- Joined
- Mar 30, 2014
- Messages
- 2
Hello, my name is Tom and I am new here.
I have a 1975 850 Commando "Electric Start" that I acquired from a buddy in 2006. It runs well, but the exhaust pipes / "headers" are pretty rusted. I found some Interstate pipes some years ago but put them on the shelf when I realized they were not compatible with the Roadster style exhaust system. The bike has the Bean Can mufflers / silencers, owing to my desire to keep it as original and new as it (and I) was in 1975.
On the bike now is a set of "balances" headers / exhaust pipes. The fin nuts are literally locked onto the pipes, as if someone had taken a plumber's "flange" tool and widened the pipes after inserting the fin nuts onto the pipe.
Three questions:. (Best anwer gets you a beer if you live in the Baltimore/D.C area,)
1. Can I cut the extra "bend" off the Interstate pipes and use them for the Roadster mufflers/set up, or should I just sell them and start over? When I hold them up to the existing system, they seem to match up pretty well. (I have heard the 75 pipes have an extra bend to accommodate the "fung shway"/brake/shifter transition)
2. It appears that the OEM balanced pipes used "split collets" rather than the crude set up I have now. Does the split collet set up require the use of a shorter finned nut, or can I use the existing nuts, which appear to be taken from an "unbalanced" system? In this regard, I noticed the following post by RVICH a year or two ago:
"Just to clarify, the unbalanced pipes (750 pipes) have a flange that fits the exhaust port and you slide the nuts on from the muffler end. Because you can't slide a nut on from that end on a balanced pipe it has to have a different arrangement, thus the split collet and the shorter finned nut."
3. I have an extra Bean can/mkuffler/silencer with the what appears to be the original "Norton" Insignia on it and the painted black end. Th PO, my buddy "Crash", wrecked the bike and dented the left side can, so I bought a left side muffler. When I go into it, I realized the other can was all rotted out (brake fluid?). So I bought a pair of aftermarket bean cans. Does anybody want to buy the orginal one from me? You can have it for what I paid ($75 bucks on E-bay) plus shipping. Free delivery on the DC to NY corrider as I am a transplanted New Yorker and get back to the Big Apple as often as I can).
My Younger daughter is goin to law school next fall and I really need to raise all the extra cash I possibly can. Tuition today (compared with mine in 1981) is absolutely criminal. I should ride the motocycle into the Dean's office in protest.
4. Reliability and retention of original equipment are much more important to me at this stage of life than "performance." (Whcih is exactly what I tell my doctors. btw). I realize that the balanced pipes and the bean can set up are viewed as "slower" than straight pea shooters, but I am in no hurry to get anywhere at this stage of my life.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.
I have a 1975 850 Commando "Electric Start" that I acquired from a buddy in 2006. It runs well, but the exhaust pipes / "headers" are pretty rusted. I found some Interstate pipes some years ago but put them on the shelf when I realized they were not compatible with the Roadster style exhaust system. The bike has the Bean Can mufflers / silencers, owing to my desire to keep it as original and new as it (and I) was in 1975.
On the bike now is a set of "balances" headers / exhaust pipes. The fin nuts are literally locked onto the pipes, as if someone had taken a plumber's "flange" tool and widened the pipes after inserting the fin nuts onto the pipe.
Three questions:. (Best anwer gets you a beer if you live in the Baltimore/D.C area,)
1. Can I cut the extra "bend" off the Interstate pipes and use them for the Roadster mufflers/set up, or should I just sell them and start over? When I hold them up to the existing system, they seem to match up pretty well. (I have heard the 75 pipes have an extra bend to accommodate the "fung shway"/brake/shifter transition)
2. It appears that the OEM balanced pipes used "split collets" rather than the crude set up I have now. Does the split collet set up require the use of a shorter finned nut, or can I use the existing nuts, which appear to be taken from an "unbalanced" system? In this regard, I noticed the following post by RVICH a year or two ago:
"Just to clarify, the unbalanced pipes (750 pipes) have a flange that fits the exhaust port and you slide the nuts on from the muffler end. Because you can't slide a nut on from that end on a balanced pipe it has to have a different arrangement, thus the split collet and the shorter finned nut."
3. I have an extra Bean can/mkuffler/silencer with the what appears to be the original "Norton" Insignia on it and the painted black end. Th PO, my buddy "Crash", wrecked the bike and dented the left side can, so I bought a left side muffler. When I go into it, I realized the other can was all rotted out (brake fluid?). So I bought a pair of aftermarket bean cans. Does anybody want to buy the orginal one from me? You can have it for what I paid ($75 bucks on E-bay) plus shipping. Free delivery on the DC to NY corrider as I am a transplanted New Yorker and get back to the Big Apple as often as I can).
My Younger daughter is goin to law school next fall and I really need to raise all the extra cash I possibly can. Tuition today (compared with mine in 1981) is absolutely criminal. I should ride the motocycle into the Dean's office in protest.
4. Reliability and retention of original equipment are much more important to me at this stage of life than "performance." (Whcih is exactly what I tell my doctors. btw). I realize that the balanced pipes and the bean can set up are viewed as "slower" than straight pea shooters, but I am in no hurry to get anywhere at this stage of my life.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you may be able to render.
:wink: so you must be on good terms with the universe whilst undertakeing the endevour .
