HELP! Looking for a friendly mechanic in my area.

[ActionJax]

Hello,

 

Been awhile since I've been on. My 1983 is up an running for the season, but I still am having trouble with a "serious" exhaust leak. I mean it seems to be leaking in several different locations. I have purchased new gaskets for all the pipe locations. And I guess I'm going to try and tackle it this coming weekend. But I was wondering if there is anyone out there (in my local area of Akron Ohio) that has done this type of thing before and would like to give me a hand?

 

If you can help out or give some advice and would like to get together this weekend, drop me a PM and we'll exchange info.

 

Thanks everyone.

[paysaw]

Hi Jack

This is a big job.You have to be patient.The bad thing is you will not know what the problems are until you take the pipes off.Good luck with this.

[ActionJax]

Big job huh? Great Well, I'll sure give it a try and hopefully get to the bottom of why it smells so bad. It's not gas or anything, just the normal exhaust smell, but you can see it leaking and coming up under the seat and it makes rider and passenger smell/sick. So needless to say my wife isn't enjoying any riding.

 

Yeah, any help/advice would be great! And if somone would like to hang out for the day and give me a hand, that would be good too.

 

Cheers!

[Yammer Dan]

Sounds like exhaust chamber is shot.

[ActionJax]

Could be, but I think its more like the seals/rings around the y-pipe and the seals around the front pipes where they connect to the collector. That's where I see the fumes coming from.

Edited April 16, 2012 by ActionJax
Finishing the thought.

[ActionJax]

Does anyone know or have a link of how (the direction?) that the exhaust gaskets go? I mean they look different on each side. I'm not user which direction they should face. Is there some picture or drawing somewhere that I can check out? Thanks!

[twigg]

Removing, disassembling and replacing the exhaust is not a big job

 

There are caveats though.

 

The night before, squirt PB Blaster or similar on every fastener. Use good fitting tools and they should all come undone.

 

The fasteners holding the collector are easy to get to, and easy to spot with a decent flashlight. You should be able to leave the rear headers in place unless you feel the gaskets are leaking. If so, access is tight but they do come off.

 

The parts diagram shows which gasket goes where and you might think about adding some high temperature RTV, because they can struggle to seal even when the gaskets are new.

 

You may find more corrosion than you are expecting. It is common for the pipe stubs on the collector to be rotting. If so they will never seal and need cutting off and replacing. I had a local muffler warehouse make up some new stubs from stock pipe (it needed stretching), and welded on.

 

You may also have to open the collector to remove the internal baffle. Mine didn't need that.

 

This can be anything from quick and rewarding, to time consuming and frustrating, it all depends what you find when you get the system off the bike.

 

Hope this helps.

[GeorgeS]

See: Chapter 3 in Service Manual.

 

Page: 3 - 81, for photo of all the parts breakdown.

Print out the page, to work from if you don't have a service manuel.

( Go to VR-Tech, on home page, to get to the Service Manuals on this

web site )

 

Whatever tools, you need, Buy them. Forget about the toolkit.

You will need Real Tools. Metric---

 

It the Canister, is burned out, there is a guy who sells a hombrew,

fabriciated Replacement for the canister. (( chamber )) on page 3-81

 

 

Cost is on par with a new Yamaha canister, if its needed.

[ActionJax]

Thanks George.

 

I've got a pretty good set of metric craftsman tools so I should be good. I completely forgot about the VR-Tech area. Found what I needed. Well, wish me luck. Hopefully this will go well.

Edited April 18, 2012 by ActionJax

[ActionJax]

Well, I'm feeling pretty good today. Last night I took a look at that leak exhaust leak and it turned out to not be as bad as I feared. Looks like the gaskets on the front part of the canister/collector connected to the front pipes have failed or rusted or whatever. So since I figured I'm not planning on removing the pipes anytime soon, and I didn't have the money for the expensive gasket, I just ended up using some of that high temp steel puddy that you can pick up at O'Reilly's. And forced it into the crack/leak and voilà...no more leak! And I honestly don't think it looks too bad either.

 

Bottom line..."no more stink!" The wife is happy...I'm happy!

[KarlS]

On my 83 it wasn't the gaskets like I thought, both front inlets of the collector was cracked and leaking and gaskets were fine on the outlets of the front exhaust pipes. Took collector off and had muffler shop weld 1 1/2 ID adapters on both inlets. If your leak starts getting loud again you may want to check for the cracks.