Damaged exhaust header

[tig5]

I started pulling the front cylinder exhauster header off my bike the other day so I could remove the mufflers for painting. I noticed that the RHS header has been squashed to about 2/3 of its original diameter, close to the connection with the muffler. It seems like the PO may have taken on a large speed bump.

Is this likely to cause a noticeable exhaust restriction? By noticeable, I mean am I likely to feel an increase in power if I straighten it out? If it's a good idea, do any of you guys have any methods for achieving this? Would hammering a stronger pipe down the hole be a good idea or am I asking to get something jammed in there?

Cheers

[cvincer]

Can't comment on performance, but the header on my Australasin 16R is comprised of an inner & outer pipe; if yours is the same, getting a dent out will be a problem.  Buying a 2nd header perhaps cheap solution.  I have seen a Vision which had the
outer header pipes (carefully) removed on both sides.

[Rikugun]

...I noticed that the RHS header has been squashed to about 2/3 of its original diameter.... It seems like the PO may have taken on a large speed bump.

Would hammering a stronger pipe down the hole be a good idea or am I asking to get something jammed in there?

I suppose there very well may be a performance penalty with the dinged header but wouldn't venture a guess at how much. I'm not sure how tough the material is but trying to hold it fast while driving a mandrel inside might be difficult. A lot of heat (glowing red) may help. Making it more difficult (and what cvincer eluded to) there is an inner and outer pipe. I'd think replacing it might be a better solution but if you try and it doesn't work, you can still just replace it.  :) Let us know how it goes.

[QBS]

Many Japanese bikes from back in the day had double wall header pipes, our V is one of them.  The purpose is cosmetic and two fold.

1) Maintain good looking chrome, chromed pipes exposed to direct exhaust heat turn blue. Solution: add a very thin and non functional outer pipe that does not come into direct contact with exhaust heat and thus, maintains its unspoiled chrome appearance.

2) Exhibit the appearance of a larger pipe, thereby alluding to a larger displacement engine, leading to increase rider ego satisfaction.

Inside the faux header pipe, the real and functional header pipe is quite small and appropriately sized for good breathing and torque.  There is approx. a quarter inch of insulating air space between the two pipes.  Attempting to remove a ding from the inside out will only destroy the entire unit.  Like many things in life, sexy and ego massaging appearances come with a price.  In this case it is added weight and fragility.

Solution for dinged header pipes:  Live with it and curse the circumstances that damaged it or replace it with a unit in better condition.  Good luck with that second option if it's an '83 V.

[NITROPOLIS]

If Your not worried about appearance. Pull a steel ball on a cable through your exhaust, while applying heat to the area damaged. Measure the inside diameter
of you exhaust and get a steel ball the same size. Just fixed the Mac pipes I purchased from a fellow Visioneer. Fountd the steel ball on Ebay and drilled a hole
through the ball inserted steel cable. Long enough to go through the complete exhaust. Worked Great.

[tig5]

Thats a clever idea. I'll take another look and see how bad the internal pipe is. I think at this stage I'll leave it as is and see if a spare one shows up. I'm poorly equipped with toolware at the moment.