replacing downpipes

[clayt74]

Hi all,
Ive got to try and replace my original downpipes at the weekend for some nice shiny motad ones, i have been spraying the header bolts with plus gas all week to hopefully ease the chances of stripping or snapping studs

anyway my question is; is it necessary or advisable to remove the radiator before trying to remove the downpipes??
or should it be simple enough just using extension bars?

any advice greatfully recieved.

Cheers

[donkey93]

did mine without having to remove the radiator a couple of the nuts are a bit difficult to get to but not too hard

[andy352299]

did mine without removing radiator,
as already stated bit fiddly to get to a couple of bolts but i think i just used a 1/4 drive socket and extn bar.

[Fazer Jake]

Tbh mate, you could do it without removing the rad but its ALOT easier if you do and you stand less chance of bending the nut sheering it off.

Make sure you heat the nuts up first, plus gas wont be enough, its worth spending that extra getting it right as it will cost alot more getting a snapped nut sorted 

[110%]

Removal:

I've done it twice now and there's no need to remove the radiator. The hardest bolts for me to remove were the ones which sit right next to the frame because my extender wasn't thin enough to get past properly so I had to use the closed end of a combination spanner to turn the nuts about 1/32nd of a turn each time (very tedious!)

If you leave the outer two (the easiest) nuts till last it also means that you wont put any lateral pressure on any of the threads (I was scared of bending them) and it makes the final part of the removal easy when you have to catch the downpipes as they fall.

Refitting:
The hardest part of putting them back on is trying to get the gaskets to defy gravity, but you can use some grease to hold them into the cylinder head port as you re-attach the downpipes. You might need to lie on the floor and support them with your knees if you haven't got a second pair of hands. Hand tighten the outer two bolts first to keep the downpipes held on, then tighten all the bolts slowly and evenly in a similar way as when you put a wheel back on a car.

Good luck!

[b3tarev3]

First time i removed mine they were stuck solid and not for moving - i could feel the the flex in the stud as i was trying to undo them. A tip from me is to keep spraying them with lubricant and put pressure on them both ways (tighten & release) slowly but surely they will undo. A couple of mine unscrewed the stud from the head.

[clayt74]

thanks for the tips, i shall make sure i have a blow torch and plenty of patience at the ready.

Cheers

[keno]

You need one of these mate




http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-18156-41-...LRVUO06ZQB


I use these on my bike and other peoples they are great for getting into tight spaces and removing headers
Put some copper slip on your studs and nuts when refitting

[clayt74]

thanks guys,
i got lucky 


after nearly 2 weeks of spraying WD40 (cos the gaskets didnt arrive on time)
the header nuts came off no problem at all, the hardest part of the job was separating the silencer from the collector.
so i have now successfully managed to fit some nice shiney motads to my precious [size=78%] [/size]

[topgun44]

:useless

[solorider]

Well done for getting the job done,at least your downpipe nuts were better than my thou ones,I had to dremmel the nuts off because they had rotted away,only one of the nuts actually reassembled a nut

[clayt74]

sorry, here are some pics 

[Andy FZS]

Pipes looks nice, I'm going to remove and repaint mine but I might wait until the end of the year just in case.....What do you think of your crash bobbins / sliders I've been looking for some but they seem to vary greatly in price and I can't decide what to buy.
Andy

[clayt74]

those one are R&G, they certainly were not the cheapest, i think i paid about £60 delivered.
they were the very first thing i added to the bike cos i have to push it out quite an awkward space each morning and was paranoid of dropping it without even getting out to the road :o .

I had read some people saying that the cheaper bungs can cause more damage than good by causing the frame to twist???
I chose the R&G cos the have machined blocks that spread across both engine mounting bolts and fit solid against the frame (IMO spreading any impact across the strongest point of frame/engine)
they came with all fixings and in principle are easy to just bolt on, but i had slight alignment problems and a couple of the bolts need slight persuasion.

[red98]

sorry, here are some pics 

you should have cleaned the front of the engine while you had the pipes off  ......they do look good