Exhaust gaskets.....

[YEN_POWELL]

All done. Hardest part was getting the nuts onto the header stud closest to the shock.

I used

ratchet
allen socket (side panels)
12mm socket (bottom clamp)
10mm socket (header stud nuts)
wobble extension bars (short and long)
locking extension bars (short and long)
coppaslip grease
one header gasket
one balance box gasket
3 cups of tea
radio 2
one half inch square of skin from my thumb
Lidl battery light (most vital of all the tools, it's very dark in there)

[YEN_POWELL]

Gaskets obtained from
Motorcycle Parts & Motorbike Spares at Motorcycle Products Ltd UK

[YEN_POWELL]

Did a proper test ride today when I went sloe picking.

The bike is a lot nicer when poodling round small 'first gear' roundabouts as when the exhaust was leaking it made it very jerky at low revs. Bike tested to well above legal speed limits on the A120 and held up fine. Now to see how long till it needs doing again!

[Jackdaw]

[QUOTE=YEN_POWELL;604158]Did a proper test ride today when I went sloe picking.

Sloe Gin? Nice Plenty about this year

[YEN_POWELL]

[QUOTE=Jackdaw;604201]

Did a proper test ride today when I went sloe picking.

Sloe Gin? Nice Plenty about this year

I'm missing a square of skin from the inside of my right thumb after the exhaust refit. Guess where the bloody sloe bush plants' thorns kept digging in!!!!

[Alba]

novice question;

Now that I have the old gaskets off and replaced with new ones how do i open the 'over fitting part' wide enough to go over the new gaskets as these have been clamped down to the compress the old gaskets and are way too small in diameter. hope this makes sense....

[Boris]

novice question;

Now that I have the old gaskets off and replaced with new ones how do i open the 'over fitting part' wide enough to go over the new gaskets as these have been clamped down to the compress the old gaskets and are way too small in diameter. hope this makes sense....

From memory I used the biggest socket in the box and put a long extension on it then put it in the end of the pipe and waggled it around to open it up. I suppose failing that you could grip each third lightly with mole grips and lever open. The clamp will pull it all back to round again if you slightly misshape the pipe.

I'm also pretty sure I fitted the gaskets to the larger diameter pipe first and then slid the smaller pipe in.

[Alba]

Cheers Boris, the mole grips were my option, may have access to a couple of sockets to open them out in stages .

[Wimborne Trev]

I bought a XL1000V2 last year that was basically OK but hadn't had much TLC. (The price was fair.) It's been a great bike taking the wife and me to 3000 metres at the Stella, a tour of Ireland and a few rallies but ... it's been popping so with a bit of time available I thought I would sort it. My experience has been a lot closer to what Dee Duble Yuh described. Every nut and bolt was seized solid and I had to strip the back end down and even take the chain and front sprocket cover off (to get access to the rear cylinder collar bolts and to get my grinder at the rear clamp). All the clamps were seized solid, the front collar was firmly joined to the exhaust pipe and the studs came out of the rear cylinder with the nuts attached. The two clips off the collector were easy enough being accessible but as Dee Duble Yuh said, there's not much space to get a grinder at the clamp on the rear downpipe. I used nylon ties to strap protective metal around the swinging arm, etc. (Oh yes, the SW Motech stand had to come off as well. Should there be a rubber stop on it?) The two bladders to the exhausts were OK but there was nothing left of the bladder that should be snuggly around the down pipe.

Before I started I looked up the fix for this on the international Vardero site and bought the VW clamp. I have to say it doesn't look a good fit and I'm thinking about getting the genuine item from Honda. It seems to be too wide to fit inside a slight bulge at the top of the collector pipe. Has anyone else tried these VW clamps?

The little devil below gave me hours of fun!

[steveR]

Just a thought after reading Trev's post, if you have a job like this coming up, take a couple of days and wirebrush the thread first and then squirt something like Plusgas or WD40 on the offending nut or bolt several times and let it soak in well. You will often find that this will allow things to come undone

You do need time though, some rusted farm machinery gets a week or two's treatment if I cannot use an oxyacetylene spanner!!