Mechanic's help, (or someone more knowledgeable, lol) exhaust question...
I took the members advice and contacted Paul Yaffe to see if they had attempted to bolt a set of these up. This was their reply:
The upper pipe runs way to close to the Rocker style oil tank.
Could someone please explain the risks involved in running the exhaust to close to the oil tank? I realize the exhaust is hot and that it would heat the oil in the tank up somewhat, but I am unsure as to how much and what issues might arise from this? Will this have an effect on the life of the engine? Is this just a precautionary measure on their part limiting liability on a very small chance of an issue or is this not a matter of "if" an issue will occur but "when"?
Any advice or knowledge on this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance to those that take the time to help me on my quest for knowledge, lol..
big radius no probs yet its kinda a gamble at the moment(the yafee pipes)
at the time of big radius rockers just came out people were fabbing brackets n such
made stuff fit,i happen to buy a bracket from a great dude named GIB
aka"gib bracket"i'd do more research what do these pipes look like?
look like it would be as close as ours(vance n hines )
i ll see if i could round up a pic
yafee pipes on a rock would look PIMP


here is a newer rocker w/ "the vance n hines that fits"

if ya ask me they are both the same & vnhines was coverin thier ****
when the "regular" softail pipes wouldnt fit cuz they were too close to oil bag
Last edited by m i k e; Feb 9, 2010 at 08:26 PM.
catmechanic, thanks for the input and a condensed version of the problem. Can I pick your brain again?
As far as the problem with heat, from what I have read, would running a fully synthetic oil not take away most risks of oil breakdown? I read the following site which gives a detailed breakdown of motor oil breakdown:
http://www.off-road-outdoors.com/Oil-breakdown.html
As far as I understand, running a high grade fully synthetic will withstand a much higher temperature. If I was to run the synthetic and change the oil as often as I would a normal oil under normal circumstances, would that not rectify the issue?
I was also toying with the idea of running a small heat shield with the same contour as the pipes behind it for the length that the pipe runs along the tank. This would cut down on alot of the heat radiating towards it, might not look as good as running it without, but between that and the fully synthetic would that not cover most of the bases? I was looking at something like this maybe?
http://www.heatshieldproducts.com/p_lava_mat.php
What would be involved in running an additional oil cooler? I will do a search on it?
Last edited by Jaxx; Feb 9, 2010 at 11:10 PM.
Putting a heat shield on would be a good way to reduce the radiant heat transfer, but its still something your going to have to one degree or another and there's the problem.
The newer 96" engines already run near enough to the max temps as is. Adding more heat at the tank no less is not going to make things any better.
Changing over to one of the full synthetic oils will help, but only to a degree and I'm not sure its going to be enough to offset what the pipes will induce.
Because even if the synthetic oils can take higher temps. The additives that are put into it to reduce or neutralize the effects of acids caused by the combustion process. Are the same ones put into good old dyno oils and degrade at a greatly increased rate as the temps rise.
BTW have you considered the fact that pipes that close even with a shield could easily cause the tanks paint or powdercoat to char or change color over time?
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Putting a heat shield on would be a good way to reduce the radiant heat transfer, but its still something your going to have to one degree or another and there's the problem.
The newer 96" engines already run near enough to the max temps as is. Adding more heat at the tank no less is not going to make things any better.
Changing over to one of the full synthetic oils will help, but only to a degree and I'm not sure its going to be enough to offset what the pipes will induce.
Because even if the synthetic oils can take higher temps. The additives that are put into it to reduce or neutralize the effects of acids caused by the combustion process. Are the same ones put into good old dyno oils and degrade at a greatly increased rate as the temps rise.
BTW have you considered the fact that pipes that close even with a shield could easily cause the tanks paint or powdercoat to char or change color over time?
Thanks for the good info Citoriplus. I guess between that and catmechanic's response I will have to abandon this one. I don't have alot of expertise on this so had to ask. Looks like the search begins again to find that certain exhaust that really stands out....
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