quaipau
Automotive
- Jun 10, 2019
- 1
Hello everyone, and greetings from Germany! Please excuse my somewhat rusty English.
I’ve been reading this forum for a while and now I have a question for you. I’m sure I’m not getting any better advise anywhere else.
I have a small project starting up. Goal is to make long lasting parts for motorcycles which have been mostly forgotten by their manufacturers.
Pilot project is a small simple piece for a Honda CN250 scooter. 250cc, 19HP, nothing hot. The part is the actually quite short header joining the head and the muffler.
Originally it is a carbon steel part made of a flanged tube, 77mm (3”)in length, held in place by a bent thick plate welded to the tube.
Searching for a manufacturer some questions have come up, for which I could use some help.
I’d love to offer exhaust parts in stainless steel. The muffler, project nr. 2, is easy enough to get done this way. But the header’s thermal profile is quite extreme. I’ve been offered three methods for building the part, none of which is identical to the original, as well as different materials:
1. SS plate, rolled, formed and welded. Quite labour intensive. Material: pretty much anything I’d like. Closest in form and function to the original.
2. SS CNC. Not as expensive as I expected, but by far the most expensive. Beautiful. Pretty much any material I’d like.
3. Inverted casting. I never expected it to be so cost effective. Materials: 410, 304, 316 and 316L, probably others if I ask nice enough. Part is completely different from the original, thicker walls (at least 1/3), I can do a gorgeous design around this method.
I’m sufficiently familiar with the first 2 options, but casting baffles me a bit. Are there any obvious issues with cast SS Headers? Brittleness is something that worries me, but I have no experience with stainless steel castings. Is there any obvious choice in material? My clients are willing to pay for a part that will last, so that is the priority.
Thank you all for your help!
Paul
I’ve been reading this forum for a while and now I have a question for you. I’m sure I’m not getting any better advise anywhere else.
I have a small project starting up. Goal is to make long lasting parts for motorcycles which have been mostly forgotten by their manufacturers.
Pilot project is a small simple piece for a Honda CN250 scooter. 250cc, 19HP, nothing hot. The part is the actually quite short header joining the head and the muffler.
Originally it is a carbon steel part made of a flanged tube, 77mm (3”)in length, held in place by a bent thick plate welded to the tube.
Searching for a manufacturer some questions have come up, for which I could use some help.
I’d love to offer exhaust parts in stainless steel. The muffler, project nr. 2, is easy enough to get done this way. But the header’s thermal profile is quite extreme. I’ve been offered three methods for building the part, none of which is identical to the original, as well as different materials:
1. SS plate, rolled, formed and welded. Quite labour intensive. Material: pretty much anything I’d like. Closest in form and function to the original.
2. SS CNC. Not as expensive as I expected, but by far the most expensive. Beautiful. Pretty much any material I’d like.
3. Inverted casting. I never expected it to be so cost effective. Materials: 410, 304, 316 and 316L, probably others if I ask nice enough. Part is completely different from the original, thicker walls (at least 1/3), I can do a gorgeous design around this method.
I’m sufficiently familiar with the first 2 options, but casting baffles me a bit. Are there any obvious issues with cast SS Headers? Brittleness is something that worries me, but I have no experience with stainless steel castings. Is there any obvious choice in material? My clients are willing to pay for a part that will last, so that is the priority.
Thank you all for your help!
Paul