Stock exhaust replacement

[Fire-medic]

Sorry but I have not pictures here, but this is posted because like most males, I try to do it "my way."

Removing the stock exhaust is no big deal. You can follow the steps in the factory manual. However, "replacement is NOT necessarily the reverse of removal," at-least it wasn't for me.

I am just going to simply relate what I did, you can choose to try it if you wish. I am not saying, "my way is best," or "quickest," but it worked for me.

1) remove the rear wheel. You will get more room to work. You may not need to but I found it helpful.

2) hang the stock collector/mufflers in-place, use the bolts in the aluminum carriers to snug them into place, by that, I mean hand-tighten. You can also install the 14 mm bolt which holds the front of the collector and installs vertically in the front-center of the collector. Hand-tighten.

3) now install the rear cylinder exhaust carriers if you don't have them attached to the cyl. head. You can torque them to factory specs. they have an "L" cast into them on the outside, be sure and place them so the "L" is on the Left! I don't believe there is a right or left for these as far as the left-side cylinder head vs. the right-side cyl. head. I did look at the vanity covers to see if the mounting points were going to work, they would, but I did not install them yet.

4) install the rear exhaust pipes into the exhaust/collector, I did the right first and then the left. Tighten the pinch-bolt to spec after you make sure the opposite end of each rear pipe is close to aligning to the casting attached to the rear cyl. head "carriers" described above.

5) I installed the rear pipe to exhaust clamp for ea. of the rear cylinders next. This is the v-shaped clamp that holds the top of ea. rear pipe to the rear cyl. head attachment, the one that has the vanity cover for ea. side. I did not attach the vanity cover yet.

6) okay, you're halfway there! Now, place the rear of the front exhaust pipe for the right side into the mouth of the exhaust/collector, and the other end into the area of the front cyl. head exhaust hole. I found it helpful to lie on my side as I worked the rt. pipe into the collector. When you have the two heat shields, one on the exhaust/collector, and the other attached to the rear of the front exhaust pipe almost-touching, you know you have the pipe in far-enough. Do the other one-the left side. The crossover pipe should be attached side-to-side, but loose, when you place the two front headers into position. I found it useful to use some 4x4" cribbing to hold the pipes by the front curve upwards, two ea. side.

7) compare the depth of insertion rt to left, they should be very close to the same for the front pipes where they go into the collector. As mentioned above, if the heat shield for the front pipe and the muffler assembly are almost touching, you have enough penetration. Snug their pinch bolts.

8) place the captive front cyl. exhaust pipe collars onto the cyl. head exhaust studs and install the allen head screws. Do one side of the pipe snug, then the other, then go back and tighten the other side again to torque spec. It doesn't make any difference which pipe you do first. I did the rt, then the left.

9) check all the connectors one more time, but you should have it. If you want, this is the time to replace the rear vanity pipe covers.

10) you still have to torque the exhaust bolts on the rear footpeg carriers. You can check the beer supply now, too.

11) grabbing the exhaust and giving it a shake should demonstrate it is solidly attached to the bike.

12) I didn't start by mentioning it, but new exhaust gaskets and bushings for the pipe connections into the muffler ass'y. may be required, otherwise you may have leaks, these are pretty-cheap. Don't forget the fiber bushing for the cross-pipe.
13) fire it up and check for leaks. Hopefully you have none.

I hadn't removed the exhaust or dropped the engine until I had to work on my bike for repair after my "dyno dilemma" thread. Now I can do the removal and replacement much quicker the next time.

Right now my goal is to get my bike working reliably after it trashed the #3 big end connecting rod which didn't come to light until I was a mile away from the dyno.

I had some preventative work done, and am still getting the bike reassembled. I have some additional stuff I acquired during the past year, and once the bike is working OK I will look to add the 'goodies,' but I want a reliable stock bike first. And, I don't think the dyno is in the picture for me.

Ultimately, once this rebuild has resulted in a good-running bike, I want to strip it to the frame, get it powder-coated, and do the other bits & pieces to clean it up and have a fairly stock-appearing bike. I don't need to have 140 hp or more, I just want a reliable bike to ride like it was when I bought it barely a year old w/<1800 mi. on it.

Maybe the next time I remove the exhaust I'll take some pics. I have a couple of other systems I bought to try down the road. One will be a bit Frankenstein, the other is from a popular manufacturer, and no it's NOT a Cobra! I have more self-respect for my bike than to hobble it like that! Both are 4/1's.

If you have any tips or suggestions please add them. I searched for some info on this and didn't find much, so this is what worked for me, and hopefully, will make your job easier should you do it the first time. Guys like Sean & Kyle can probably replace an exhaust system in 30-40 minutes, but my skills are not that developed. Still, I found this method to get the job done, but it wasn't quite this order, I stumbled along a few frustrating dead-ends before this procedure I wrote-up. Also, I did this alone, with no help, and found the order of assembly required no additional "hold this right-here for me honey, until I tell you to let go!" The cribbing blocks helped, too. Good luck.

 

[Smithjs35]

Just spent most of the day trying to install stock muffler, could not figure out why down pipes would not fit. I think there are bushings on the pipes as well as in the muffler. So limited in parking lot with no air or power. Thinking that removing the down pipes and taking them to a shop to be split with cutting wheel might be in order. Did not check front pipes yet as it got to late.
Thanks for the great advice. Had my wife for a short time helping too. She said I should take the wheel off as well. Muffler assy is mounted in place, got that done. Now for the pipes. Stinks not being able to ride in this FL weather.

 

[Fire-medic]

Look at the diagram, there are fiber bushings on the muffler females. See four of the #44. For the rear cyl's at the cyl heads, you have #1, #5 & #6, times two for the single-wall headers. For the crossover pipe, there is gasket #28.

