Repairing a Ti can

[waspp]

Coming back from Deals Gap one of the bikes in the trailer got loose and fell into my Rosso Corsa. Fortunatly for him my helmet and Ti can broke the fall of his SV sport. Unfortunately for me my helmet and Ti can broke the fall of his bike! I pulled it apart to start the repair and thought it may be of interest to others so I took a few pics of the inside and how the repar went. I thought of the idea after having most of the work done so no pic of the actual damage but there was a large dent from top to bottom on an angle right by the logo. All I did was drill out the rivets and pull the Ti sleeve out and worked it over with a wooden hammer handle on a piece of 2 inch pipe. Some of the dent popped out initially but the crease was still there and I had to work it for a while using armstrong to smooth it out. Its not perfect but you can't tell unless you reallly look for it and rub your hand along the affected area and feel a few ripples.

 

Hal

drilling out the rivets

all the iside stuff

working the sleeve with a hammer handle

reinstalling new rivets

Done!

[raz]

Good work indeed Now, just do the same with the helmet

[sullvarni]

Thanks for the info,have just dinged mine,wanted to slit my bloody throat when i did it,not paying attention when putting the side stand down"Nuff Said".

 

Will waite till the end of the season to take a crack at it,mines on the inside of the muffler so not to visible,how mechan'icly inclined are you?i'm average do you think i could do it?

 

Thanks Stu.

[sullvarni]

Coming back from Deals Gap one of the bikes in the trailer got loose and fell into my Rosso Corsa. Fortunatly for him my helmet and Ti can broke the fall of his SV sport. Unfortunately for me my helmet and Ti can broke the fall of his bike! I pulled it apart to start the repair and thought it may be of interest to others so I took a few pics of the inside and how the repar went. I thought of the idea after having most of the work done so no pic of the actual damage but there was a large dent from top to bottom on an angle right by the logo. All I did was drill out the rivets and pull the Ti sleeve out and worked it over with a wooden hammer handle on a piece of 2 inch pipe. Some of the dent popped out initially but the crease was still there and I had to work it for a while using armstrong to smooth it out. Its not perfect but you can't tell unless you reallly look for it and rub your hand along the affected area and feel a few ripples.

 

Hal

drilling out the rivets

all the iside stuff

working the sleeve with a hammer handle

reinstalling new rivets

Done!

Dont' know if you saw my question in your post,just want to know how difficult that is to do for an average mechanic,"IE" me,i just dinged mine also,"DAH".

 

Thanks Stu.

[waspp]

Thanks for the info,have just dinged mine,wanted to slit my bloody throat when i did it,not paying attention when putting the side stand down"Nuff Said".

 

Will waite till the end of the season to take a crack at it,mines on the inside of the muffler so not to visible,how mechan'icly inclined are you?i'm average do you think i could do it?

 

Thanks Stu.

 

 

Hey Stu

 

I think you can do it its really quite simple and all you need is a few simple tools. I did fail to mention the packing is held in with some silicone so you need to cut around the packing in between the sleeve with a thin blade or even a piece of sheet metal. This will allow the packing to separate from the sleeve and come out in one piece. Try to pop out as much of the dent with your hand then use a piece of wood to smooth out any crease.

 

Hal

[sullvarni]

Hey Stu

 

I think you can do it its really quite simple and all you need is a few simple tools. I did fail to mention the packing is held in with some silicone so you need to cut around the packing in between the sleeve with a thin blade or even a piece of sheet metal. This will allow the packing to separate from the sleeve and come out in one piece. Try to pop out as much of the dent with your hand then use a piece of wood to smooth out any crease.

 

Hal

Thanks Hal i'll give it a go at the end of the riding season,my ding was under the clamp that holds the muffler so i just polished up a thin piece of tin and put it over the ding,hardly noticable actually.

 

One more thing when you put the packing back in did put the silicone back on and what kind is it.

 

Cheers Stu.

[waspp]

Thanks Hal i'll give it a go at the end of the riding season,my ding was under the clamp that holds the muffler so i just polished up a thin piece of tin and put it over the ding,hardly noticable actually.

 

One more thing when you put the packing back in did put the silicone back on and what kind is it.

 

Cheers Stu.

 

 

Yes i did, just a finger smear around the inside of the sleeve near the end and stuff the packing back in. Any silicone will work I used some high temp orange that i had laying around.

 

Hal

[v11cafe]

Good post

[Joe_V11]

Agreed, thanks for the post and pics. Having just dropped my V11 my right-side Ti can has a nice dent inside under the strap. Nice to know I can take it apart and fix it.

[Dimitris]

Very useful! Thanks. I will surely need it to fix my right side Mistral muffler.

[Tom M]

I had a little fall yesterday and got a nice 8" crease in my Ti can thanks to a rope tied across a friends gravel driveway. I followed Hal's instructions here and got the can to look pretty damn good. I did 2 things different though: I used a 3" PVC pipe to work on and I worked the dent with a large rubber mallet. The rubber end, not the handle. See pics below.

 

Before:

 

 

Of course I had to get my favorite beverage in the shot.

 

In progress:

 

After:

 

 

Thank you Hal!!!

[sullvarni]

I had a little fall yesterday and got a nice 8" crease in my Ti can thanks to a rope tied across a friends gravel driveway. I followed Hal's instructions here and got the can to look pretty damn good. I did 2 things different though: I used a 3" PVC pipe to work on and I worked the dent with a large rubber mallet. The rubber end, not the handle. See pics below.

 

Before:

 

 

Of course I had to get my favorite beverage in the shot.

 

In progress:

 

After:

 

 

Thank you Hal!!!

Yep thats what i did to,bigger pipe and an auto body mallet but if i'd not seen Hals post i woud'nt have had a clue worked out great for me to thank christ,was mortified when i dinged it,men are funny about there toys as in exspensive add on's,no wonder the opposite sex think whe're a little deranged.

 

stu.

[Unkept]

Hey Guys, thread revival!

 

I just picked up a used set of dented up Ti cans. I understand the instructions, but I've never used a rivet gun. What kind of rivets should I use? Sizing? 

 

Also, the finish is inconsistent on my exhaust, some spots are polished while other spots are the "brushed" look. Would a sanding job be able to bring the brushed look back to polished spots? Or should I polish the entire exhaust... although I do like the Guzzi logo.

 

I also thought, doesn't titanium have a lower melting point? If I used a heat gun on the sleeve first, wouldn't it be easier to remold it to shape?

 

Thanks,

Joe 

[Tom M]

Hi Joe,

The rivets are standard aluminum pop rivets sold at any harware or home improvement store.  Sorry but I don't remember the pop rivet size.  I'll check when I get home and try to get back to you this weekend.

 

3M Scotchbrite pads works really well for restoring the brushed finish on the Ti cans.  I used a fine grade gray colored pad and blended in some strap marks perfectly. 

 

The titanium sleeve is very thin and easy to work.  I didn't need to add heat to get the results above.

 

Tom

[stefano]

  tom, although i haven't creased my mistrals yet, (although i've come close) i'll be on the lookout for some harpoon IPA in my neighborhood.

  cheers s