'78 KZ1000 makeover

Canada Post hasn't mis-handled anything that I have received. You gotta worry about the USPS though. You should have seen the box that my exhaust came in. I wish that I had the foresight to take a picture at the time. If anything ever looked like it came from the Uni-bomber, this was it. Tony had that thing duct taped into a mis-shaped trapezoid sort of thing.

I should have updated this a little sooner, but I've been busy with work and kids I got my -new to me- header a week or so back. I was happy to see that the underside of the primary tubes/collector was nearly damage free One small crease in the underside of the #3 primary tube, but I can live with that! Still, interesting configuration for oil filter access..

The collector O.D. is 2.5" with a cute mount for the slip fit muffler. Note the funky texture- the seller stated the exhaust was sandblasted.....but this is a rough texture, and looks weird!

Here the construction looks kinda cheap- 2 small rivets hold the muffler core in place

The core hase a Kerker-esque look to it, but not the quality of a machined aluminum end cap like a kerker comp baffle

Adam, I'm serious that I would die to know if you find any info on this exhaust. It's not the exact same configuration as mine but you have some striking similarities. The headpipes are just like mine where they meet the head. The collector is the same. The tailpipe connection with the header is exactly the same down to the dual steel rings for a cross clamp. Also the longitudinal hanger bracket on the tailpipe is the exact same as mine. Also, my baffle was held in by two cheesy rivets at a 90* angle just like this pipe. And mine came from Canada as well. We need to find the origin of this pipe. I guess that you have been busy. No updates for a good while now. This should be good news, right?

Back to the surface finish. At first I though the entire exhaust had been sandblasted, like the seller stated, to remove surface rust, and that the unusually rough texture was a result of rust pitting. I thought it was odd though, that the finish was even all over the system. Then I noticed a "chip" in the texture, indicating a coating:

I took a sanding disk to the coating, and it is metal...at least it grinds shiny like metal. I have never sandblasted chrome, so can anyone say this looks like sandblasted chrome?

It looks like blasted chrome to me, Also, your baffle looks just like mine..

No recent updates is good news, in fact I worked the last 12 days straight :woohoo: I don't enjoy giving up my weekend to work, but I'll take it when I can get it! Of course, the last couple weeks have been rather cold (it snowed in L.A. last weekend!) for SoCal, so I was reluctant to spend any time in the garage anyway.

I don't think Mac made a header style like this one Josh, but you're right, the similarities are peculiar. I do think they made a megaphone muffler like this one though, which makes me wonder if perhapes someone mixed and matched :huh:

Now that I have a working tig welder, I did a little more practicing with titanium. These coupons are the same .015" material I was practicing with before, the only difference is this time I had a foot pedal that works :woohoo:

again, an autogenous weld (no filler metal added). Whaddya think Leon? If I can mush this stuff together, you wouldn't have any problem :woohoo:

looks like some nice welding to me,are you going to make a header?

Thanks wireman, but it's nothing compared to the quality of experienced welder would produce. As can be seen in the photo, I ran a bead on the other side as well and you can see the chalky white oxidation that severely weakens the weld. To do it right I need to protect the back of the weld with shielding gas just like the front. To answer your question, YES, a Ti header is a goal of mine