is playing around so will do it tomorrow, regards Doc Cox. 

Good morning    Right, photobucket and I have both had a good nights sleep :sleep: , SO, lets crack on, the first shot is the pipes marked up for cutting,





To avoid a crooked cut I wrap tape around the pipe and then carefully follow it round with the hacksaw only making enough of a cut to guide the hacksaw on the second run, "TIP" when using the hacksaw use gentle pressure and let the blade do the work, the pipes aren,t very thick and will cut easily, also it will be less tiring , keep the blade across the cut so it won,t  jam.





A clean cut, "TIP" Using a jubilee clip a also a good guide for cutting pipes and won,t let the cut wander which is possible with tape





All the pipe needs is a clean up with a file





Ready for the second cut,



Here is the pipe sectioned and ready for the next stage later on today,

Can anyone give me some advice on photobucket please, I have 20 plus albums but can only access the first seventeen, any ideas please.

Put some more time in on exhaust today, slowly but surely working the run of the pipe out, this is approximately its route




Mind you the battery tray will definitely have to be moved,




This the pipe size difference between the Virago and the Hardly




Out to the caravan now, have just remembered about the other pipes for the project,

Welcome to our caravan/store room    









More pipes to play with, the one at the back is an old Virago pipe, will be chopping this halfway down to angle pipe out a bit


Had to remove this sensor plug,



just this jigsaw left to play with, OH, and repair the welder,  



Wish me luck  

Luck you don't need Nigel, you have the skills that most need to pay the bills.   
Great to see how this is coming along and the pipes will look great, love the fact you are building your own in the way and shape you want.   
This thread is a real inspiration to people that like to do stuff for them selves and seeing what you do will no doubt give people the encouragement they need.

  Love the way it is so instructive and is great to see it in the way we are. Cant wait to see the final build  

Nice work Doc   You've not got any caravan holidays booked in the near future then?  

Yes, always take this lot with me, makes it seem more homely and gives me something to do when it,s raining        

Excellant work Nigel.

Thanks Alfie, getting there slowly but surely, popped into Swindon today to an exhaust centre that I have used for years, they have always been very helpfull letting me have a nose through the scrap bin for pipe offcuts, today I even paid for some   , it was easier to buy a couple of lengths I knew fitted rather than bodge up some old pipe otherwise it would spoil the look of the system,






here is the system with the straight pieces installed, still have to do more cutting but now the basic shape is coming together,






Taking the photos has also helped me as I now know how much to take out of the straight pieces and what it looks like from the side as you get an entirely different perspective even when sat on a low stool next to it, will be using the standard pipe size coming out of the rear cylinder head to maintain a bit more of an equal back pressure between the two cylinders.

Looks very interesting to see how your doing this, the pipes will take a very nice close shape to the bike which I like compared to what I have seen on others

Thanks Crash,will be taking about an inch out of the top pipe and the same on the front one to make it sit better to the engine, having the exhaust right can make or break a good looking bike.

Love what you have done with the rear cylinder pipe, much better than the stock setup    

looks good Doc!

Looking good Nigel, yes I also love the way they both come around the front. You certainly have a good vision of the way you want the bike to look.

Thanks everyone, there is a lot of eyeballing going on here to make sure the cuts are right  :shock: , so far so good, things appear to be coming together, the only drawback is that the rear wheel will have to be removed to extract the back pipe, this was as far as I could get it






Here is the pipe with the front inner sleeve down to two inches, this has moved it back towards the engine




This was when I realised that I had a much more suitable pipe bend for the rear cylinder




Here is the geusstimation time for marking the cut










Sectioned bend cut and in place, not looking too bad







Finally seems to be coming together, next will be the covering sleeves for the inner sleeves, tacking in place, fabricate some mounting brackets and make the siamese  pipe collecter.

