Leaky Exhaust

[JohnBoy]

i have just recently brought a full arrow system for my bike. high rise straight through arrow pipe with carbon muffler, very tasty.
however it dosent seem to fit abosultly perfect. i has a very small leak in the headers (between ports and headers). is this a factor of the hand made pipe? or is this just a small period of frustration that will disapear after a few kays?
oh by the way a quick thanks to the jokers at hams m/c center for a sharp price and letting me pay it off! CHEERS!! :first: :first:

[scumdog]

Is it a flange sytem or sleeve-and-clamp?

Either way just use some Holts exhaust sealer or some of that hi-temp orange silicone. If it is a flange system you could try dressing the flange face with a fine file to make sure it is flat.
My 2 cents and 30+ years experience. :yeah:

[vifferman]

Does the stock exhaust have those carbon sealing rings? If so, buy some of those, otherwise, what scumdog said (but go for the high-temp silicon, as it's more likely to stay put).

It's important that it does seal properly, otherwise it will run slightly lean on whatever cylinder has a leaking header. Might sound silly, and may not make much difference on your bike, but on some engines (e.g. VTR1000) it can make a noticeable difference to the running, esp. at low revs.

[JohnBoy]

there were not any gaskits but its set up like this: the pipe fit into the ports and a two piece clamp bolts over the top with the bolts taped in to the block. (sorry i have limited knowledge on mechinical bits)

when i first put it on i had a considerable amount of power loss from the top end but now after i rejiged it a bit it seems to charge hard through the rev range (more than with stock exhaust) but still has a light chuffing noise.

[vifferman]

there were not any gaskits but its set up like this: the pipe fit into the ports and a two piece clamp bolts over the top with the bolts taped in to the block. If it's chuffing, then that's probably a significant leak, and not good.

Right - see if you can work out which header is leaking, and why (might need some judicious tweaking to get it seated properly, or it might need something shaved off the end of the header, or there might be crud in the port that needs scraping out with a screwdriver). Once you've done this, and made the mating surfaces between headers and port as good (and clean) as possible, stick some high-temp silicon (can get this from a auto parts store) on the surfaces and carefully and evenly tighten the clamps and you should be right.

[scumdog]

Also best to put the sealer on while engine is cold and if possible leave it to 'set' for as long as possible (overnight is good) to make sure it seals properly.

[merv]

I'd be surprised if it didn't have any gaskets and that could be your problem. Usually there are gaskets between each header flange and the aluminium head. After use when they are squashed and blackened sometimes it might look like there aren't any, but they should be there. Check with your dealer and get some.

[FROSTY]

This just isnt reading right to me guys. You shouldnt need gasket goop or anything like that .
Lets go right back to the start
1) remove the system
2) run a straight edge across all the pipe ends make sure one isnt slightly tweaked backwards If so a bit of GENTLE perswasion to line em up.
3) clean any silicone and crud out of the exhaust ports.
4) fit exhaust system into place hecking for any hooking up on lips etc.and finger tighten all 9 bolts
Do NOT tighten ANY bolts
5) tighten the exhaust studs to 10foortpounds in a 1,8,,3,6,7,2,5,4 sequence Go to 25 foot ponds and repeat the sequence then to full tight .
Then tighten the other mounting bolts.
It sounds a bit anal -but its kinda like torquing down a head gasket -if ya dont do it stuff can get all twisted outa shape.
Do this first before silicone etc
Ohh and it does sound unusual not having some sort of gasket.

[Paul in NZ]

Yup...

Wot Mr Frosty said... Have a good long look at it and figure out what does the sealing. If needs be get a parts manual to see it there is an alloy washer or something stuck up in the port (not always easy to see)

I also agree with his method. Fit the whole thing up loosely including the can and all brackets. Everything should fit without forcing anything.

Start tightening at the front and work towards the rear checking as you go.

Any system forced into place will crack or break.

Paul N

[JohnBoy]

Thanks for all your help.
i am reluctant to use any silicon goo or similar as it is likely to fail under the high temps that my exhaust gets ( i have the burn on my wrist to prove it!).
i havent done many kays on it yet as working too much to ride ( :weep: ) but will have another go tonight.

the second time i mounted the headers (as said before working from front to back) i cleaned the exhaust ports and there were no signs of gaskits, i will go and visit Ham's M/C centre on saturday to talk gaskits and to get their thoughts. worst case i will just have to front up and pay for someone to do it correctly.

[scumdog]

This just isnt reading right to me guys. You shouldnt need gasket goop or anything like that .
Lets go right back to the start

4) fit exhaust system into place hecking for any hooking up on lips etc.and finger tighten all 9 bolts
Do NOT tighten ANY bolts

I 'hecked' for hooks for ages but I was lucky and there were none on my lip or anywhere else. :blah: :killingme :innocent:

Sealer is o.k. if the surfaces are less than perfect, also I have yet to see the orange hi-temp silicone burn out but stand to be proven wrong no doubt!

Very rarely use exhaust gaskets any more.

[Sparky Bills]

Just do EXACTLY what XJ/Frosty said.
Youll be sweet Im sure dude!
Good luck!

[Deano]

The Arrows slip ons I bought for the SP didn't fit properly either - rubbed against the swingarm. Bizarre. I took em back and got Neptunz custom fitted instead. They were cheaper by $200 as well. (And NZ made)

[marty]

considering messers rolls royce, pratt and whitney and general electric use copious quantities of high temp silicon to hold their 747 engines together, i think your bike exhaust would be ok.

[Hoon]

Yes it sounds like you may have butchered the fitting (don't worry we've all done it.........haven't we guys?!?!?:)). Make sure that when you are fitting it that the entire exhaust system is lined up and in its final position i.e. the muffler bracket is in place but loose enough to move the exhaust back and forth and not unbolted with all the weight on the flange (like Paul says). This ensures that everything is at the right angle and not cocked over when you come to tighten it.

Tighten the bolts up evenly and in a sequence like Frosty says.

I'd also use an exhaust gasket. I'm not a fan of silicon and sealants and all that shit if I can get away with it - just more crap you have to clean off next time. You can just buy a sheet of exhaust gasket from repco for like $15 and cut out your own rings. Put one in each, not just the leaking one so everything is the same same but different.

[What?]

Exhaust port gaskets are compression-type, like a spark plug gasket. This allows for the fact that headers are frequently not perfectly in line. Once used, they will rarely seal properly again.

[Milky]

Exhaust port gaskets are compression-type, like a spark plug gasket. This allows for the fact that headers are frequently not perfectly in line. Once used, they will rarely seal properly again.
I had the same problem when I changed my headers too... The gaskets in the 400 didnt look much like gaskets as they were rather dirty old copper things. I took them out and annealed them - softens the copper - and refitted with the same problem. The third? fourth? time I had taken the headers off I decided to rejuvinate the washers by a little judicious squeezing with a pair of needle-nose pliers. They looked much like flat copper washers when I removed them, and once reshaped and re-annealed, more like hulahoops or tubes. Refitted them and retightened the flange bolts in the way frosty describes and havent had a problem since.

^^me being a little too flash for KK's school of exhausts - he uses Sellys 'No More Gaps'™^^