This project has taken longer than any other I've done in my lifetime. While I have photos, the detail will be in the text so here goes.
PS: Pics have been sent off to Vance & Hines in hopes that they will finally make these pipes available to all Warrior owners.
In January of this year I discovered that Vance & Hines may, or may not, make the Big Radius 2-1 for the Warrior. I fell in love with the pipe the first time I saw it, so I decided that I'd make a set for my Warrior. Here are the parts I started with.
An old V&H ProPipe (thanks Gregg)
A new V&H Big Radius 2-1 for Harley Softail (this pipe assembly is one piece with the exception of the heat shields)
Let me state that the Big Radius for the Raider may require less work than the "softail" version. Also, you'll only be using two of the three heatshields from the Big Radius and they are the muffler heatshield and the lower heatshield that covers the pipe from the front cylinder.
My plan was to combine part of the headpipes from the V&H ProPipe with most of the Big Radius, Mate them together if you will. This turned out to be a trial & error method, but I documented (by photos) where the pipes were first cut. Below is a view of the pipes, side by side, with markings on where the cuts were made. I made each piece I was going to use slighly longer than I needed so as to not come up too short and have to do more piecing together.
On the Big Radius (top pipe) you'll notice the blue dots. Those were my cutting points. I was only using from the cutting point back including the muffler. Likewise on the ProPipe (bottom pipe) I was only using everything from the cutting points (red dots) forward to the heads.
Next was the process of mounting the head pipe sections from the ProPipe and then holding the Big Radius section up to it to get an idea of how it would mate up. I discovered that if I removed the muffler section ti would be much easier to work with the pipes. I also had to cut some of the pipe sections at angles to get them to flow properly along the side of the bike. Then it was a matter of tack welding the two together to get an idea of angle and placement.
Once that was done small sections were welded in to mate in the muffler. The next pick shows that the pipe was too low and too long (thanks Alan). There are also some other pics that show the pipes at different angles.
This is a shot of the pipes after they were raised and shortened, The way this was done was again by cutting the pipe sections at angles to get the look to flow properly.
Now that the pipes were done it was time to do the heatshields. These were also made from a combination of the shields from the ProPipe and the Big Radius. I ran into one problem. The diameter of the ProPipe shields is smaller than the Big Radius so some slight forming and bending needed to take place in order for the shields to mate up. The shields had to be stripped of chrome before cutting and TIG welding. Obviously we used many of the same cut locations as the pipe in order to match things up. One good thing is that the upper heatshield from the ProPipe didn't need to be mated to anything. It just needed a small section removed and rewelded back together to work. When doing these a small 1-1/4" piece of shield was welded across the back of the joined areas for support.
After all this was done the shields were smoothed down and delivered to the chrome shop where they were finish ground and plated. And the moment I'd waited 7 months for was finally here. The finished product and it was well worth it.
Just remember one thing. If you have an idea, and you're persistent, you can make it a reality!
God first . . . . . . . . always!