Exhaust questions

[Mumford]

Excuse me if answers have been posted before. Since both the headers and cans are in pretty rough shape on my LS, I'm planning on giving high-temp engine paint a shot before biting the bullet and going for an outright replacement. After a weekend of penetrating oil, and with the help of a mini-torch, a Bob's exhaust wrench, and the enthusiastic application of a hammer, I managed to get the nuts free. . .one in good shape, the other will have to be replaced. So here's the question. . .now that I have the exhaust free from the bike, is there any secret to freeing up the rather badly frozen crossovers, or is it hacksaw time? Thanks,
-Adam

[Chris_in_BC]

If you have removed the mufflers and the exhaust nuts and support straps, and you are only going to paint why not leave the crossovers connected? With a bit of tapping the pipes should come out of the heads with everything still together.

Paint and replace.

But make sure you cover the exhaust threads on the heads with anti-seize before  re-assembling and don't use the high torque value the manual says. Just snug them up tight so it isn't leaking.

Chris

[suecanada]

Leaving crossovers (2) in place is a great idea BUT how does one remove the exhaust system without lifting the bike up with a skyhook? The crossovers are on either side of the centrestand or the sidestand so neither of these can be down when removing the system...Am I correct in this or just haven't learned the way to do it? One cannot move the system forward or backward to remove. This is why 1 crossover would be nice.

[Chris_in_BC]

Hi Sue,
 You very well maybe right.  But I just looked under the bike and the rear crossover is about 4 inches behind the sump. Is there not enough room to go forward the 2 inches to get the pipes out of the heads ? Then it should drop down but still be trapped by the centrestand. You could then tilt bike to one side at a time to remove the pipes.

We also don't have a BMW sidestand on the bike, but a Brown, so that also might be a consideration.

I will admit though that I did separate the cross-overs myself last time, so I am talking from a theoretical standpoint and as such might be right out to lunch. Has happened may times. :-/

Chris

[Bob_Roller]

I just took the exhaust system off of my '81 R65 this afternoon, and I had to separate the crossover tubes to get it out. I anti-seized all of the connections last time it was apart, and this time it came right apart with a few hits of a dead blow hammer.

[Mumford]

Thanks for all the help. With the crossovers in place, there was enough room to get the pipes out of the heads, and after removing the sidestand, just enough room to wiggle them around til they were free of the frame and on the ground. At this point, just a matter of turning them perpendicular to the bike, and rocking the bike on the (stock) centerstand to get them out. The interesting part, I think, will come when I try to get them back on without scratching the new paint.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Have a friend help.