AberdeenBikers

Ok, I ordered a set of the A&R race baffles for my bike and they finally arrived on Tuesday.

Went up to my garage this afternoon to get them fitted (after a quick trip to B&Q to buy some shiny new tools) and almost instantly came across a problem.

I can't get the bloody exhausts off!

I removed the rear cowl, seat and seat section, unbolted the exhausts from their hangers, fought with the Monster jubilee clips for 20 odd minutes somehow head-butting the pointy seat locking mechanism in the process (bloody painful) then eventually managed to snap one of the bolts and undo the other.

After all that I'm fairly convinced that there's nothing holding the exhausts onto the bike and yet I still can't get the farkers off!

I'm normally confident enough piddling around with these things but I'm completely stumped with this one!

I've already dowsed the things in WD-40 in a lame attempt to get them to shift but that failed miserably.

Anyone have any bright ideas or fancy helping me pull the bar-stewards off?


I've given up for today to start the hunt for a cold beer, 3 hours of fighting with the bike is long enough!


Rowan's bike - 1
Rowan - 0

Did you clean my bike while you were there

If you want any help or someone just to sit and call you speeeeeeeeeshalllll then i can nip down tomorrow. I can give you yer £15 too

A gentle mullering with a big rubber mallet may be required if they've been put together with some sort of exhaust paste.
Tried wiggling them? Is there no movement at all? Are you completely sure you've taken off all the bolts that could possibly be holding them on?

Sounds like youve "exhausted" all avenues there Rowan!!

I'm on the wrong side of town, but if youre still struggling tomorrow and cant get any local help then give me a shout and I will pop round and help.

Enjoy your beer mate

speedaddictedberk wrote:A gentle mullering with a big rubber mallet may be required if they've been put together with some sort of exhaust paste.
Tried wiggling them? Is there no movement at all? Are you completely sure you've taken off all the bolts that could possibly be holding them on?

Ditto, they can be pretty tough. Gently work away at them and they will eventually come loose. The paste is just a gasket so it shouldnt be too hard to break. By what youve described the design doesnt include springs but its worth checking there are not any there.

coullstar wrote:

speedaddictedberk wrote:A gentle mullering with a big rubber mallet may be required if they've been put together with some sort of exhaust paste.
Tried wiggling them? Is there no movement at all? Are you completely sure you've taken off all the bolts that could possibly be holding them on?

Ditto, they can be pretty tough. Gently work away at them and they will eventually come loose. The paste is just a gasket so it shouldnt be too hard to break. By what youve described the design doesnt include springs but its worth checking there are not any there.

@ Speed, all bolts are definitely undone.

@ Coull, I've wiggled them about, pulled with all my weight, swore at them allot and still no joy!

Sprayed a ridiculous amount of WD-40 into the joints and again, still nothing!

Maybe I'm just retarded?

I dunno, I'll try again tomorrow and see whats what!

RK6 wrote:
Maybe I'm just retarded?

Mmmmmm yep!!!!

Well, I had my second attempt of getting this sorted today and yet again I've failed miserably!

So far I've removed this lot:



Leaving it something like this:



Fought with these bloody clips:



Eventually leaving it looking like this:



And now after all that we're left with this:



Notice that the damn exhausts are still on the bike!!


There's a copper wire gasket type thing that doesn't seem to want to let go of the cans and thats why I cant get the things off!

I tried running the engine for a bit in the hope that the metal would expand under the heat and allow the cans to slip off.


FAIL!


I tried prising the flaps on the link pipe to separate them from the gasket.


FAIL!


I then tried beating the living hell out of the joints with a rubber mallet.


Yup, you guessed it!


FAILED!


Looks like I'll have to find a 'grown up' to finish the job.


And yes, I'm well aware that I've managed to get WD-40 absolutely everywhere in the above process!

Dunno Rowan. Are you 100% sure that there's no other bolts holding the cans on further up? From your photos it's just the copper exhaust gasket that's holding the can onto it's link pipe.

One of our other underseat-canned R1 owners must have fitted replacement cans to their bike, haven't they?

