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Mindis V7-850 Mods

Louisv97 said:
have you thought of doing carbon tips on your mufflers? i think it would be the cherry on top.
Click to expand...
Quit planting more stuff into my head! 🤣
I thought of making other carbon fiber parts, but them parts are getting too hot... I use West System resin for most of my parts but with heat composites become soft and flexible. Too much heat and resin burns to crust and leaves just a loose cloth. Ugly... Now that ya mentioned, I'll have a look if I'll like some sort of carbon fiber "condom" on them mufflers or smth. It would have to be either vented somehow with flow through between a sleeve and a muffler or insulated. Either way I'd have to source out different resin for it to be heat resistant'ish... I don't think I want my mufflers to look thicker than I have now but we'll see:)

...look what ya did, ima gonna have a sleepless night now...LOL
 
Oh boy, I got myself more work with that exhaust than I thought LOL
As I wanted a smoother bend, I went for 5deg pie cuts. That's a ring at 2.5deg each side, over 60 rings, over 120 welds for both exhausts...



I can even replace my nose ring to a bigger one :)



Before cutting rings I measured precise width but after cleaning/sanding/deburring (that took for forever) they all became a wee bit smaller so now I'm short on few rings and have to cut some more. There's a lesson learned here, it's how I gain my knowledge lol
Was too late to make noise at night so I started tacking whatever rings I had:

 
DeadEye said:
What did you use to cut all the slices ?
Is that plain steel or Stainless ?

And look at all the Great Welding practice you'll get !!!
Click to expand...
After this I bet I'll be a TIG pro! :D
Not stainless, general mild steel. Before wrapping I'll see if I can find somewhere locally to powdercoat with high temperature satin black.
I got a miter saw and 80 tooth Diablo blade on it. I already spent hours of cleaning cuts and deburring, ordinary cut off disc would've been an absolute nightmare...
 
Mindis said:
After this I bet I'll be a TIG pro! :D
Not stainless, general mild steel. Before wrapping I'll see if I can find somewhere locally to powdercoat with high temperature satin black.
I got a miter saw and 80 tooth Diablo blade on it. I already spent hours of cleaning cuts and deburring, ordinary cut off disc would've been an absolute nightmare...
Click to expand...
Why not go with a ceramic coating and forgo the wrapping. In damp climates would the wrapping not trap moisture and cause hidden corrosion? I've never used wrapping so just asking.
 
kildareman said:
Why not go with a ceramic coating and forgo the wrapping. In damp climates would the wrapping not trap moisture and cause hidden corrosion? I've never used wrapping so just asking.
Click to expand...
I made up my mind on wrapping, it'll happen:) Partially for the looks, partially because pie cut bends will not be as smooth as mandrel bend tubes and wrapping will hide those little breaks in a bend. I sure do understand that wrapping traps moisture, and even when I don't ride in wet weather there still might be some. That's why I'm coating it before wrapping. I haven't look for any shop that does it yet, nor researched what type of coating lasts longer. Either way, full exhaust will not fit in my oven so me doing myself is kinda out of option...
 
Sure, I'll tell my landlord that I'm starting cooking 4 feet size pizzas so I need a bigger oven LOL
If I has space I'd probably buy an oven and sell it after :)
 
Since I got my own thread now, I'll be posting progress as I go:)
Got a bad dose of flu earlier so things aren't moving as fast. No, it wasn't a man-flu, it was the real deal LOL
I welded rings in sections and added straight pieces where needed. I did only rough sanding for now but I'll finish before marriage with headers and mufflers, it'll be less hassle than sanding a complete exhaust.
It starts at the headers at 36mm ID, thickens at the part where I'm planning to weld a cross member, and thickens again to 42mm ID to meet muffler's diameter. Also in the picture is welded DB killers, I'll weld them in permanently just before mufflers.



Checking the fit. Looks like I can make it a wee bit tighter to the frame:)

 
Cross member:



Tacked in place. I had to not just tack it but weld it as much as I could reach, to make sure it can come off as one piece without moving apart:







Dammit!!! It doesn't fit in my oven!!! lol
If it would be shorter just an inch I would've made it work... oh well...

 
You are the first Lithuanian I know but damn Mindis, if most are like you, I’m truly impressed.

Your tenacity and skills are just something I never grow tired of following.

I take my hat off to you again.

That’s BIG BRASS BALLS to fabricate an entire head to tailpipe SOLID exhaust setup. I wouldn’t even attempt that.

Truly, I’m surprised that you haven’t bought an old working oven off Craigslist and cut up the box and extended and welded it out to size. That would not surprise me one bit!

“Impressively Mindis!” That’s what this fabrication to me is. That’s my new moniker for you.

PUBLIC NOTE: Drink his beer, just don’t eat the roast at Mindis’ house! It tastes funny, like motorcycle parts…can’t imagine why…
 
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Flush mount gas cap. Since I won't need original one anymore I decided to modify it rather than making one from scratch.
Took it apart:



Cut 1mm carbon plate ring and a flat piece to cover key lock space. Before covering I made sure I have holes not covered to keep the cap vented as it is originally:



Bordered sides, ready for carbon fiber chop strands:



Cured blob:



Sanded to shape and edges notched for tightening grip:



After a second resin coat it looks super smooth and shiny. That's not sanded and polished after, that's just resin on a well prepped piece :)



I could've just left that cap being shiny coz I liked it a lot LOL But everything is satin on the bike and I intend to keep it that way. I usually spray some satin clearcoat on my carbon fiber parts, but after half a summer some areas started pealing off a bit. That exposes actual carbon fiber and it becomes not as sealed anymore. The proper way to seal it is to add 2-3 thin layers of resin without sanding down to actual carbon fiber but I was too impatient at the time coz it takes 48hrs for each coat to fully cure... I'll have to fix some of my other parts later, lesson learned...
So to achieve that satin looks I'm after I just wet-sanded the cap with 1K grit sandpaper. It looks a wee bit different "shine" then with satin clearcoat on but close enough. It's the part that's gonna be touched all the time so clearcoat would've peeled of very quickly anyway.



Let's raise the bar for "flush mount" :)

 
scottmastrocinque said:
…and he’s off! Again…😆

I’m afraid what Mindis would do to his motorcycle if we got him really really drunk.

I smile wildly when my mind wanders and I envision him like Caratacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, when he’s working away madly in his workshop, only to have the great reveal of his craftsmanship!

If this video isn’t Mindis to a tee, I’m a monkey’s uncle!

I do so enjoy Mindis’ adventures. He has giant brass balls and super mad skills. I’m always impressed.


Click to expand...

You really hit the nail on the head Scott. After watching that again, that is exactly what I imagine he is like. I gotta get up to CR for a visit with him this spring. What kind of beer do you like Mindis?
 
Back to my exhaust... It was painted a while ago:



And when I started wrapping I realized that I miscalculated the length when ordering fiberglass tape... I wasn't planning on wrapping cross member but as I don't have enough tape now then might as well wrap it. Either way exhaust wasn't gonna be mounted for good until I make my center stand (which I'm working on atm) but due to Holidays there will be some delays...

Since I ran out of propane to heat my tent I went wrapping it in my kitchen, it's -5 C in my tent...

 
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