Knuckle head front exhaust header

[Steve Little]

Hi.
I am looking for a front exhaust header for a 46 Knuckle project that I am piecing back together.
Can anyone advise me on a supplier who is doing a nice job of it?

I'm hoping that with all the cnc tube benders in the industry that someone has perfected it by now.

The last aftermarket front header that I tried fitting about 5 years ago, did not have enough compound bend.
I had to get a small ball peen hammer and make a 1 inch long trough to clear the case stud nut.
In order to give the most clearance, I had backed the stud out to the left side of the engine so that there was no excess stud sticking out past the head of the nut.

Also looking for rear exhaust pipe connector for the same bike.
Any help is appreciated

[rdillon]

Steve, I bought my knuckle exhaust from Bob Luland. Worked wonderfully for me. Good luck, Randy

[larry]

Dennis Corso has a good one. Most vendors offer it.

[bikerdds]

Is anyone making 39 knuckle exhausts with the Burgess battery raised letters on it like the originals?

[Chris Haynes]

Is anyone making 39 knuckle exhausts with the Burgess battery raised letters on it like the originals?

The '39 did not have the huge raised letters. They had the Burgess information stamped into the muffler. Basically the raised lettering was in the VL era. Skip Pieper was making wonderful reproductions years ago. As far as I know he is no longer making them.

[Steve Little]

Hi. Thanks for the advice and interesting dialogue into V model mufflers.

Prior to buying my exhaust system, I did my homework and was reading 4 different forums to try and research if there was a good exhaust system on the market.
What became clear, was that many people were having maddening problems with ill fitting reproduction exhaust systems purchased from different suppliers.
At the time, the forum chatter by some people was that one person was manufacturing the whole exhaust system for all suppliers. I don't know if this was true or not.
The rear header was the easiest pipe to fit and it just needed a little bit of shortening on the top end.
The rest of the system took a day and a bit to get it fitting properly.
After initially fitting the supplied reproduction S pipe, I ditched it. I think the bracket was welded at the wrong angle and it was putting too much stress on the other pipes. I rummaged through my spares and found a nice original S pipe.
The front header needed the treatment I listed in my first post.
The hole cut into the Y pipe for the rear header was rough oxy cut to 7/8" diam. I used my die grinder and opened it up fully.
The Y pipe was part of the muffler, but the bends in the Y pipe lacked the compound bend and it fouled on the front kicker cover stud, forcing the whole assembly out.
This made the muffler fin lay out about 10 degrees. I made ½” deep clearance for the kicker cover nut with a ball peen hammer.

I need two sets of Knuckle headers, 2 x S bends, 2 x Y pipes.
Don,t feel confident...