Hi all
well, I wanted to keep dual mufflers on my 2008 ZX 14 SE, and couldn't stretch my budget to the $2,200+ dual muffler system from Brock's. So, I bought dual Yoshimura R 77 slip ons, with titanium sleeves and carbon end caps, to mate up to the stock header.
on removing the stock header, a magnet sticks to it well. As suggested by BlkMax on another thread here, I have now confirmed the stock header is made from a 400 series stainless steel. Easily weldable with the correct equipment. Also on the stock header is a raised flat dimple on the collector for the locating of an O2 bung, just needs to be drilled and a bung welded to it.
the mild steel bung provided with the DynoJet PC V and AutoTuner can be welded to 400 stainless. However, I dropped by my local auto speed shop and picked up a stainless steel bung for less than $6. It is made from a 300 series stainless, but no problems welding 300 series and 400 series stainless steel together, and a better result than welding mild steel to 400 stainless.
then I looked at the stock catalytic converter in the collector of the 2008 stock header. I wanted to get rid of that source of high heat. I ground off the two exterior plug welds, then thought about bashing the cat to pieces through the two muffler outlets. Others have reported it is possible, although it apparently takes hours and hours of bashing. I am not oriented to brute force bashing, so I marked several index marks on the collector body, and cut it vertically with a band saw, just behind the raised boss for the O2 bung. Easy enough then to remove the catalytic convertor from the back section of the collector, and gave me a chance to check the interior of the collector and header, and correct some of the rather crude Kawasaki welding....
then I lined up the index marks I had made, and welded the heaser and collector sections back together, much more nicely than the original crappy Kawasaki welding job, which must have been done by half blinded robots or on a Friday afternoon after too much saki...
now I am sending the modified stock header out for ceramic coating, then I am going to exhaust heat tape wrap it, then assemble everything. I still need to fabricate and weld onto the right side R77 mid pipe a position stop for the Kawasaki centerstand, the mid pipe on the Yosh looks like polished 300 stainless, I just have to pick up some 300 stainless to make the position stop, and then I'll post some photos once I figure out how to do so here, looks like I have to set up a seperate photo hosting account somewhere, then link back, I'll try and get to that soon.
Paul