Welding Exhaust Headers

Well the exhaust headers are shot.  They were rusted through in several locations, and had already been patched once.  The spare headers I got were worse than what was on it.

I dusted off the old mig welder and started patching.  The filth on the pipes must have been from the engine breather, which probably spews hot mist all over the engine.  I can see why Stewarts came up with the replacement plate for the front of the engine with the tube down below the frame.  Even the muffler is coated with a layer of crud.  I'll probably have to soak that in some diesel fuel to get that to come off without scraping and grinding at it.  The inside of the muffler is deteriorated, but the outside isn't too bad (aside from the big scar down the side where someone laid the bike over).

I had some nice stainless material handy that I used as a patch.  The original pipe had to be very clean for it to stick, but it turned out just fine.  I painted it black with high temperature paint to protect the welds.  I may end up putting exhaust wrap on the header to hide my poor welding skills.

I suppose I'll have to pull the engine next.  The gearbox leaks like a sieve, and I can't easily get to the crud on the centerstand with the engine still in the frame.

I wonder if the lean-running engine has anything to do with the baffles being rusted out of the muffler?  I'm not sure if its that sensitive, but I'm running out of explanations of why it ran so lean.

The batterybox is rusted in the inside a little.  I've had to continually restrain myself from the urge to repaint everything.  The inside of the battery box is too corroded to ignore.  If I leave it go, it will rust through.  I think I'll clean it up and just spray the inside.

There was a curious 20k inline resistor between the spark coil and the distributor.  I'm not sure if its supposed to be there or not?  The wire was petrified, so that will be replaced.  The rest of the harness coming out of the electrical box and under the frame rail isn't too bad.  Its scuffed in a few areas, but probably worth preserving.  I'd like to get something similar to the "chinese fingertrap" material to protect the wiring harness.  However it seems the spiral loom material is readily available at RadioShack.