TiForce Exhaust Crack

[dsmith78]

Thanks to record 80 degree days in the northeast I've been able to ride to work this week. Long story short when I bought my Buell back in 08 the previous owner had installed a Ti Force exhaust. While loading the bike into my truck to take it home the muffler was scraped and dented slightly on the bottom. Fast forward to today I take her out on my lunch break and instantly I can hear she doesn't sound right. Its sounds fairly normal with this really loud echoing hissing noise thrown in. I turn around get back to work and I start looking around and find were the muffler case had been dented is now crack pretty badly. Does anyone know what the material the muffler casing is? I know its a "Full titanium exhaust" but most descriptions say its Titanium aluminum and stainless. I'm hoping it may be just an aluminum case and can be welded back up. If not can I replace just the muffler from Ti Force? Can i even buy just the muffler? I've been searching Google but I'm having no luck even finding a full Ti system for sale let alone just a muffler for the Buells. Any info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[albert666]

is the muffler skin welded or riveted?

 

[dsmith78]

It is riveted. I did find on their site that the muffler is titanium and aluminum but not what parts are what.

 

[onelogue]

Post a picture

 

[dsmith78]

So after I got home I was able to inspect it a little more closely and its pretty much fooked.You can see the dent in the picture and it looks like it stated there. Looking at the fracture the only thing I can think of that would cause this is it being cold (38-45) in the morning heating the exhaust up riding to work and then it cooling down quickly once I arrive at work and the metal in that area being compromised already caused it to just let go and cause a stress fracture. Opinions, suggestions, advice I'm open to any and all things. I've been looking online and I can t find anyone at this time who is even selling the exhaust. Just for reference the longest one there is probably 5-6 inchs long. Didn't link to post something next to it when taking the pics

Pic 1

Pic 2

 

[BuellSki]

If it's titanium. To weld it it needs to be in a full argon environment and you cant let it go above I wanna say 150 degrees. Titanium doesn't take much to become rotten and weak when welded. If it's aluminum it's a simple fix. But I've never seen titanium break like that. So I'm leaning toward that it's aluminum. Being a professional pipe welder that has an extensive knowledge on all metals. I would say bring it to a fab shop or a welding shop and see what they say. But if you have a grinder and a small piece that you don't mind grinding on. Aluminum sparks are a redish orange and very soft. Titanium is a bright white and very hard.

 

[Miami78]

Dude, that sucks...I have the ti force headers and have looked all over for a ti force exhaust, they are no where to be found...

Another option would be to have a custom exhaust made for you. And if you want to go with regular headers/exhaust I'll buy your headers from you! I badly need another set of the pair of last sections of header tube that goes into the silencer. Seriously, if you want to go another route let me know and we can work something out!!

 

[dsmith78]

I'm really not sure what I'm going to do yet. I emailed TiForce looking for help finding distributors or buying the muffler direct. Long shoot I know but had to try. I'm going to take the muffler off this weekend and take it a fab shop and see if it can be saved. If not I'll see if they can fab up a new case out of aluminum since it is riveted on and replace the case. I'll let you know though and if I cant salvage it I'm sure we can work something out.

 

[albert666]

Being a professional pipe welder that has an extensive knowledge on all metals.

buellski man you should be able to tell its Ti then,
ally wouldn't crack like that plus look at the colour,
Ti doesn't necessarily have to be welded in an argon chamber, yeah for aerospace work etc it does but you can get away with a decent gas coverage on something like an exhaust, but dsmith78 that thing is knackered, a reskin is the best option, shouldn't be too much hassle

 

[dsmith78]

Thanks albert666. Yeah a re-skin is pretty much the way I was heading. Any metal fab place should be able to handle making a new skin out of aluminum I'd assume?

 

[BuellSki]

No not necessarily argon. But it's gotta be pretty much 02 free. You could use helium also. But I build nuclear submarines. I can weld it all. I was just putting my .02 in.

 

[neomac3444]

Ok guys ill throw my .02 in here too since Im a Welding Engineer and deal with Ti and Al a decent amount.

Ti and all of Ti alloys have to be welded in an inert environment BuellSki is correct. Therefore argon is common since it is cheapest. Helium is expensive and actually creates a hotter arc so on thin materials like that you dont want to use it. Aircraft industry actually uses vacuums to get all "Air" out of the chamber for a better weld. Now Ti is only allowed to get up to 500F then you have to cool it while it is in its inert environment now that also does depend on what type of Ti it is. If you are gonna get someone to weld it make sure they have welded Ti before and something that thin. You would want to use TIG and they better be good depending on thickness. Since you can just metal it all away.

I cant tell if it is Ti or not you can tell more by the type of fracture and how the grain structure looks. If it is Al then it will be more coarse, Ti is a fine grain metal and has a tight grain structure. If you got a close up picture of the edge of the fracture then you could tell better. I would guess its Ti since thats what its supposed to be made out of. If its Ti im guessing its made out of Ti6Al4V.

Let us know what you do.

 

[Bairframe]

neomac hit it on the head. I work in aerospace prototyping and work with and weld Ti regularly. So listen to what the man said.
Also small scratches and carbon (think pencil lead) in or on titanium, when heated and cooled repeatedly, can cause fractures like you have in your exhaust. Welding it is only a bandaid and more than likely will further the cracks in the future. Do yourself a favor and either get a new muffler or get a piece of 6al4v and re-skin it.

 

[dsmith78]

Thanks everyone for the feed back and help. I was only going to weld it up if it was 1) a small fracture 2) Aluminum. Since I'm SOL on both fronts I'm planning on re-skining it with aluminum. I'm taking it to a metal fab shop on Monday to see what they can do. Anyone every have to re-skin/repack there muffler before? Anyone have and tips or trick to look out for? It seems strait forward enough.

 

[albert666]

i work in motorsport engineering, headers and exhaust systems specifically, plus i make buell exhausts from home so i've made and repacked a fair few, just gotta have a look inside see whats in there, i use a stainless wire wool wrap then a single strand matting which is less prone to breaking down and blowing out of the tailpipe.