New 5th/6th/8th gen performance header now in production in USA

[ScottieDucati]

They are most likely 180 degree cranks like the VFR, NC13-NC24 had 180 degree cranks, NC30 & 35 had 360 degree (like the RC30/45 and early VFxxxF). 
 
Of course they could have later motor swaps or crank/cam swaps.  IDK if the earlier engines are compatible with the later parts though.

They are not.


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[boOZZIE]

18 hours ago, sfdownhill said:

Hi MBrane - if wade sticks to his commitment to hand over completed headers next Thursday, we can set up a time for you to pick up yours. If the 5/8 gen muffler fitment exercise hasn't yet taken place, bring your pipes, and we'll see how things line up.

 

 

This is prototype 2 packed and ready to ship to VFRD member carlgustav in Alabama. Once again I am confronted by my poor before-and-during photo-taking habits. That significant hunk of cardboard is 36x16x16" to allow minimum 2" on every side of the headers for protective packing material.

 

Do you have the boxed weight aswell.

I need that for some quotes on int. shipping.

I think those dimensions are  good, from memory max. was 95cm x 44cm x 44cm

[sfdownhill]

I weighed it at a Postal Annex shop - 7.3kg / 15.9 lbs

[GreginDenver]

pictures of the parrot helping with the packing process?

[WackenSS]

I weighed it at a Postal Annex shop - 7.3kg / 15.9 lbs

And how much of that is just steel?

[MooseMoose]

3 hours ago, WackenSS said:

And how much of that is just steel?

On 1/24/2019 at 7:22 PM, sfdownhill said:

 

Prototype with springs and O2 sensor bungs: 9.5 lbs 4.3 kg [again, only if my conversion math is correct]

  

 

 

[VifferJ]

On 3/14/2019 at 12:28 PM, sfdownhill said:

3 - We have an 8 gen loaner in our sinister clutches. Monday Duc2V4 mounted new tires while I installed speed bleeders and new brake/clutch actuation fluid to get  acquainted with the 8 gen - neither of us have one [Yet]. We will be installing a PCV on the 8 gen. One of the production run 5/6 gen headers will be converted to the 8 gen by modeling the curves of the 8 gen front primaries. Wade will build a prototype, then we'll do a baseline and dyno tune April 6.

Oh my, this is getting exciting! 

 

Sorry if I missed it, but has price been determined yet for a gen 8 header? 

[thepretender]

That big pile of headers is beautiful don't ship them weld them together and make one big statue 🙂 

[HighSideNZ]

From the figues listed for the package size and weight, this is the approximate cost to get one to New Zealand.

this is in NZ$

 

[VFR750F3]

Not to beat this like a dead horse what was the thickness of the 42mm exhaust gasket? 3 or 5 mm see article below.

 

https://www.kzrider.com/forum/2-engine/560972-81-kz1000-csr-m1-exhaust-gaskets-needed

[MiniCarver]

Just a heads up. delkevic has the 42mm gaskets back in stock now.

[Mac Morgan]

I have a feeling that the oem bent flange shownin the photo above is probably the result of overtightening the the exhaust nuts. The torque is only 9 lb.ft. 

 I’ve had my headers off a number of times for jet hot coating and a failed attempt of fitting Delkevic’s version 1 ss system. Their fixed front down pipes weren’t inline with the exhaust ports and the 2 rear pipes wouldn’t fit into the collector. If anyone’s interested, pm me. I’ll sell them cheap!

A note about the 6mm exhaust port studs and nuts. It’s possible/probable that one or more exhaust nuts will permanently attach itself to its stud resulting in the removal of the whole shabang! No matter what I tried, I could not unscrew the nut from the stud. Put anti-seize on the stud/nut assy to save future hassles.

[interceptor69]

In one post it was reported the 42 mm crush gaskets were not on Delkevic's website but in a much later post there was a link to a page of different gaskets, and there was a 42 mm gasket. I don't want to order the wrong gaskets- Is this the correct gasket pictured in the link?

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[MiniCarver]

4 hours ago, interceptor69 said:

In one post it was reported the 42 mm crush gaskets were not on Delkevic's website but in a much later post there was a link to a page of different gaskets, and there was a 42 mm gasket. I don't want to order the wrong gaskets- Is this the correct gasket pictured in the link?

