Titanium exhaust stock supplier

[fart can]

Can anyone post some suppliers for tubing, U-bends and merge collectors?

I have seen this but its not very useful.

http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/36660664...10360821#46110360821 (http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/3666066404?r=46110360821#46110360821)

[exFSAE]

No idea. But Burns Stainless does Inconel. Would that work or does it have to be Titanium?

Since heat and extended running is generally not an issue with these exhausts on a FSAE car, I imagine this is just for weight?

Titanium tube will be hard to find, bends even harder, merge collectors maybe impossible. But you may be able to get the same weight savings by going with really light gauge stainless or Inconel.

[VFR750R]

Not that it would be new but several bikes come with all titanium exhaust now (CBR1000RR) meaning buying a few used exhaust sets off ebay and cutting them up to get all the bends necessary is, monetarily wise, not a bad idea.

If you're going to weld your own exhaust, you should make your own collectors. wAYYYY cheaper, and you can make them for your application. For collectors, i've even started with sheet and bent it, but titanium may be difficult to do that with.

[exFSAE]

Yea but then you're kinda hosed on picking your header diameters..

[The AFX Master]

Are titanium welds forbidden for 09?.. I was almost sleeping on the final ceremony and a i think i´ve heard something regarding titanium welds

[D Collins Jr]

I'm fairly certain that titanium welds are outlawed (or will be, whenever the Rules Committee gets around to releasing them) for required members. I took that to mean required frame members (side impact, bulkhead, etc). From that, I would think titanium headers would be legal, but who knows, they can always change it in December, right?

[Drew Price]

I remember Mr. Royce saying specifically that for 2009 side impact structures made from titanium weldments would be outlawed, because "...welding titanium is tricky business."

I don't remember him saying specifically that any components other than side impact structure would be outlawed, but we will see when the new rules are released.

Best,
Drew

[The AFX Master]

The side impact stuff was that i didn't hear about.. when i woke up ive heard Mr Royce saying that thing about tricky business..

That competition got us totally tired for sure http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Drew Price]

I repaired our titanium cased Yamaha R1 muffler yesterday. The combination of ignition timing retarded too much, a rigid muffler mount, and vibration from a single split the joint where the muffler meets the inlet tube. Both pieces are titanium.

I used commercially pure Grade 1 rod for filler and a thoriated electrode. I stuffed the red rag into the first baffle plate so that I could backpurge it upright and keep most of the argon inside the muffler case. I hooked a handy piece of 316L filler through the rag so I could pull it out through the tube when I was finished and it had cooled.

I had to use a pretty small lens to get the electrode into the outside corners of the joint where the case dishes in, and the rear of the beads hit some oxygen before it had completely cooled, thus the colorful display. I am pretty confident that it is just surface reaction from when I moved on to the next part of my bead.

I tacked it all up, and then worked my way around alternating sides 3-5 beads at a time, let cool under about a 40 second postflow, then moved on to the next spot.

Album (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2132054&l=decb5&id=2413466)


http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v248/179/125/2413466/n2413466_34230954_7585.jpg

I found this page pretty handy for a quick technical intro:

Tips for Welding Ti (http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/welding-titanium.html)

The observations are all pretty spot on to what I experienced, and it was my first time doing Ti. The filler's tendency to get gummy and stick to the surrounding material took a few times to figure out. The melting point is pretty low, doesn't need much heat.

Like I said, I went 3-5 beads at a time, stopped to let it cool and moved on, and for about a 1.75" diameter tube the actual welding took probably 30-35 minutes. Would have taken 5 in a purge box. It really does weld nice. Almost like stainless, except it gets pretty gummy, but looks very similar.

Best,
Drew