[68TR6R]

My current exhaust headers are getting pretty paper thin, and I’ve had to weld the front brackets back on several times. I bought some “correct” ones, but they were cheap and aren’t profiled very well. Anyway, I like the style of headers that are on it. Does anyone know what year/models (if any) were this shape? They are slip over at the head, and both sides are symmetrical.
Thanks!
Graham

 

[68TR6R]

Rob, I’ve always loved that color scheme on these bikes, and considered repainting mine last winter.

The picture I posted is old, and it now has different mufflers. No idea what the old ones were. The new headers I have will probably be ok. It’s not that I don’t like the original, I’m just used to what it has. I’d just have to make some new brackets.

Who knows what was changed to make the aftermarket headers work. They were put on in the 80s. Are the bends different on each side of your originals? I’m assuming it’s to fit around the primary. My primary side is straight at the exit, and the timing side doesn’t sit as low and has a bend at the exit. The headers aren’t symmetrical which is what trips me up. Is that correct? Just didn’t look right to me. The mufflers can be made to sit even with each other.

 

[68TR6R]

Thanks, Rob.

My timing side pipe just looks funny to me. What do you think? To me there’s not enough of a straight section after the first bend.

 

[68TR6R]

68TR6R, we offer a faithful reproduction of the original 70-5957/8 exhaust headers from LF Harris. The timing-side pipe has the slight 'kick up' at the end of the header.
-Dave

TRIUMPH 1966-68 T120 TR6 UK EXHAUST PIPE SET PN# 70-5957/8 or 70-5957 70-5958

Beautiful English made Triumph exhaust pipes/headers as fitted to 1966 to 1968 650 T120 Bonneville TR6 Tiger models. Manufactured by L.F. Harris in the U.K. these gorgeous high luster British chrome pipes are simply the best! Great for a restoration or just to add some mojo to your street bike...

www.thebonnevilleshop.com

Im pretty sure the LF-Harris is what I got last year. $250 or so.

 

[68TR6R]

The pipes in the second set of pictures are the reproductions I bought a year or so ago. I’ll probably just put my old pipes back on until I find a suitable replacement. Time will tell. Thanks.

 

[68TR6R]

So I tried fitting the LF Harris pipes (found my old invoice, that’s what they are). Drive side fits well. Timing side, however, does not hang low enough when mounted with the muffler. It’s about one inch from the shifter, and my shoe will touch every time I were to upshift. It’s a shame, they are really pretty. I imagine either I got a mixed set, or it’s a manufacturing defect.

 

[68TR6R]

I’m pretty confident that the exhaust ports at the head in the right spot. I didn’t have to change anything for the old exhaust. My foot peg is lower than yours, and I like the shifter where it is for comfort and operation (for me, personally). I don’t have a picture, but I clamped the muffler on the pipe to fiddle around. With the muffler fitted to its bracket correctly, you can just barely see light between the pipe and the foot peg. If it were 3/4-1” lower it’d be just right. I may fiddle with it some more, but I can’t see a way to make it work without cobbling it together. The front brackets that were on it were definitely fabricated for the old aftermarket headers.

It’s hard to see in the pictures earlier, but the pipe hangs only about half a diameter below the transmission cover.

 

[68TR6R]

First and most obvious, the man swinging that welder should be shot. Secondly your silencers are not mounted correctly. The mounting bracket on the silencer bolts behind the foot peg bracket. Thirdly the mounting bracket on the silencer has been bent out of shape to allow it to be mounted incorrectly. All the time the silencers are in the wrong place you can not expect the correct shape pipes to fit.

Well the head was that way whenI got it last year. It was the best later style head I could find that didn’t have the seats cut too deep by some shop doing a “valve job”. The welds are big, yes. I could have milled the excess down, but didn’t want to lose integrity and risk the insert pulling out.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the silencer brackets are not bent. Maybe they are supposed to be? I’ve never paid much attention to them. I’m betting that if I had a good set of reproduction or NOS silencers and pipes that were bent correctly, they would fit as standard. If I were to hang the silencer on the inside of the bracket as it sat in the previous pic, the pipe rides against the transmission case and the foot peg.

 

[68TR6R]

Ok, well at the risk of sounding condescending, when you say you don't think the brackets are bent, what are you using as a point of reference? For example, when I look at the picture of your silencer the threaded boss for one of the mounting bolts is clearly visible near the top of the silencer. When the correct parts are used that threaded boss is well out of sight on the back edge of the silencer. Therefore it seems safe to assume that either the brackets are incorrect or, they have been bent to mount the silencer in a different position. Either way, until the silencer is in the right place you will be unable to properly mount the pipes.

I think I misunderstood which bracket you were referring to. I thought you meant the peg bracket that’s bolted to the frame. The brackets bolted onto the silencer? They very well could be wrong. They are what came with the Emgo silencers and took some fiddling to get to fit. This was 10+ years ago that I installed those. I still don’t think that sides pipe is right no matter how the silencer is hung. Either way, someday I’ll put everything back to standard. I don’t like how loud the emgo silencers are anyway.

 

[68TR6R]

I like the the pipes with "softer" bends....Did you and me discuss using a single TM flatslide Mikuni ?

Yes we did. Runs great.