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk
 

https://delkevic.com/copper-gasket-42-mm/

[sfdownhill]

I apologize for the delay in posting updates - Duc2 V4 has been responsibly reminding me that header related things are happening and those who have purchased headers or placed deposits have a right to know.

 

The photos and brief details in this post will be supplemented with further information once I get to a peaceful place with a slower pace - the airport tomorrow.

 

Shipping - Duc2V4 and I discovered that the USPS Retail Ground shipping rates we quoted are only available in person in a US Post Office, after standing in line and filling out forms by hand. Luckily, Duc got busy with his corporate Fedex account and his careful cross-checking found that he can ship Fedex for about the same as the bargain basement price of USPS+insurance. With Fedex, specifying the package value establishes a coverage amount, so the headers shipped Fedex will be covered.

 

First shipped headers received - VFRD member carlgustav received prototype 2 headers today and we traded texts on fitment to his 6 gen [Prototype 2 was constructed and tested in January] . His install is looking good, but will have to wait until after a family celebration this weekend.

 

8 gen dyno day rescheduled - I made a mistake in thinking that the objective of last Friday's visit to Wade's shop was to produce a working 8 gen prototype. I was wrong - the actual objective was to fabricate a tacked-together 8 gen header from which Wade could build a jig, as he did with the original Two Brothers headers.

Temporary tack welds to hold assembly together:

 

I am nodding off, so will pick this up again tomorrow.

 

5/6 gen production headers are paid for and have been picked up - we visited Wade last Friday, counted up the 22 headers with various bung configurations, paid for them, and loaded them up into the rig to bring then home:

 

Second objective last Friday was check bung placement. Wade correctly observed that whether they were right or wrong, all the bungs were already done. Nevertheless, I test fit a 3-bung set of headers on our 5 gen fitment bike and all 3 bungs ended up their proper places. Here is the rear bung placement [Please pardon the accumulated rust and crud on the chain and center stand - this bike's rehab is off in the future a bit]:

 

And here are the front two bungs:

 

 

[HighSideNZ]

Looking good.

One thing that people may need to be aware of is the bottom O2 bung is quite level so you need to make sure it cannot get and hold water vapour during start/warm up, especially when being warmed up on the side stand.

[WackenSS]

Looking good.
One thing that people may need to be aware of is the bottom O2 bung is quite level so you need to make sure it cannot get and hold water vapour during start/warm up, especially when being warmed up on the side stand.

That's really good information!

[MadScientist]

3 hours ago, HighSideNZ said:

Looking good.

One thing that people may need to be aware of is the bottom O2 bung is quite level so you need to make sure it cannot get and hold water vapour during start/warm up, especially when being warmed up on the side stand.

 

Yeah, I was concerned about this too when I saw it.  I think it will be ok, but I can't say for sure.  Some of the pictures look worse than others, but the one looking forward from the rear tire edge (picture 5) is reassuring.  The lower O2 sensor appears to be above the pipe midline and at a slight downward angle toward the tip, even on the sidestand.  It is close either way, that's for sure.

 

Standing upright, it looks like there should be no issues.  Just have to be careful with left lean until the exhaust is warmed up.  Also, don't fill the exhaust with water when washing...

 

 

[sfdownhill]

6 minutes ago, MadScientist said:

Also, don't fill the exhaust with water when washing...

Then how are we supposed to get the inside of the pipes clean?

[WackenSS]

Then how are we supposed to get the inside of the pipes clean?

Water/meth and wot, easy...

[MooseMoose]

4 hours ago, sfdownhill said:

Then how are we supposed to get the inside of the pipes clean?

Italian overhaul. Hop on a freeway onramp and run it up to the rev limiter.

[boOZZIE]

16 hours ago, HighSideNZ said:

Looking good.

One thing that people may need to be aware of is the bottom O2 bung is quite level so you need to make sure it cannot get and hold water vapour during start/warm up, especially when being warmed up on the side stand.

More angle on the next batch?

[sfdownhill]

Last night's snoozefest continued:

 

5/6 gen production headers went to the passivators this week and will be ready to pick up end of next week. DucV4 and I have arranged to have a box-building and packing party as soon as we get the headers back, so shipping will take place April 22.

