EXHAUST

This should have been one of the easy jobs, but I couldn't even get the exhaust silencer off, not a great start to the mechanical work on the bike. I tried WD40 and a nylon mallet with no success. I eventually splayed the end of the pipe connecting it to the silencer with a screw driver. I then started twisting the silencer clockwise and anticlockwise, while pulling backwards, this eventually worked. The main exhaust proved to be just as annoying to remove. The bolt securing the finned clamp at the exhaust port snapped in half when I attempted to loosen it. The exhaust pipe refused to come away from the exhaust port adapter as it was rusted to it. I was concerned that I may damage the alloy head exhaust port thread if I continued tapping the pipe with the nylon hammer. I decided to use the same tactic as before. However the clamp was restricting access and would not move out of the way due to fouling with the frame. I unbolted the engine to move it away enough to allow the clamp to move forward, now I could splay the exhaust pipe end with a screw driver. After 20 minutes I achieved some movement then after another 5 minutes the pipe came away.

 I cleaned up the port adaptor, drilled out the broken bolt from the clamp, ground away enough of a fin on the clamp to allow for a nut and bolt to seat on the clamp so that it could be reused. I have sprayed the silencer with matt black high temperature paint and wrapped the front exhaust pipe with carbon wrap. The carbon wrap is horrible stuff and makes your skin itch for a week afterwards. The best tip I can give is to soak the wrap in water before you apply it. This stops the irritating fluff from getting everywhere and makes the wrap sit tighter and the final result looks neater. Also use nylon ties while applying the wrap to keep it in place and only use the stainless steel ones when you are happy with the end result. The pipe is now being stored until the engine has been checked out.