RC Engineering exhaust


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Gearheadgregg
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by Gearheadgregg »

RJ CB650 wrote:Bump!

Aah.... so this is the exhaust that is on my bike. Been off and on trying to track it down and through lucky pic finds, finally determined that these pipes are what are currently on the bike.

Avoiding the flame stuff, anybody have unbiased information on these pipes? Quality, rarity, etc? I love the sound of em, and now that it is tuned in correctly, really liking the ride, but been trying to find a proper collection of info.
Unbiased ? :D https://books.google.com/books?id=m0o1i ... st&f=false

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Gearheadgregg
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

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Last edited by Gearheadgregg on Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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cross
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by cross »

That looks great! I have to see how much it would cost to strip ceramic coating off of mine and have them chromed.
What is the situation with side and center stands? Do they need to be removed?
Sasha
Sasha

'82 Honda CBX
'99 Triumph TBS
'01 Honda Valkyrie

:auto-sportbike:

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

You are going to have fun with that brute.
Hopefully before the snow flies?

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

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The chrome came out nice on the RC pipes..$600 bucks was the final price for chrome work that includes sanding all the existing paint and chrome down to bare metal ,, Steve looks like next year ..
Last edited by Gearheadgregg on Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by NobleHops »

Those look fantastic!
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

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NobleHops wrote:Those look fantastic!
:text-+1:

As a result of this thread I spent some "Google Time" on Russ Collins. Very interesting man to say the least!!!
An example of what I learned about Mr. Collins.

Motorcycle Drag Racing Hall of Fame Series
RUSS COLLINS - THE SORCERER
Russ Collins began drag racing motorcycles in the late 1950s. By the mid-60s, he was an authority on high performance motorcycle engines. In 1969, Russ began racing Honda 750s and designed the first, four-into-one motorcycle exhaust header. He started RC Engineering to manufacture that product.

Before the end of the year, he'd set the first ever National Hot Rod Association track record for a Japanese motorcycle and was winning races on RC Engineering-built Hondas at a time when Triumph and Harley-Davidson dominated the sport. Not only was Collins, himself, setting records and winning but so were his customers. Russ Collins became a drag racing legend and RC Engineering became the place to go for high performance parts for Japanese bikes. Its motto was and remains today: "We prove our products in the face of our competitors."

The Revolution in Motorcycle Drag Racing
RC Engineering's reputation for pushing the limits of technology led to the first, successful, blown-injected-on-fuel drag bike. Built in 1971, "The Assassin" weighed a mere 360 pounds and was powered by a 400 horsepower Honda four-cylinder. On The Assassin, Collins set drag race records all over the country. Innovations abounded on that famous bike. It had the first dual- Weber carburetor set-up for a motorcycle and later it was the first motorcycle to use fuel injection and a supercharger together. It was the first Japanese motorcycle to use magneto ignition. It was the first Japanese bike to run on alcohol and nitromethane fuels. By 1973, to beat The Assassin, other racers were forced to use double-engine Nortons, Triumphs and Harley-Davidsons.

Responding to the double-engine "trend", RC Engineering raised the bar another notch. Russ Collins built the "Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe", a thundering, three-engine, nitromethane-burning, Honda. This frightening machine became the first, seven-second motorcycle in drag racing and the first Top Fuel bike with a Japanese engine to hold a NHRA National Record. The "AT&SF," also, became the first motorcycle to win NHRA's coveted "Best Engineered Car" award at the Springnationals in 1973.

Russ Collins' three-motor monster eventually ran a best of 7.80 sec./179.5 mph but, in the end, proved a death-defying ride. In 1976, it was destroyed in a horrendous crash at Akron, Ohio that nearly killed Russ, put him in the hospital for several weeks and kept him in a wheelchair for several more. You can't keep a wild man down, though.

While recuperating from the accident, Collins designed the "Sorcerer", his final Top Fuel bike creation. Built in early-1977 and later billed as the World's Greatest Drag Bike, Sorcerer was powered by a pair of 1000cc. Honda fours. This bike won a second NHRA Best Engineered Award for RC Engineering. Blown, injected and running on 90% nitro, this two-wheeled, twin-engined rocket set a world motorcycle acceleration record for the quarter- mile of 7.30 sec./199.55 mph. That mark stood for 12 years, a truly astonishing feat in a sport where records are broken monthly.

