muffler repair

[cruiserlover]

I had some temporary insanity and almost abandoned my project.I came to my senses.I have an 80 I am trying to get going.I have 2 sets of the 4 into 4 exhausts with mufflers.All the muffler exhaust junctions are rusted through.I was wondering if the muffler metal is thick enough to weld.Like maybe patch with like gauge steel, then put a heat shield over it to hide it.All road dirt and grime splashes up on the joints so i expect it will just happen again.JC whitney has some megaphones that could be put on the header ends, but probably they look cheap.A 4 into 1 would solve the problem sort of,but costs too much.Plus I am going to put forward controls from dime city on there eventually and the mac system would interfere with the linkage probably.Autozone has some muffler tips i could put on the end of the straight headers.But no packing or baffles is too loud.My harley has loud pipes, I hate the noise. I know someone here has had the same problem.Input appreciated.

[Volker_P]

I was wondering if the muffler metal is thick enough to weld.

My mufflers had been patched on the bottom with stainless steel, welded there by a TIG device. Stainless steel can be polished and it even did not look bad then. The junctions are probably more difficult as you have mechanic load there.
So basically the answer is yes, but you need to find out about the actual remaining metal strength around a corroded place.

[cruiserlover]

I was wondering if the muffler metal is thick enough to weld.

My mufflers had been patched on the bottom with stainless steel, welded there by a TIG device. Stainless steel can be polished and it even did not look bad then. The junctions are probably more difficult as you have mechanic load there.
So basically the answer is yes, but you need to find out about the actual remaining metal strength around a corroded place.

Thank you.There is a topnotch muffler shop near here called excalibur.I figured I would take them to him and see what he said.First he would say it would be easier to buy new ones.Of course that isnt possible.Then I would get down to repair like u said.Stainless I never thought of, but that is a logical solution.