 

8 gen headers are under construction - Wade says we will have a working example ready for final fitment and the dyno at the end of next week.

 

The first objective on the 8 gen headers was to build a mockup set of headers from which he will build a jig [fixture] like the one he built around the original Two Brothers headers. This process was easier on the 8 gen than it was with the TBR, because the TBR were rare and sacrosanct - under no circumstances were they to be damaged. To build this mockup, Wade was free to cut, tack weld, sew, test fit, stitch back together, add length, change bends, etc. At his shop last Friday, he was making lots of sparks, loud metallic screeching sounds, and generating the smell of very hot metal all day [After disassembling the 8 gen, I hung around and kept busy with test fitting 5/6 gen headers to confirm bung placements].

 

Item #1 on his list was installing the upper rear primaries, and right off the bat, spacing didn't look great; they were too far apart from each other, and they ran into hard parts of the 8 gen. Part of this turned out to be the thick OEM crush gaskets that I neglected to remove - the gaskets were pushing the new primaries out of alignment. Most of the problem was caused by two other fitment/engineering conflicts we ran into. First, the 8 gen rear primaries are of much smaller diameter tubing and cross over each other before turning downward to where they merge. The left rear primary of the new headers, with larger diameter tubing and no crossover, runs into the inner heat shield - this is the curved sheet metal piece that resides between the left rear primary and the shock absorber. On the 8 gen fitment bike, we temporarily removed this piece. Second, the brake hose from the ABS controller to the rear caliper comes into contact with the new headers. We temporarily removed a bolt that holds two hard brake line fittings together so we could scoot the hose over - without disconnecting - and install the new rear primaries.

 

Refresher note:

8 gen OEM left and right rear primaries merge with each other, and 8 gen OEM left and right front primaries merge with each other.

 

5/6 gen OEM [and new performance headers] left front and left rear primaries merge with each other,

5/6 gen OEM [and new performance headers] right rear and right front primaries merge with each other.

 

Note the gussets Wade added here [and other places visible in other photos] to maintain spacing during assembly.

 

Radiators off to start on the interesting part: crafting the front primaries. Here you can see the 'starter tubes' Wade made and installed into the front exhaust ports.

 

Note visegrips holding a spacer in place:

 

 

The collector exit was somewhat less trouble.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the 8 gen single OEM bung and O2 sensor are 12mm, not the 18mm fittings we've found with 5/6 gens and Bosch wideband sensors.

 

Here is a nut tacked into the OEM bung location as placeholder:

 

 

Everything was starting to look good, until we installed the fitment Staintune slipon and found it too far to the left, which meant the front end of the headers was misaligned. Think of the vertical sections  of the rear primaries [at the slip joints] as the center of a pivot; if the rear of the the header assembly is too far to the left - and it was - the front section of the assembly needs to be cut and reformed to bring the rear into alignment. Wade doesn't get phased by adjustments like this, he just chops off the offending appendage and gets busy making his mockup correct. In this case, cutting off the front pirimaries and realigning them correctly pivoted the assembly around the rear primaries' slip joints and the whole assembly came into front-center-rear alignment.

 

Somehow this pipe looks good on any bike.

 

That's it for this update. I'll do 6 gen dyno day results in the next post.

[sfdownhill]

2 hours ago, boOZZIE said:

More angle on the next batch?

Yessir - more angle on the next batch fersher.

 

It's a bit frustrating because I have OEM 6 gen headers and measrued their bung locations carefully. I put the OEM 6 gen headers in Wade's hands and specified that the two bung locations on the new headers' secondaries match the OEM. I'm in Texas [Yes for COTA motogp!] so won't be able to check the 6 gen headers until Monday night, but dang, I swear these new header's bung locations match OEM.

 

For the sake of those of us who don't yet know:

 

What problems are caused by water collected on and around an O2 sensor?

 

 

[boOZZIE]

Increased wear/shorter lifespan. 

They can handle some water/moisture as is evident on cold morning start ups with drops of water coming out the exhaust.

Ideally the sensor should be on the top but that's not possible or practical to get at. So if they can be clocked around a little, that's all good.