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!
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!
#Driven by the irony that only being shackled to the road could ever I be free.#