Beta hi rise exhaust life

How long is a piece of string?, it all depends on the grade of metal used in the manufacture. My Beta was fitted with a stainless high rise exhaust from the outset and that perforated at approx 4000hours, it's replacement is still ok (fingers crossed) 2000 hours on.

By all means check it internally for blockage, but corrosion is a significant factor also.
 
Im at 12 years and about 650hrs too. Looked more closely today I think there is a pinhole there. I googled but nothing coming up, they must be more reliable than the Volvo ones, I cant even find a price. Ive read that the new Beta ones are cast alloy but dont know if that is the case for the hi rise elbow.
 
I decided to answer my own thread with my findings.

After finding a couple of pin holes in the weld and worrying that it was going to break, I cut the elbow in two. It turned out that the pinholes were just that the rest of the weld was solid. With hindsight I should have ground out the pin holes and welded them up. The inner pipe was also slightly perforated but nothing to worry about.

In the first photo the bad bit of pipe is removed, in the second you can see I welded on a new piece of 316 pipe to replace the perforated section, the third shows the shroud in place ready for welding. Saved the best part of £300
ex 4.jpgex 1.jpgex 2.jpg
 

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smithy said:
I decided to answer my own thread with my findings.

After finding a couple of pin holes in the weld and worrying that it was going to break, I cut the elbow in two. It turned out that the pinholes were just that the rest of the weld was solid. With hindsight I should have ground out the pin holes and welded them up. The inner pipe was also slightly perforated but nothing to worry about.

In the first photo the bad bit of pipe is removed, in the second you can see I welded on a new piece of 316 pipe to replace the perforated section, the third shows the shroud in place ready for welding. Saved the best part of £300
Click to expand...

I found this very interesting, thanks for reporting back.
I have the same elbow and last year faced a similar problem – what did it look like after, in my case, 10 years and 500 hours?
Decided to take it off and found what can be seen in the photo below.

After having cleaned out the carbon, I discovered there was some serious corrosion on the inner pipe, but no perforations yet. The outer pipe was fine (welds only having seen cooling water).
After contact with Beta agent here, still decided to replace the elbow. Probably a few years prematurely, but as I already had the old one off...

It would be interesting if you would care to expand a bit on the perforated inner pipe being nothing to worry about...


riser%20carbon.jpg
 
I took another look at the inner pipe that I cut out, have put the photos below. I cut the pipe through the weld and you can see the corrosion on the cut edge. The pipe was in no danger of falling apart and would probably have gone on for quite a while. Apart from the bottom section the rest of the elbow was in perfect condition. The repair was not a bodge and the elbow is as good as a new one.
In view of the high price of replacement its well worth doing, even with the cost of getting someone else to weld it up for you.ex 5.jpgex6.jpg
 
zoidberg said:
Any thoughts on the achieved lifespan of the Beta 14 'low rise' exhausts...?
Click to expand...

Far longer - a very different design.

Took my 12 year old one off last year - it was clear and in good condition. Had a conversation with Beta at LIBS which echoed some of the things said in this thread.
 
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