V & H Sidewinder Megaphone *REPAIR*

WOW!! What a way to make a customer happy. Ok, it's time to move on with this repair on your own.
I'm with ZukDave on this one. I thought I posted these pics in your thread, but I found them in a header comparison thread down the hall.
Their response about the rubber isolator kind of blew the factory rubber mount theory to he!!.
First off, the point of repair will need to be stripped of all ceramic. I'm sure you know this, but I will state it for GP. Don't grind the ceramic off, blast it off, or chemical strip it. You want the pipe as slick as it is now so the coating will look uniform once you re coat it.
Once stripped, carefully remove the factory mount by cutting through the welds just enough to get the mount off. Then dress the welds down to the pipe surface, being careful not to nick the pipe outside the area you will be mounting the sub plate. Ceramic isn't a high build type coating like regular high heat paint is. You're only dealing with a .001-.0015 thick coating so it doesn't hide imperfections very well.
I'd go with the same thickness plate as the mounting tab that you are going to use. 14 ga. would work well. The one on it looks like 12 ga just looking at the pic. The megaphone should be 18ga. Like ZukDave mentioned two gauges thicker would be 14ga.
Here is a pic of how Bassani did theirs back in the day. All the mounting tabs and the sub plate are brazed on. Hope this helps and gets you back in the game.

Zedone wrote: 4, Are you running struts? I'm thinking that all the road vibes your picking up (without rear shocks) may be contributing to your problem.
Maybe you can install a rubber heatproof grommet at the frame, the kind like on our battery boxes, rear tail, ect. I'm surprised the V&H dude didn't even ask you about it. I have not heard of many issues with the sidewinders failing.... its usually the V&H megaphone pipes that have fitment issues (major as of late).

Crappy customer service for the amount of money that company hauls in. :blink:

this was well thought out....as the bike before I got it was a strut bike and road like a steam roller....I bet that megaphone took a beating at the mount.....this really made complete sence to me.

Did you ask how much a new collector was? Were you talking to California or Indiana ?

APE Jay wrote: Did you ask how much a new collector was? Were you talking to California or Indiana ?

I did ask if it was repair or replace...he said to re-weld the collector and go.

Well its a Ohio bike. I know the header is 10+ years old as I have seen pictures dated to that time....and that the bike had been beat on hard by the last owner. I think header held up good for a strut bike and poor mounting. The repair should give me another 10 after welding.

I have a bead on a X pipe....tring to work out deal on it.

When you go to reinstall it make sure the meg is loose where it attaches to header then tighten that clamp last so you dont put the header in a bind causing it to break at its weak link which happened to be the rear mount,Id also make sure motor mounts dont have any play in them

Well

I just noticed mines cracking also.
I was going to look up this thread tonight.

After looking at how mines cracking I'm
thinking it's frame flex causing them to crack.
Under power the motors moving around and twisting
the hard mount megaphone clockwise tearing the mount.

Well .... welcome to the crack party Dave....

The material that these are made out of is way to thin....dont know if they did it to save weight or they were cheep as hell....so cheep as hell is my thoughts.

I would say that this weld area failed in a high percentage under testing. Its a shame that they arent built to last.

When I talked to V&H they knew of the problem. One year with receipt please was their answer....

Thats ok, I can fix mine since I choose to go black....but if you have a chrome one....then you might be a bit pissed off hacking up the chrome and having rust issues afterwords.

And -- significantly enhances ride quality by eliminating transfer of muffler vibration to frame.

Good Fortune!

Patton, definately the way i think of doing it, anything solid and rubber works, old car radiator mounts, stock mount etc.

I personally dont know why vance and hines doesnt recommend, frame flex alone would put strain in that area that nobody could honestly ever be able to notice

The finished product.....not the best look with large plate, but fixed for good.

Will have it Ceramic Coated again...