Aftermarket mid pipe dent / damage from low sided, how much effect on performance and sound?

if anotherside has perfect shape, does it screw up the balance of the air exhaust flow?

Car, little dent is not huge issue from my personal experience....

Thanks

 

Take it off, fill it with water and throw it in the freezer for a day. The center of the slug of water will have to be right where the dent is. As the ends freeze they plug the pipe and the 10% expansion of water to ice raises the pressure in the pipe. It'll take that dent right out. Unfortunately you'll have to live with the scratches.

 

I know this is an old thread but it got my interest. I had a bent mid pipe and figured I'd give the ice method a try and post a few pictures in case someone wanted to give it a go.

The pictures of the "Bent_pipe_x" show the damaged pipe. There are a couple large dents and a substantial crease at the elbow on the muffler end of the pipe. The crease changed the angle of the pipe so much it not only made it impossible to remount the pipe, it made it useless for the exhaust shop to use as a template when making another.

 

The "Plugs_x" pictures are of the expansion plugs I picked up from the auto parts store. They are < $4 each and do a good job of sealing the end of the pipe. I'd insert the plug into one end of the pipe and tighten the nut until no water would leak out. Then tighten it just a bit more to keep it in place else the expanding ice will push the plug out too easily.

 

The pictures of the Better_pipe show the improvement after a half dozen or so freeze cycles. After each freeze cycle I'd take the plugs out and let the water thaw/drain before refilling with more cold water. That way you fill the "larger" pipe completely.

 

As others have mentioned this approach works but you have to be careful not to push it too far. At some point I imagine the pipe would split. You can see in one of the photos where the last freeze cycle actually began to swell the area just before the muffler end elbow (the end with the ring tab). It managed to completely push out 2 of the big dents, got rid of the crease at the elbow on the muffler end and greatly reduce the dent size at the header pipe end.




My goal wasn't to use the pipe again, but as a template to give the exhaust guy when bending a replacement. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to put it back on the bike in its current condition. The small dent near the header pipe end is around a 1/3rd its original size and is small enough that I doubt it would greatly affect performance. When mounted, the dent would be hidden from view as it would be facing toward the shock linkage.

Thanks to all who provided the info for me to try this.

 

It came out looking pretty good for something that was so fuxtored when you started.

 

I was really surprised by how much of the damage was "corrected" but just using ice. That said, I LOL at the thought of people trying to pop the dent out of the lower bend on the front header pipe. Too big for the home freezer. There was always an excuse for not putting the pipe outside this winter so the only other real option is one of those commercial freezers found in a restaurant. Wonder how many times you'd have to eat at a place before they'd let you use their freezer?

 

I just did this on my left D&D low mount midpipe and I worked...PERFECTLY! There are still scratches and it took four freezing cycles to get the plugs to stay in place, but there are no more dents or flat spots. Process comes with carbon removal, free of charge! I might just try it on my dented high mount this douche sold to me: https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=21589

 

Not sure what your problem with Jay is, but this thread probably isn't the best place to verbalize it.

 

I have exploded two 2 stroke pipes in the last few years doing the ice / dent deal. It works, but as mentioned, you can easily split a seam... and even burst a non seamed pipe.