EMT conduit exhaust?

[Kpi890]

I’ve seen a few posts here where people are extending their pipes down and out the back near the tire with EMT electrical conduit exhaust. I was wondering if anyone had an instructional on this? I have never bent conduit before but I know the benders are inexpensive and I have a pretty good grasp on my welder these days. My plan was to chop off the stock exhaust a few inches from where it bolts on and run conduit down and out the back and then weld on the stock muffler to the other end. Add a hanger or two and be done with my dirty exhaust running away from the bottom of my bike where it gets all over the rear tire and kickstand.

 

[Arty]

Just be careful welding the conduit. It is normally galvanized, thus gives off nasty fumes when welding, so have lots of fresh air to breathe, and grind off all the zinc coating around the weld areas.

 

[Kpi890]

Just be careful welding the conduit. It is normally galvanized, thus gives off nasty fumes when welding, so have lots of fresh air to breathe, and grind off all the zinc coating around the weld areas.

Yea I use a chemical respirator at all times when welding anything... not a lot of old welders out there for a reason . Also run a fine extractor in my shop.

 

[Arty]

Good on ya Kpi890 - Obviously you don't need any welding tips.

 

[Timbone]

EMT conduit is good for welding. It's very easy to bend and it can take lots of heat for a good weld penetration. Excellent for exhaust connectors. You could weld up a fine frame with it. Yeah, it's covered with zinc which is not good for you. Weld in an area that offers good ventilation. If you really want to eliminate the zinc altogether, dump your piece in some muriatic acid. The zinc will be gone in a few seconds.

 

[Kpi890]

Good on ya Kpi890 - Obviously you don't need any welding tips.

I didn’t mean to come off like a know it all or anything! I was just trying to portray that I’ve been a hobbyist in metal fabrication for about 10 years and what you said is extremely true and it’s good for people to read more than once on the forum!

 

[Kpi890]

EMT conduit is good for welding. It's very easy to bend and it can take lots of heat for a good weld penetration. Excellent for exhaust connectors. You could weld up a fine frame with it. Yeah, it's covered with zinc which is not good for you. Weld in an area that offers good ventilation. If you really want to eliminate the zinc altogether, dump your piece in some muriatic acid. The zinc will be gone in a few seconds.

Yea I haven’t worked with welding EMT really much at all I know it’s thin wall so lowest heat possible while still having good penetration however I am having the hardest time finding any posts of guys bending and welding it for exhaust applications anywhere throughout the forums. There is just such a tight amount of clearance around my engine and pedal/frame area I am struggling to find a good spot to route the pipe to get it out the back.

 

[Frankenstein]

Emt reminds me of fence posting, you know like the metal type that has replaced a section of exhaust pipe on my grandfather's truck. That stuff takes a weld and kills you at the same time just like anything galvanized should. I don't see you having problems using it and I wouldn't hesitate to use it myself, especially if the price is right!

Low amps and stop often enough and you shouldn't have a problem with blow through, probably easier to bend than stock muffler pipe (which took a lot of effort even after bringing it to cherry red) think you can probably bend it with the big tube bending tools that sit in the same aisle.

4 inch wide trees and a good moving strap (or chain and cardboard padding) make a decent bending tool if you have the willpower.

 

[Kpi890]

Emt reminds me of fence posting, you know like the metal type that has replaced a section of exhaust pipe on my grandfather's truck. That stuff takes a weld and kills you at the same time just like anything galvanized should. I don't see you having problems using it and I wouldn't hesitate to use it myself, especially if the price is right!

Low amps and stop often enough and you shouldn't have a problem with blow through, probably easier to bend than stock muffler pipe (which took a lot of effort even after bringing it to cherry red) think you can probably bend it with the big tube bending tools that sit in the same aisle.

4 inch wide trees and a good moving strap (or chain and cardboard padding) make a decent bending tool if you have the willpower.

