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Why be straight when you could be twisted? | |
Unfortunately for you procrastinators, the very last set of spaghetti headers at California Cycleworks has been sold. I understand Nichols Mfg. still has one left. Once that one is gone you may be out of luck. Unless.... We could get 25 more people and arrange for another run, right? Right! OK, I know you're thinking that it took 10 months to do this the first time around and the fanatics already have theirs. However, top secret agents are currently working on making the spaghetti fit on the Monster 900. If this project succeeds, it will allow a whole NEW group of fanatics to sign up! Hot diggity!
While we wait for the report to be declassified, drop Chris a line if you're "just looking." If enough people show interest in this goofy idea we may have to make it work just out of sheer cussedness.
The spaghetti headers come in two parts. There's the main bulk of the
system, which includes the spaghetti "ball" and the header for the
horizontal cylinder, and a separate header piece for the vertical cylinder.
Slide the original exhaust collar and the "cone" onto the vertical header.
Stuff the old metal gasket back into the manifold, and slide the header in
after it. Push the collar over the head studs, followed by a pair of the
little "tab thingies" that come with the headers (these provide an attachment
point for the springs), followed buy the original washer and nut. Don't even
think about tightening it down yet. Now do the same thing with the main
part of the header system and the horizontal cylinder, only this time be sure
and align the vertical cylinder header with the rest of the system. The
vertical cylinder piece will slide into the rest of the system pretty far.
About 1 1/2 inches (4 cm). However, that last 1/2 inch will be a bitch.
There's not a lot of room to wiggle everything back and forth, but be patient
and you'll get there. I don't recommend whacking it with a hammer.
You should now have something that looks like this. Get all your nuts finger
tight and make sure the two header pieces are fully seated. Some of you
will end up with the pipe to the vertical cylinder touching the back of the
engine case. Some of you will end up with that same pipe almost all the
way back at the swingarm (as I did). So long as you're not rubbing the
swingarm, you should be OK. You may encounter an interesting problem with
other clearances though...
On my bike, a previous mechanic had accidentally reinstalled the solid arm
for the rear brake caliper on the outboard side of the engine bracket instead
of on the inboard side where it's supposed to go. You'll have to move it
back to the correct side or your headers will NOT fit. I puzzled over this
for several minutes before I discovered the problem. Next, slide your cans
into the headers and align them with your hangers. With everything a little
loose you can now tweak this and twist that to make it all fit well. I'm
one of those rare beings who actually likes the look of the stock turn
signals. The high-mount pipes should rest just under them when you're done.
I have a little less than a 1/4 inch clearance. Once
you have everything the way you like it, tighten it all up.
Now install all the springs. There should be one where the two header pieces
connect, one where each can connects to the headers, and two at each exhaust
collar (which connect to those little tabs on the head studs).
At this point, do yourself a favor and go over your new exhaust system with
a rag, wiping off any fingerprints. If you don't, those prints will become
permanent the first time the system gets hot and bakes 'em on. On the other
hand, maybe this could be a good theft-tracking device. (Check out the legs
on this guy!)
Now make a
recording of the bike with the spaghetti exhaust and pipe baffles
in place. Then, yank those silly baffles out and make another recording
without the baffles.
Then go ride! Vroom vroom vroom!
Special thanks to Chris "Ducati God" Kelley for making this possible, to Brett for letting me make a lot of noise in his garage for the last three days, and to Bill for helping me tinker with the flywheel.
| Quick comparison: |
| stock exhaust |
| spaghetti exhaust with pipe baffles |
| spaghetti exhaust raw |
Termignoni spaghetti exhaust systems (when you can find them) run about $2400. As they said in the movie Used Cars, "That's too fuckin' high!"
Fast By Ferraci used to make spaghetti headers for the 900SS as well, but no longer. However, they DO still make them for the Monster S4, so if you have an S4, good on ya.
I heard a rumor that BOS makes a spaghetti header, but I couldn't find it on their website.
There's a German company, B-N Pipes, that also "makes" spaghetti headers (pictured). They're charging 1600 to 1800 Euros for the header pipe. As of October 1st, 2003, that's equivalent to $1880 to $2100 US. And the real clincher about this deal is that B-N's spaghetti headers are actually made by Staintune and then marked up!
So why not cut out the middleman and just get your headers from Staintune? The item is discontinued, but for a short time you can get them again.
That's where Chris Kelley comes in.
Chris "Ducati God" Kelley has worked out a deal with Staintune. They'll make up a batch of spaghetti headers for the 900SS, but only if we order a crate full of units. Cost is $749 per unit. This deal is for the header unit ONLY. You'll still have to buy your own cans. The header pipes will accept cans with a 3mm larger-than-stock diameter. However, unless you want to spend all your free time welding, you will have to buy a set of Staintune spaghetti mufflers. Take a peek at Chris' site for the lo-down. Prices for the cans are here. The low-mount cans will bolt right on. To mount the high-mount cans you'll need to get a pair of Superlight-style high-mount hangers.
