Very true, Bill. Well I've just spent the last 3 days trying to quieten it down. I can honestly say, what a turd of a job! The megaphones were empty of any baffles that I could see, except for a 6mm thick "washer" welded (poorly) into the tail pipes, maybe to increase the back pressure?
K0 bitsa Monday 22 Mar 2021 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Now my first instinct was to remove the washers, which were tack welded into the back of the pipes, but it was too much of a PITA, so I decided to "Bore them out" instead, so that I could fit a length of perforated exhaust tube wrapped in fibreglass exhaust packing and somehow secure it to the exhaust. I have a huge 6-60mm step drill which is really only meant for mild steel, aluminium etc, and I found out very quickly that the "Washers" were more than likely stainless steel. the holes were around 25mm, and to take them out to approx 50mm, it took around 2 hours for the first hole, which included my big arsed Bosch drill occasionally grabbing and rotating 180 degrees, almost breaking my wrist, and at one stage crushing my right thumb betwixt the drill and the bike's rear wheel rim. Fcuk it hurt.
Fake K0 Wednesday 24 Mar 2021 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Not my worst injury ever, but the fcuker throbbed for the rest of the night. Due to my medical issues, I can't take anti inflammatory drugs, but in this case I made an exception, Tramadol wasn't working, so I found some Celebrex capsules and took one before I went to bed, and in the morning it was only sore.
Next day I cut a piece of perforated tube, used a hole saw and my poor suffering step drill to make another "washer" from 3mm plate, and tack welded them together.
Fake K0 tinkering 23 Mar 2021 6 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I wrapped it in the fibreglass packing, and as the outer hole was very tight, wrapped it in masking tape so I could get it thru the hole.
Fake K0 Wednesday 24 Mar 2021 2 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Now my cunning plan was to drill and tap a couple of holes through my "washer" and the "washer" that was welded to the pipe, but after breaking my tap drill, I settled on 4 x 5mm long pop rivets instead. I could have welded them, but not knowing how the "baffles" would effect the performance or sound, I wanted to be able to remove them again if needed. I also slopped in some Wurth high temp silicone sealant to help reduce any vibration, rattling etc, as a rattling exhaust is a fools frustration, according to Maxwell Smart, from memory.........
Fake K0 Wednesday 24 Mar 2021 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
So that was one side. The next day (yesterday) I had to drill the hole on the left side. By this stage my step drill was so blunt it took almost 4 hours of drilling, grinding, sanding, weeping, swearing, gnashing my teeth and more weeping, until I'd achieved the aim. I cut another washer, (by now my step drill was almost dead so I had to enlarge the hole in my lathe, then welded it to another piece of tube, wrapped it in fibreglass packing, and shoved it up the hole. I bent my first 5mm drill bit which pissed me off, but I had another one, and managed to drill the holes, slopped in some more high temp silicon sealant and did the pop riveting thing.
Fake K0 exhaust 23 Mar 2021 3 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
I cleaned it with acetone, which immediately found every cut on every finger, then I sprayed some good old Rustoleum satin black on the new baffle plates to camouflage my redneck rework. I fired it up, and was happy with the result.
Thank God for that. I've just ordered another big arsed step drill, but I hope I never have another job like that, it wasn't just mind numbing, it was painful. Apart from my thumb, I almost broke my wrists several times when the bit grabbed and spun me and the drill around @ 500 revs. I was so tempted to just forget about it and buy another Delkevic, but I kind of like that old 4 into 2, so I persevered, and am happy with the result, but never again.
I did take it for a sneaky ride around the block at lunchtime, and discovered several other issues. It has either loose or buggared steering head bearings that are very obvious when you apply the (now working again) front brake, and a rear brake that jams on when you apply it, and won't release until you rock it back and forth for a few minutes, what a PITA. Of course both tyres are absolutely shot and there wouldn't be 10 psi in either of them, so it was a very cautious ride, but I did give it the berries on the straight sections a couple of times in 1st and second, and it's got plenty of power, so that was good.
I had more parcels arrive for the K2 bitsa, so I moved some bikes around between showers (it's been raining on and off all week) and parked the old rat in the garage so I had some space to work on the bitsa. More later.
Fake K0 exhaust 23 Mar 2021 4 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