Phew glad to see you got away from the rear tyre, that was scary    Shame you have to remove the rear wheel to remove the rear pipe but it will be rare that this needs to happen so alls good really. Just been reading back up the page a bit & its good to read that the internal bore size is even being thought about to keep the pressure equal between the front and rear cylinders. Great job and something most of us wouldn't have given a second thought to

The exhaust is coming along nicely Doc  

Excellent work there Doc, love it more every time I see it. You can't buy passion & that is what she is being rebuilt with.   

Don,t worry Crash, wasn,t as bad as it looks, from this





To this





In less then ten minutes, God bless centre stands    

There it is, one rear exhaust pipe




Not exactly the best paint job




Here is the front pipe with the bent bit removed



That is it for today, time to relax  :sleep:

I don't remember painting that swingarm :what1:  Sure looks like one of my jobs though    I like this thread, When the project comes to an end    we'll be able to look back and see how much detailed work has gone into the Virago and it will inspire people to similar projects  

I agree, it's great to see what Doc is doing & how he does it. Sadly it keeps putting my own jobs in the forefront of my mind.
I think it's time for the wire brush Nigel and a bit of prep work on that swinging arm.

The swinging arm will be replaced by a spare one I have that will have all the welds and metal work ground smooth, might as well do it while the wheels out although it,s going to be interesting removing the shock absorber pin, there don,t seem to be any pins or bolts holding it in place !! could be the Mr large hammer and drift will be coming out to play later,  

Ah 'Mr large hammer' aka the persuader.  

Very good work Nigel,personally I would be careful grinding back welds,for sometimes pretty may compremise safety.( only a thought ).

Correct Dave, no worries Alfie, as long as I don,t go below the weld lower radius the weld strength will not be compromised, but if I thought this was going to happen I would run an extra bead of weld along it, but, thank you for raising this point, regards Doc Cox. 

That is one thing the Intruder is really missing a center stand. O yeah & while your in there Doc undo the few bolts needed and grease up the drive shaft to be on the safe side  

Thanks Crash, luckily it looks like the bike has been well maintained and the drive shaft splines have been well lubricated, also a good chance to drain and put clean oil in the diff assy ( Strangely everyone calls these diff assemblies but in fact they are bevel drives)

Well you learn something everyday, are we following the yanks on that talk as well

No I don,t think so Crash as the Americans call the diff housing a pumpkin, would think the name "Diff" came from the fact that cars and trucks have an axle where the drive is turned through 90 degrees via the diff and as our bikes have a drive shaft and the drive is again turned through 90 degrees the name "Diff" was adopted,    while in the garage doing the tidy up decided it was time for a bit of more fun work, so, stripped down and cleaned up the control for the silencer valve, this came off an old Villiers engined lawnmower but will be ideal for sound and back pressure control, was looking a bit grotty







Luckily all the internals looked in good condition







But, after a good session with the grinder mounted wire bush it came up quite nicely
         

                                                                                                                                                                    

I think because most of it was made of nickel plated brass that is why it came up so well, the centre screw is the only bit that will need treating.

Is that to fit to the exhaust valve you picked earlier to quieten down the on early morning start ups just to get away before flicking it back to the normal Vtwin growl that you will have with your personally home made exhausts your building?

That's a great idea Nigel, can't wait until your write-up that. Very good idea & your neighbours will still like you on early mornings with that modification.  

Absolutely right Crash, should help to maintain local happiness in the mornings, needed an exhaust mounting stub for the new system, luckily I remembered about the spare engine in the garage, the rear pipe was the correct size to keep the exhaust pipes balanced but very corroded lower down so didn,t feel guilty about cutting the end off, the microwave magnets on the end are to stop the flange from rattling around while cutting




Time to make the siamese  pipe connector, could not tack the system together until the connector was fabricated, have to start at the back and work forwards to make sure the pipes are a good sliding fit into the connector, here are the two pipes ready for cutting




First cut mark





Both pipes sectioned






Trial fit of pipes




Pipe tips trimmed ready for second fit



The gas flow should be OK. just have to trim a bit of the pipes for a better fit




Collector box seems to fit together well ( Itching to start welding)




Collector box with exhaust valve




That,s it for today, plan for tomorrow is to get the system weld tacked together, regards to all Doc Cox.

