The Hodaka Club Forum

I have two of these flame thrower pipes for the Wombat I am restoring. Both of them need to have the head pipes replaced due to rust. Since I will be cutting and welding them, is there anything I can do to improve their performance? Such as cutting the flame thrower off, welding on a stinger, and adding a more modern straight through lightweight silencer? I don't want it to be louder, but thought maybe it could be upgraded a bit. Thanks.
Chris

Sorry to hear the header is in bad shape. Before you do any welding, pull the spark arrestor assembly out of the back of the pipe. Be careful of the circular gasket on the end.

Remove the heat shield and put the pipe on an open flame and cook the insides! You’ll see it smoke, maybe shoot some flames and when it all stops, you’ll be able to tell what’s good with what’s left. Also BBQ the spark arrestor sections which are not chrome. Don’t BBQ the chrome end pieces.

If you can salvage the end of the header with the round nut, do so and you can weld it back onto a new section of header pipe.

I can’t advise you about pipe modifications. There are many out there. But going to a full blown expansion chamber will likely mean resetting and modifying the air intake to make anything other than a stock pipe work well. Good luck! Victor

Hodaka Dave modified a couple Combat Wombat pipes with similar flame thrower ends for me. He cut them off and fit FMF Turbinecore II silencers. Great note. Great performance. Easy maintenance. Fraction of the weight. Good. Contact him. He might be able to help you.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try cooking the pipes and see what I end up with.
Chris