First off, I’ll regale you with a quick story: Fall 2013 and I’m in the middle east.  I ask Mike Beasley where he bought his exhaust pipes from, and he sends me the link to Custom Aircraft Parts with the part number he bought.  I send an email to Clinton detailing my bird’s cowlings, engine, etc. and he spits out the same part number as Mike’s. I know realize the key piece of information that I added to my email that tipped Clinton off to that part number was “Feather Light” and am almost certain that is why I received the pipes that I did.  The actual key wording that should have been focused on was “Mike Melvill’s carbon fiber cowlings“… because although Feather Light made the Melvill CF cowlings, they were nowhere the same as the stock Feather Light cowlings (I’m guessing those were close to the Task cowlings, which I’m pretty sure is what Mike has).

I figured all this out from the multiple comments on the COBA forum while I was researching baffling and exhaust pipe configuration stuff.  I should have opted for the Cozy exhaust pipes that have a significant S-curve up and then straight rearwards immediately aft of the cylinders… not the gradual curve that Mike’s and mine have, although I’m having to significantly modify mine.  If I knew then what I do now, I would have demanded a swap-out for different style (part number) pipes.

Ok, part of my research was Klaus discussing that having your exhaust pipes separated about 1/2” apart is best since it keeps the vibration/harmonics/pressure waves of the pipes and exiting exhausts from affecting each other.

Now, back to Custom Aircraft Parts for a moment… if you look (closely) at Mike Beasley’s exhaust pipes you see a rounded “W” looking clamp that secures the pipes together (Dave Berenholtz and many other canards have these too).
[Also note the center crankcase vent tube in between the pipes… it comes into play]

Here’s a look at the bracket from Custom Aircraft Parts.  The PRO is that I’m certain that it’s well-made and it does the job.  The CON is that one pair costs $275, and that’s without shipping.  Clearly to do both sets of pipes we’re talking around $600.

That dog will NOT hunt!  Sorry, I’m not paying nearly $600 for these brackets, nor am I going to pay around $300 for one bracket pair.

I’ve already ordered the stainless steel from McMaster-Carr to construct a bracket pair for the RIGHT side, and the 1/2″ round tubing I’ll be using to create a securing brace for both sides.  Moreover, I also ordered 321 stainless steel “P” clamps (AKA bare Adel clamps) for the LEFT side, all for just over $60 bucks (including tax and shipping).

Taking Klaus’s words of advice into account, I then modeled up a set of brackets in Fusion 360 CAD to test out his 1/2″ gap configuration.

I then 3D printed a narrower width version (0.4″ wide vs 0.75″) of the brackets to save both printing time and plastic.  Here’s the result:

I then test-fitted the brackets onto the left side exhaust pipes.  The 1/2″ gap between the pipes drives the outboard pipe out too close to the upper cowling wall, so I’m going to have to pass on his advice and go the more standard method that is seen in most canards (pipes nestled together).

I then cherry picked through my stock of Adel clamps to find one that fits the 1.75″ dia. exhaust pipes spot on, which is the -25.  This was merely a test fit as the potential issue here if I were to use an Adel clamp is that they are aluminum (from ACS) and their ability to fend off the intense heat of the exhaust pipes is —in my book— suspect.  They do make stainless steel versions of these style clamps, which is what I ordered from McMaster-Carr.

Although I only have one clamp installed below, in the final configuration I’ll have one on each pipe, mounted back-to-back and secured by a 1/2″ brace that will serve to keep the exhaust pipes in position during normal ops, and also keep any pipes from exiting the cowling should either of them crack/break free.

As a point of reference, here is a shot of Klaus’s exhaust pipes… note the P clamps securing his pipes.

Finally, the reason I’m not using the “P” style clamps on the right side exhaust pipes is simply due to the crankcase vent tube that will nestle in between the pipes to create the lowest profile of this grouping as possible.

And with that folks, I’m calling it a night.