 

[Smithjs35]

Thanks for that gasket knowledge. Did not realize rear cyl's had 3 different types. My issue is the stock muffler that I bought appears to have -44's already installed in the holes and my pipes have them installed on them as well. Don't know how you would get them out of muffler so I guess the ones on the pipes would be the easiest. All -44's are not easily coming off. Not what I anticipated for sure. Will regroup this a.m. Thanks again

 

[Fire-medic]

If the #44's are intact, you may not need to replace them. However, they can be tough to get the header pipe into them individually. Just trying to cram them in (either the #44 pieces or the header pipes into the 'inserted into the megaphone' gaskets) will likely result in causing them to delaminate, requiring replacement. An 'inner-puller,' which has two outward-facing small lips which can be adjusted to necessary spread diameter, can be used for removal, or a fine-tooth blade like a reciprocating saw can be used to cut the material in one or more places, to then remove the pieces.

I've never tried to insert the #44 gaskets onto the header pipes, and then into the females of the megaphone assembly.

I have used a water-soluble gel like K-Y to aid the mating of tight-fitting pieces like this, or the carb bodies into the rubber donuts of the VBoost. A couple heat-cool cycles, and it evaporates.

 

[Smithjs35]

10-4 on the inner slide hammer. That might work but, they are so soft and as you say delaminate / fall apart easily. Splitting them with hacksaw blade is a good option. Either way is not going to be easy. I'm also seeing a extremely close fit like it might be too short. Hoping this is an alignment issue and I have not loosened the center section of the front pipes yet. Going outside to get at it again. Thanks again

 

[Smithjs35]

Got it as good as I could, will it leak exhaust, most likely as the penetration on the front pipes was not good. Maybe a half inch at best, they just would not go any further and I followed your steps on muffler installation. Thought I read a thread on the forum about someone who said they were going to add an inch to the pipes via welding because he was short on fitting them too. Don't know were I went wrong. Took pipes completely off, then put it back together as you said in your description of how to install. Will fire it up tomorrow to see if it leaks. If it does, off to the bike shop it goes as I am spent. Performing this task by yourself and on the ground is not fun. On a good note, they look really good on the bike. Thanks for your help Fire-medic, could not have gotten this far without those procedural steps.

 

[Smithjs35]

Took it out for a ride, leaks a little, not bad. Will seal it with high temp rtv. Bike runs awesome. You were right, 2dmax and Fire-medic bike runs like it should. Twisted throttle a little to much and back tire started singing sweet medley's. I love it. Thanks for your help. The time people spend on the forum helping is greatly appreciated by me.

 

[Fire-medic]

I've found that using a block of wood, a rubber mallet, and two people is how to get the pipes fully-seated into one-another. I've been able to get the pipes on and started, but to snug them up is an incremental process. I do a bit at a time, across the entire system, then start again. Eventually you will be able to get the joints snug and well-inserted one into another. When I've done it on my own, I used a floor jack and a block of wood to support the system as I did the cinching-together. As you found, it's not a particularly quick procedure. I'm sure that like the Woods Brothers pit-stop team in NASCAR, repeated practice, and you could hone your skills, and discover the tricks about how to proceed, given the progress at one point, and how-much to do it at the next, and so-forth.

In terms of pit-stops, watching the F1 teams change tires, re-fuel, and return to the track is simply amazing. The one nut holding on a wheel is titanium, and they go for something like $2,000 each, last I read about it. The driver then returns to the track and it's back to 185 mph, 4 G's in the turns, and the best braking systems in the world.

 

[Smithjs35]

Yes, much patience is needed and really thankful for the wisdom. I will loosen the front again and use mallet / jack method. I realize muffler work on the ground with just one person is difficult and requires ingenuity. Both rear pipes did great. Front needed 3/8-1/2 inch more. I have very small leaks in both but sealant may fix that too. I'll give it another round today. Those racing team crews are definitely one with their job and you're right about the best parts in the world. Thanks, again

 

[Fire-medic]

I'd loosen all the fitting fasteners, and then try the jack and block of wood. If you have someone to assist you, that would be even better. Look at it from a viewpoint of, "what do I want to-see move where?" and them tap-tap-tap with a rubber mallet, and try to anticipate which pieces will move in-relation to your efforts, at that particular point.

Think of a tubing slip-joint, sagging downwards with the tubing being long pieces. Not only do you need to lift-up the two sagging tubes, but you also have to 'shorten' the tubes as they are jacked upwards, by getting them to have the male piece insert more-fully into the female piece. You do that by effectively 'shortening' the overall length of the two tubes. You might try to use some of those orange Harbor Freight ratchet straps, to draw-together the pieces, effectively shortening their overall length. It's a technique which as you try to perform, you may have to go-back, and re-do another part of the system, to gain some movement which will allow your tubes to be seated/inserted better.

For instance, you may get the rear cyl header tubes into the megaphone/resonator females, but not as-far as you would hope. As you lift the front tubes and the resonator box, try grabbing the loose rear headers, and rotate the tubes as the megaphone assembly is lifted. Your hand is vertical and you rotate your wrist left and right, and work the M-F pieces together as the assembly is lifted into place. When things are well-positioned, you should be able to make that bolt on-top of the megaphone/resonator box bracket, line-up, and slip in.

Take your time, remember to snug things up with increasing rounds of torquing fasteners. It's possible that in the process of several rounds of tightening, you discover that by loosening things and making tubing adjustments, and re-doing them, you can draw the tubes together better. Patience rewards he who displays it.

 

[Tom8987]

I read your post. It's very Informative helps me a lot . thanks