Okay so I just went ahead and bought a 10’ section of 3/4” EMT and a 3/4” conduit bender today. The pipe was $4.70! Lol and the bender was $38 which I thought was steep and a ripoff until I got home tonight and tried it out! Hell, outside of using the bender for my current exhaust application this darn thing is awesome! Started to YouTube videos of how to use a conduit bender and man o man these folks have got it down to an exact freaking science it’s incredible! I cut the 10’ section in half just to start messing around with 5’ of it. I started off with a 90 degree bend and just kept setting it up against the bike and marking locations and bending more so on and so forth. I will post some pictures tomorrow but it is rather difficult to find a sweet spot of where you can route the exhaust... around, under, or over the pedals and crank? I just keep setting it against the bike and bending small amounts at a time until it starts to look right. The bender is amazing and does exactly what it needs t do as long as you do the research on how to use the tool it’s dummy proof and kinda fun to see how quickly you can get it from a straight pipe to really close to what it’s going to end up looking like. Still trying to figure out how I’d like to route it around the crank/engine area to clear the pedals? I have a double leg kickstand on the bike so I can’t really go directly underneath the downtube and kick out to one side and up after the pedals are clear since it would run right in the middle blocking the kickstand.., suggestions welcome! I’ll post some pics tomorrow of where I’m at with it right now (which feels really close honestly) and see what you guys think. Also, I’m wondering if instead of using and cutting the stock muffler manifold could I just make my own manifold bracket from steel with my plasma cutter and drill the necessary sized holes? Not sure which would be easier. And lastly, is there a way to temporarily get this all setup and relatively air tight so I can test it before making it permanent i.e. welding it all up? Is there a decent clamping method for 3/4” conduit where it meets the muffler at the back and engine manifold bracket at the front?

 

[Frankenstein]

Okay so I just went ahead and bought a 10’ section of 3/4” EMT and a 3/4” conduit bender today. The pipe was $4.70! Lol and the bender was $38 which I thought was steep and a ripoff until I got home tonight and tried it out! Hell, outside of using the bender for my current exhaust application this darn thing is awesome! Started to YouTube videos of how to use a conduit bender and man o man these folks have got it down to an exact freaking science it’s incredible! I cut the 10’ section in half just to start messing around with 5’ of it. I started off with a 90 degree bend and just kept setting it up against the bike and marking locations and bending more so on and so forth. I will post some pictures tomorrow but it is rather difficult to find a sweet spot of where you can route the exhaust... around, under, or over the pedals and crank? I just keep setting it against the bike and bending small amounts at a time until it starts to look right. The bender is amazing and does exactly what it needs t do as long as you do the research on how to use the tool it’s dummy proof and kinda fun to see how quickly you can get it from a straight pipe to really close to what it’s going to end up looking like. Still trying to figure out how I’d like to route it around the crank/engine area to clear the pedals? I have a double leg kickstand on the bike so I can’t really go directly underneath the downtube and kick out to one side and up after the pedals are clear since it would run right in the middle blocking the kickstand.., suggestions welcome! I’ll post some pics tomorrow of where I’m at with it right now (which feels really close honestly) and see what you guys think. Also, I’m wondering if instead of using and cutting the stock muffler manifold could I just make my own manifold bracket from steel with my plasma cutter and drill the necessary sized holes? Not sure which would be easier. And lastly, is there a way to temporarily get this all setup and relatively air tight so I can test it before making it permanent i.e. welding it all up? Is there a decent clamping method for 3/4” conduit where it meets the muffler at the back and engine manifold bracket at the front?

Well, when it can't go under it goes over, plenty street bikes have a muffler within a foot of the seat where you put your butt. Just wrap it if you get too close, look up the Bulldog exhaust you see for these bikes, it goes up and lays along the seat just below it, wrap is almost necessary if you want a comfortable ride.

Pedal clearance is the b**ch but it's part of these bikes, just think about what you think you like best and try to make it work. Nothing wrong with physically cutting the pipe to make a harder bend and just welding it, most of the time I do that, not even a week ago I helped turn a straight piece of seat tube into a nice bent muffler pipe using the same cut and weld method, sometimes that's all you can do.