Just imagine how pretty YOUR 900SS would be if you had these high-mount
stainless spaghetti mufflers aboard...
...or these low-mount stainless mufflers...
...or these high-mount carbon fiber mufflers. Zowie! (I've recently heard
from Chris that Staintune will NOT be making any more carbon fiber spaghetti
mufflers. If you can find some, go for it, but if not, the stainless cans
will have to do.)
Look at this poor guy. A little bit more lean and he's going to drag that
pipe right into the tarmac. A nice, Staintune spaghetti header would solve
that problem. You also get improved exhaust flow, not only due to the
increased diameter of the pipes, but also
because the pipes from both cylinders will now be of equal length. Doesn't
that sound nice?
Rob Allen recently submitted this photograph of an anonymous rider who
low-sided his '98 900SS FE at Laguna Seca in turn 11 on May 31st of this
very year. Here are the rider's own words about this incident:
"The last moment of sanity before the rider suddenly found himself
sliding along the track without a bike. Spaghetti headers would have
allowed him to complete the turn, amazing the R1 rider he'd just passed!"
Couldn't have said it better myself, not-Rob. I hope your "source" didn't wad up that pretty bike too badly.
So what's it sound like? Staintune spaghetti high-mount stainless exhaust
Will a spaghetti header increase your power? I'm no expert, but my Mom
always said that spaghetti provides healthy carbs.
Here's a chart from a 944 Superlight running 39mm Keihins and a Termignoni
spaghetti system. There is a slight improvement in power above 8500 RPM,
but since that's right at the red line on a 900SS, the difference is fairly
meaningless. On the other hand, we don't know what the "old" exhaust
system was that this is compared to in the graph.
If the old exhaust was some high-performance system,
then at the very least we can say that the
spaghetti system is, at worst, somewhat better at the top end than the
previous exhaust system on this bike.
We know the old system wasn't stock though, because anyone with a stock 900SS
can tell you that at 8000 revs you run into a brick wall and power drops
precipitously. With the spaghetti system on your bike the engine can breath
again. It's kind of like steroids for an asthmatic engine.
Also, keep in mind that this dyno run was with a Termignoni spaghetti system, not a Staintune spaghetti system. In any case, the bike is making 86 horses! That's 14 more than stock. (Many thanks to Steve for finding this chart! And many MANY thanks to Gary Johnson for providing the bike, and Doug Lofgren and Manley Cycle for running the dyno!)
Got more charts? Send 'em along.
This chart may not tell us a lot, but think about riding your own 900SS for a minute. When you're really working the bike you know you hit a wall at 8000 RPM. This is because the engine can't breath anymore. Put this exhaust system on your bike and you're going to be able to make real, usable power in the upper rev range.
When I did my bike I also installed flatslide carbs and a lightened flywheel. The bike pulls MUCH harder now. This is most likely due to the carbs, not the exhaust system, but I can say that she'll run right up to 9000 RPM now without hitting the wall.
"Yeah, they look great, but I'm a balls-to-the-wall racer and I don't add anything to my bike that weighs more than 2 grams." Honestly, I have no idea what these things weigh. Since they have a wider diameter than the stock pipes, there should be more material (and thus more weight) per inch of pipe. Rumor has it that they're comparable to the stock exhaust. Are they lighter than your Arrows or Termignoni or FBF or ART or non-pasta Staintunes or Two Brothers or whatever else you might be running? I don't know. If someone out there knows what these headers weigh, I'd love to hear from you.
Will they fit on your '99 and up 900SS? I don't know. I've never seen them on a newer 900SS. But I've only ever seen about three newer 900SSs in my life. You'll have to ask Chris about that one. My suspicion is that they won't fit on the newer model though. If they did, they probably wouldn't be so hard to find.
Will they fit on your Monster 900? Secret agents are exploring this possibility right now. Stay tuned....
If these things are so damned wonderful, why doesn't Staintune make them anymore? Ducati doesn't even make the 900SS anymore. I don't know this for a fact, but it's a pretty good bet that the market for this particular header is a bit smaller than it once was. Staintune has more profitable things to do with their time than hand-weld one of these babies everytime some idiot like me takes a fancy to them. That's why they're willing to make them for us IF we order twenty-five of the things.
Where do you get Superlight-style high-mount hangers? Nichols Manufacturing makes a set that should work, however you won't find them on their website. Send them an email and ask about it. Alternatively, you can get stainless or carbon fiber mounts from Ducati Kaemna, but take a valium before you look at the price tag. 155 euros equates to about $175. (Thanks for the link, Mark!) Lastly, Chris is commissioning a run of about 20 sets made out of stainless. He's planning on $69 to $79, but that may change depending on how much his welder charges. Contact Chris for more details on that one.
Staintune pipes are made in Australia. Isn't it appropriate to have pipes from Down Under down under?
Please direct all questions, comments, compliments, and insults to me here. You can reach Chris Kelley by simply hopping over to his site: www.ca-cycleworks.com
Thanks for visiting!