Dented Delkevic!

[Bill Seward]

I replaced the clutch slave cylinder on Godzilla a couple years ago. I thought the bike was well supported on the jack, but sadly it fell off... The only damage was to the right muffler, it got a big dent on the inside, where the bottom of the shock absorber hit. I took the muffler apart, but the stainless steel is pretty strong, and the dent will not come out. Fortunately the dent is not very visible from the outside, but it still pisses me off when I see it. Here's my idea on maybe how to fix it, any opinions on the idea are very welcome ..

Drill out rivets and gut the muffler.
Insert a deflated football.
Inflate football to pressure needed to pop out the dent
Reassemble everything.

Any suggestions on this admittedly screwy sounding plan?

 

[DirtieGirtie]

I think the only thing I would add to your step-by-step directions would be to deflate and remove the football. It'll run like shit with no flow through the muffler like that.

 

[Fire-medic]

The megaphone isn't just a shell, there's a perforated tubing inside. That won't allow you to insert the football bladder. Some sort of a custom spoon is what would probably work, that and an oxy-acetylene torch. Hammer and dolly the heated metal with a lead faced hammer, I guess.

Sean had a post where he dissected a complete OEM megaphone exhaust, to show the resonator, too. Do a search for that.

Ah, forget it, I see you're using a Delkevic. Still, I think a rosebud tip to heat the metal case, and a shaped spoon would allow you to dolly it out.

 

[02GF74]

I don't think the football will exert enough pressure for that, but who knows.

If it is stainless steel, I would try to weld a bolt to the centre of the dent and use a bar with a hole that would allow the bolt to be pulled. Photo below shows such a tool that uses glue to attach the puller bit but I doubt glue will hold. Once out, and the sides the tool rested on have not caved it, the bolt can be ground off and the surface polished.