You may have seen my pics with my Muzzy stainless dual slips. And you may have read where I bought the OEM centerstand. Well, I tried to get clever (I guess?) and have a bump stop bracket that I fabbed up welded to the right side mid pipe. DAMN MISTAKE. The welder told me welding stainless, "It ain't no problem." That should've been my first clue, but I've had him weld other things, although TRACTOR things, where I barely care what it looks like, and it was all mild steel; no stainless. What he didn't tell me was that he was using MIG and not TIG ... so yep that means the @#$%ing weld will rust. DUMBASS. G@d damn I am pissed. What the F good does it do me to have stainless pipes with welds that will rust??? There is no easy fix for this. The Muzzy pipes are very thin wall (for weight savings of course), so his MIG would burn thru it in less than a heart beat. He "only" burned one hole, but proceeded to fill it with MIG filler, which as I said and I'm sure most of you know will just rust, and immediately. I cannot believe I let this happen. I can't believe I trusted this guy. %#$^!!!!!!!! (fvck)

Since I had plenty of stainless sheet, I got even more clever and fabbed a bracket to be able to bolt the mid pipe at the same OEM mid pipe mid-mount bolt location. I figured with the centerstand hitting the exhaust every time I take the bike off the stand, it couldn't hurt to have the exhaust system secured there, too. Well, he welded that on with MIG also, of course.

So, I have a couple sources for TIG welding, but I don't really think this is gonna be fixable. At the least it's gonna require a piece of lap plate to cover holes, which is gonna look like shit. He did only tack the corners rather than filling the entire lap joint, but still ... I don't think a welder is gonna be able to remove ALL of that MIG to where no rusting metal remains ... AND patch it to where it doesn't look like shit. This sucks so bad.

I still hold out some minute amount of hope that one of you will have a good idea for a fix.

But, pretty sure I'm gonna need to know: Anybody have any idea where I can just get a replacement stainless right side mid pipe? I'll try Muzzy later today, but last time I talked to them they said they make these in batches only every so often, so it will be a long wait. Maybe I just have to wait that wait. DAMMIT. I spent a helluva a long time on those brackets too. DAMMIT!

The filling the hole is sketchy, because of the tit and slag that is left on the inside of the pipe, screwing up the exhaust flow. Sucks. Maybe he used the wrong size wire and had to turn up the heat and started blowing holes. He could have used stainless mig wire at least.

For the future, what i have resorted to doing with some "ideas" is buy rashed up or crashed parts off of ebay. This way if it doesn't work, i didn't fubar my good one. Its slightly more expensive doing it that way, But I can ride the bike while i'm making the parts, and if it doesn't work, i'm not out the cost of a new piece.

fat - good idea to 'practice' on a different one.

Meantime ... SUH-WEET! Thanks a million to 58 Cycle!!! (sold me my Muzzy slip ons). I chatted with Susan using their website's chat function this morning, and she said she'd contact Muzzy and call me this afternoon. I didn't hold out much hope, but DAM if she didn't call me back(!) AND found that Muzzy does have a new stainless right side mid pipe for me(!) AND she told me to order it direct from them since if I wanted to order it from 58cycle it would cost me $35 in shipping(!). I love that women! ... that place!

NOW ... how to NOT screw up this new one that's on the way??!! Nobody better even LOOK at this new one funny! Well, I do now at least have a backup to use as a guinea pig!

Thanks to fat and anybody else who was willing to read my rant here ... all over a silly little mid pipe

* Last updated by: ZX14R on 7/15/2014 @ 2:01 PM *

308 and 309 grade wire, whether MIG or TIG, won't rust.

In fact, 309L is THE choice for joining stainless to mild steel. Granted the more mild steel that admixes into the weld bead increases the chances of oxidation but there's a right way and wrong way of welding.

hagrid - As you can prob tell I know just enough about welding to sound like an idiot.