Having a look through Ebay it looks like the standard R1 exhausts have a top fitting just to the right of the dirty mark on your can (side pic)

see this pic

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-r1-2004-20 ... 240%3A1318



BTW teh standard Yamaha Jubilee clips shouldn't come off the can

Walter changed his cans on his 06 R1.

He may be able to help.

If it's just the copper gaskets it shouldn't be that hard to move the cans. In the 2nd photo are the can mountings above the gold coloured bar (probably the seat mount)? Is there any brackets between the cans or under the heatsheilds that could be in the way?

I'd call Ecosse and ask them how hard this normally is, there may be a special knack to getting the cans off.

@ Keith, there's definitely nothing left other than the gasket to hold the cans to the bike.

It's extremely awkward to wiggle them free as the undertray is in the way and you need the cans off to get that off!

@ Dave, you're right in saying that the clips shouldn't come off but one of them snapped so there's not much I can do there.

@ Brent, I'll be calling Ecosse tomorrow to ask just that!

Reckon I'm gonna have to strip the bike further to detach the CAT from the downpipes and pull the whole lot free. . .

Then figure out how to get the CAT free from the cans.

Joy!

maybe you need to get someone that knows what there doing before you reck your bike.

He's hardly wrecked his bike, all parts will go back. This is how you learn, when things dont go as planned. Im sure you've been in the same sort of situation before.

doogle wrote:maybe you need to get someone that knows what there doing before you reck your bike.

coullstar wrote:He's hardly wrecked his bike, all parts will go back. This is how you learn, when things dont go as planned. Im sure you've been in the same sort of situation before.

Cheers Coull

doogle wrote:maybe you need to get someone that knows what there doing before you wreck your bike.

Agree. If you can afford a bike like that, you can afford to have it worked on by trained professionals.

RK6 wrote: @ Dave, you're right in saying that the clips shouldn't come off but one of them snapped so there's not much I can do there.

Think that kinda proves doogles point.

My advice. Put it all back together and get it booked in before you break something a bit more essential.

No sense of adventure some folk. Think I should wheel this over to Shirlaws and get them to put it back together?

Dickie wrote:No sense of adventure some folk. Think I should wheel this over to Shirlaws and get them to put it back together?

The difference being, you obviously know what your doing.

For one, you have a proper garage.

You've got to start somewhere though and part of what this forum should be about is helping each other out and (hopefully) saving a bit of money. If you can get to a point where you're competent to do the work to as good or better a standard than the local mechanic can, then you've reached a state of Nirvana.

Must stop drinking in the afternoon...

meepmeep wrote: If you can afford a bike like that, you can afford to have it worked on by trained professionals

ha ha ha your havin a laugh aint you ??? where do these trained professionals work ??? i stopped putting my bike into Yamahahahaha because of the bafoons they had workin there at the time !!! i would much rather do any work on my bikes myself

i cant understand why Rowans cans wont come off , but ile bet its probably got somethin to do with a previous owner of the bike not knowin what they are doing as it sounds like his cans have been glued on

meepmeep wrote:The difference being, you obviously know what your doing.

For one, you have a proper garage.

Who needs a garage! How do you know you can do something until you try?

I took round an electronic copy of the R1 manualand had a little look at the exhausts.
It looks like they have never been off the bike and even though all the bolds are loose, the braded copper exhaust gaskets are not for budging.
They are just a friction fit but by-flukk they are on tight.

The bolt a the bottom of the Y piece is corroded solid as well so it looks like it has never been off either.

Would be a lot simpler if the previous owner had copperslipped up the bolts.

Personally I'd keep going and finish the job, you learn more when things don't go smoothly and it's not like anything irreversable has been done. You'll probably be surprised by how little has actually come off the bike when it goes back together.
If you take off the heatshields/undertray you'll have a lot more room to work. Do you have a blowtorch? Heating up the joint may be enough to loosen it off (you can get decent blowtorches from halfords for about £25).

I certainly dont think the bike is wrecked, and it's a bit much saying just to take it to the shop. It's not like he's asking how to adjust the clutch lever or trying to port the head by pouring sand into the intake.

How old is the bike?