Exhaust pipes

[rick anderson]

Hello, I would like to know when Harley-Davidson stoped brazing or "silver soldering" there exhaust pipe flanges to the connector pipes and started welding them on.
I have seen examples of both methods. I have only seen the welded flanges on genuine oem replacement pipes from the late sixties or later.
That being said, my question is, would a pipe with welded on flanges be factory correct for a 65 FLH or could both methods be correct?

[rbenash]

Rick, I have a 65 with stock exhaust. Frankly I can't tell. I believe mine are welded, but not sure frankly.

[jorrow]

1965 exhaust

I have an nos late 1965 exhaust piece. Apparently there were two types that year, early and late. Both are entirely different. I have numbers for both. I have pictures of both types nos. The early is nonexistant unless you get really really lucky. The late is what we are used to looking at ( the squish and y pipe braised or welded together). If anyone needs to see these let me know. I too have seen both braised and welded examples of the late model as well. I agree that later 60's factory replacements were welded.

[rbenash]

In addition in looking at the one piece squish/connector pipes that started in 1965. There are two versions listed. One for single and the other for dual exhaust. Part numbers I'm referencing are 65538-65 (dual exhaust) and 65539-65 (single exhaust).

The 1958 to 1965 parts catalog I am referencing does not actually display these parts in the blow up drawing. I'd like to know what the actual difference is with the parts.

Reason I ask it that my 1965 had an original dual exhaust system with that single squish/connector. The original fishtail mufflers had been removed and "updated" with newer version AMF style mufflers. While looking for a set of fish tails I first found a single extra quiet so removed the right/left (crossover) rear exhaust pipes and installed the single piece rear exhaust pipe to temporarily convert to single exhaust until I found another fishtail muffler.

When I made that conversion the single rear exhaust pipe mated perfectly to the one piece squish/connector that was part of the dual exhaust system

So I cannot figure out based on this experience what the difference is between 65538-65 (dual exhaust) and 65539-65 (single exhaust)?

Can anyone shed light on this?

[jorrow]

Ray, there were actually two designs that came out in 1965, neither of which were used on 1964 and back. Both designs had a single and dual set. (I know this sounds confusing but bear with me). EARLY 1965 design was a TWO piece y and squish pipe (similar to 1964 and back). The UNUSUAL part of this early '65 set was that we have a male squish pipe #65465-65 fitting into a female y piece ( normally we see the opposite; see figure 1). For some reason this design was deleted shortly after early 1965 and not produced again. There was both a dual exhaust (long y piece) # 65506-65 (pictured) and a single exhaust(short y piece) #65505-65 available for this first design. You COULD use the long y version for a single exhaust, but you HAD to use it for the dual because the left side exhaust and muffler had to be longer to clear the primary cover, and you DO want both sides to be the same length! The factory probably equipped the singles with the short pipe version (cost?) ...Anyway the chances of seeing this EARLY version on a 1965 today is extremely rare as they were replaced within the year by the second version ONE piece type 1965 (squish and y pipe welded or braised together) and NOT replaced on the dealership shelf. (But I have a picture of an NOS set figure 1).
The second version is part# 65539-65 (single exhaust shorter one piece) and # 65538-65 (dual exhaust longer one piece, see figure 2). These are what we normally see on a 1965 today as any remaining version 1's have probably dissentigrated. The 1958-1965 parts book lists ONLY the early version and you can see the female y pipe in the book drawing (slots on intake end) under the dual setup. The 1958- 68 parts book lists only the solid one piece (squish and y together) under CONNECTOR # 50, 51. BUt fails to show us a revised picture. The version # 1 part numbers have been deleted from this book. WHEW...I hope this helps you and answers your questions. If anyone wishes to add to or correct this info please e mail me. jeff

[jorrow]

To answer your question, (sorry), when the factory went from single to dual exhaust, they found out they needed about 3 more inches of pipe on the right side to even up with the left side that had to clear the primary cover. jeff

[T. Cotten]

A separate "Y" and "squish" pipe allows for installation and removal with a sidecar frame in place. A welded combination pipe will not.

Did the Factory make this distinction in production of hack units? Or police issue?

...Cotten

[jorrow]

I'm really not sure about that one...lol..I can't imagine them doing anything out of convenience though... I already have to deconstruct half the bike to get to anything...jeff.