You find a set of old vintage 4 into 4 pipes with baffles on FB. They have been there for a number of weeks so even with shipping they are bought at a decent price. When they arrive fitment is great "EXCEPT" there is no rear mounting brackets and they would probably be fine with just the spout clamps but there is some movement. You spend a few hours looking for some type of ready made bolt on clamp but it finally comes down to you have to make something. Digging through your old parts bin produces two bolt together three piece chrome 1 1/2 inch clamps, left over from long forgotten project and probably not used because in general bolt together clamps tend to be problematic to say the least. Some aluminum strips are located hidden behind the stand up tool box and the thinking process begins. After the clamps are disassembled and the cut down, the drilling and tapping starts, kind of assembling on the fly. You find most of your drill bits are duller than an accountant convention, (yes I can say that because my Daughter is a CPA) and your tap and die set is of course missing the fine thread 1/4 tap you need after spending $14 bucks for the stainless button head bolts and nuts. After multiple trips to the hardware store, several failed designs, some new tools thrown in for good measure, and what I thought would be a couple hour job turning into most of the day, damnit, I have exhaust pipe clamps. You know what, I did curse some, but I enjoyed every minute of the process. It is a good feeling to make your own, but if you add in the hardware store bill, gas, and my time, the clamps probably cost a hell of a lot more than the ones on Ebay.
Next up, researching how to do block off the chain oiler, sprockets and drive change arrived today and I had forgotten about that feature on the earlier models. Probably have to make that too...