Flippin eck now that was a good days work, love this thread gets the heart & the brain ticking over  

Oh man this is getting good, that exhaust valve is going to keep your neighbours on side for those early morning starts you do. Great idea to add the valve, loving the way it's all finally coming together.  

  You take on whatever is put before you without compromise   

Loving it Nigel!

Loookin good  

Great work Nigel,always good to look at your blogs,very rewarding.     

Thank you all, this is the sort of thing I have liked doing since a child, back in the garage today, tidy up first and then back to the exhaust, looks like the exhaust and bike have had a falling out, so it,s time for a bit of Doc Cox therapy   






Have to prep, the exhaust first, refit the baffles, trim to size and modify the mount to make it stronger and spread the load along the retaining mount, this is the load spreader for the mounting, originally the exhaust only had one bolt and you can see where it was overtightened and cracked the mount



Here is the cracked mount, this will be repaired later



Also had to retap the threads




Had to flair the exhaust at the point it had been trimmed back to, achieved this by inserting a thick walled tube of the correct diameter inside and then used inertia by slamming the pipe down onto a wood plank on the floor




It was surprising how much force it took to get the pipe this far




So made some saw cuts that were just enough to let the pipe come through with a bit more persuasion




Like this




Here you can see the slight belling of the tube before the cuts were made




The baffles are a bit unusual, the exhaust was designed to be used on a two stroke or a four stroke, have never seen one before and can,t find out who made it, any ideas guys ?




Here are the baffles being put back in




This is the template for the mounting bracket, using 1/4" plate off a wheelchair anti wheelie mount





The top hole here was drilled and tapped for extra security




This is the new mount next to the old one, a bit more substantial,




Here is the exhaust mounted on the bike, don,t worry the bolt has been trimmed down




And on the bike




Oh dear, a gap, will have to fill it with something


Hmmm, this should fit





Excellent, a bit more tweaking tomorrow and then can start welding




Slowly coming together, see you all tomorrow  :sleep:

Looking good Doc! I like the up swept look    As for guessing on the baffle/silencer, It's got me baffled  

Doc
What Virago is yours?
Hers my old on, little 125. Excuse the Bow the wife bought it for me for my 40th, hence why i now have the Intruder.

Hi Arron, This one is a 1982 750 American import with 15000 on the clock, the other one is a 1981 750 with 31000on it, the earlier one will be a bit more radical when rebuilt but still fully usablefor the road,  

Bloody hell Doc this has always been an interesting thread but I am really enjoying reading it more as time has gone by. The pipe looks great, your a real inspiration to us lesser beings.    I love the way you are making your own pipes that will be a real one off and will get other Virago owners looking in astonishment. With the turnable/adjustable baffle you have in that pipe that will make a difference to flow and obviously volume output & the changeable flow/volume valve you are fitting in the header pipe. You will have an exhaust that can be a little beastly but easily adjusted for summer morning getaways without annoying the neighbours.

Excellent work Nigel. 

Doc the only person I can think of who made the kind of adjustable baffle system like yours was a guy called Cambell who ran Campbell Geometrics in the 70's or 80's or such?
Cannot be more helpful sorry.

Very impressed with how this is going, what a great job being done  

Now that,s interesting Peter, I used to have a Cambell Geometric exhaust on one of my Triumph,s, had a very unusual note, tried looking on the web and Ebay for the firm but so far have had no luck, mine was a fixed baffle but the later ones had an adjustable alloy cone in the end and only needed one allen bolt loosening to change the volume, will have to look some more,  :shock:

Don't think you'll find it Doc as I believe he went out of business or retired a while ago sorry to say. There used to be a cable operated baffle on some units. I know this for fact as a friend had one on his triton, the cable went to the clip ons & worked via an air lever to adjust it. He lived next door to a copper so had to make quiet entries & exits from the cul de sac where he lived.  

Didn,t know they made a cable operated one, this gets more interesting, thanks for the information will now have a look for the cable operated valve, regards Doc Cox.