I'm trying to check right now to see what filler he used. I thought (wrongly it seems) that just the use of MIG tells me that he used a filler that would rust.

And note that these were stainless-to-stainless welds. The brackets I fabbed out of 304 ... but I have not been able to find out what type stainless Muzzy uses.

I see that 308L is the filler to use for stainless-to-stainless welds.

* Last updated by: ZX14R on 7/15/2014 @ 4:13 PM *

I didn't know the entire fabrication was stainless steel!

With the correct filler you should see zero oxidation... even with stick.

Any chance of a photo of your current predicament? Try to focus on the joint whilst including both sides of the fab, please.

Sure hagrid - Will post pics in 15-20 mins. Would be great to get your opinion.

OK here's one ... what else should I show?

... and another, mostly showing my lovely bracket, not the questionable welds ... which prob doesn't help but is nicer to look at:

* Last updated by: ZX14R on 7/15/2014 @ 7:44 PM *

Definitely MIG. From these snaps it's not obvious what wire he used. His wire feed and voltage look half decent for thin wall mat'l, all things considered.

Nice brake work on the bracket!

Any snaps of the rust?

* Last updated by: hagrid on 7/15/2014 @ 7:56 PM *

Not sure what "brake work" is, hagrid ... but thanks?

No rust ... yet anyway. Welds were just done yesterday and haven't been exposed to anything but controlled environments so far.

One thing I forgot to mention ... I let him weld the smaller mid-mount bracket on backwards ... Did I mention DAMMIT???

This thing, or me, is snake bit. Or so it feels.

Got you covered, mang!

I think I understand your disappointment now: you wanted a shiny bead like you get from the TIG process, yes?

Oh I understand 'brake' now ... I used a vice But with pieces of wood being the contact surfaces so as not to scratch the stainless sheet too much. It was quite tedious and took many hours. And now it looks like I get to make 'em all over again Oh, well, the 'designs' are done; making them will go MUCH faster this time, prob less than an hour.

I originally started by making the shape out of thin cardboard, then transferred that onto a piece of aluminum guttering I had laying around (thin and bendy!), so I could bend and re-bend it and get it just right, then made the "final" stainless pieces from that.

And, while yes I am somewhat disappointed in the beauty of these welds (or lack thereof), they'll be pretty much on the bottom of the pipe and not seen very much / very often ... I'll be much more disappointed if it turns out that this filler rusts. I still don't know.

But, yeah, I'd prefer a nice, complete, linear bead ... as much like the welds Kawasaki achieves when welding the same OEM equivalent brackets to our OEM exhaust pipes. I def don't need perfection, since these welds will be on the bottom, but boy it sure seems like something prettier than what I got should be possible ... ?

Am I correct you've already got replacement mids on the way?

Does your weldor have access to a decent TiG setup? His MiG technique is pretty good... if he feels comfortable I would let him have another crack.

Be very specific when you communicate to him what your expectations are. If he's any good at all he'll either assure of success or bow out and recommend someone else.

That's what my pappy and I always did.

hagrid - Yes, I have a new right side mid on the way direct from Muzzy.

My plan:

1) Bring the OEM right side muffler with me to show the welder what I'd like to see in the way of weld quality (whether it's this same guy again or somebody else)

2) Do a little more 'shopping around' ... talk to more folks to see if I can find someone who gives me confidence that they 1) have experience welding stainless, and 2) they can achieve welds similar to the OEM welds, or provide a reason why it's unreasonable for me to expect that, but at least give me an idea of what I can expect.

Sounds like a good plan.

If I'm seeing inside your brain correctly you need to find a shop with a nice TiG setup. It's the only way you're going to get the aesthetics you're after.

It would help if I could just not care so damn much, but yeah TIG is what I was thinking ever since I saw this vid:

* Last updated by: ZX14R on 11/7/2015 @ 8:22 AM *

It would help if I could just not care so damn much

That right there is what separates people borne of excellence and the rest of the planets population.