In 1980, Russ Collins passed the 200mph drag bike torch to younger competitors. Two were his own employees, Terry Vance and Byron Hines, who raced a RC Engineering-built ,Top Fuel Suzuki. In addition to several event wins, their bike won the company's third NHRA Best Engineered Award. Those two racers went on to success with their own motorcycle business, Vance&Hines.

Russ Collins' ultimate achievement in the motorcycle world came on July 9, 1999 when he was inducted into the American Motorcycle Heritage Foundation's Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Six committees of experts in all areas of motorcycling started with a list of 500 people. Three rounds of balloting reduced that to 72 inductees for 1999 and Collins was one of them. He joins Steve McQueen, J.C. Agajanian, Willie G. Davidson, Evel Knievel, Don Vesco, Malcom Forbes, Bob Hannah, Roger DeCoster and other motorcycling greats as a Motorcycle Hall of Famer.
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Not many CBX exhaust systems share that kind of history.

Rich
Last edited by rpleines on Sat Oct 10, 2015 8:37 am, edited 2 times in total.
Rich Pleines

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by Rick Pope »

Rich,

Thanks for posting that. I met Mr. Collins at the motorcycle trade show when it was still held in Cincinnati. I spoke at length with he and a kid he had working for him, Mr. Hines. They advised me on what parts to use in my CB750, now dubbed the CB836Kafe. Nice folks.

I still have the CB, though it hasn't been ridden in a couple of years. It'll out run a stock CBX. :D
Rick Pope
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by NobleHops »

That was awesome Rich.

His son popped up on the SOHC4 forum a year or so back and said he was putting one of those early Honda racers back together. Not sure where that led by this point, but the legend lives on.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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cross
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by cross »

Here is what mine looks like
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Sasha

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'99 Triumph TBS
'01 Honda Valkyrie

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

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IMG_2703 (2).JPG
Very nice ! Dig the Polished Ceramic coat !!! while doing a Web search found a guy on the XS11 forum that had been looking for the RC Badge for a couple years... it fell off he said and was gone! history !! he was bummed out !! I have a couple extra Badges and shocked him with a E--mail after he all but gave up looking for these Un obtainable obsolete collector pipes ...sent him one last week he was vary shocked i had one to give up, Guess i assumed every Honda enthusiast New Russ Collins ? He put Honda on the Respect Map forever ! I worked right down the street from his shop off Normandie ave in So cal back in 1975 and had been there, Even today Russ has not been forgotten in my past 750 Honda days..Russ was not a Talker !! He was a put up or shut up no nonsense guy ! Funny thing is like lots of us old farts i can own anything i want on 2 wheels, Still ride my Blown/Nitrous GL 1500 every day for the last 15 years and have no desire to ride anything else but the CBX or this !..besides ? Noting like a 195 HP Lazy Boy Chair !!
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by Phil »

Gearheadgregg wrote:The chrome came out nice on the RC pipes..$600 bucks was the final price for chrome work that includes sanding all the existing paint and chrome down to bare metal
Would be very interested to know if they did copper nickel chrome or just nickle and chrome? It's my understanding that if they used copper that it will bubble from the heat and ruin the finish.

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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by Gearheadgregg »

IMG_2139.JPG
Phil wrote:
Gearheadgregg wrote:The chrome came out nice on the RC pipes..$600 bucks was the final price for chrome work that includes sanding all the existing paint and chrome down to bare metal
Would be very interested to know if they did copper nickel chrome or just nickle and chrome? It's my understanding that if they used copper that it will bubble from the heat and ruin the finish.

D&D did my Stock 4-1 CB 1978 750 five years ago ...No bluing or bubbles my opinion would be jetting issues..Lean Idle circuit.
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

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IMG_3021.JPG
Getting close !
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Re: RC Engineering exhaust

Post by NobleHops »

Gearheadgregg wrote:Getting close ! Image[url=http://s1218.photobucket.com/user/meloa ... b.jpg.html]

Oh man, I have wood for a wire-wheeled CBX. That looks awesome Greg. Mind detailing how you put the wheels together? They look fantastic.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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