How to Install Motorcycle Exhaust: Remove Old Motorcycle Exhaust and Install New Motorcycle Exhaust

The first major modification to a bike is often the muffler. Whether it is supposed to perform better, weigh less, sound more throaty or look better is irrelevant for the sequence of work steps.

Whether the ravages of time have broken the standard part, whether the eye has had enough or the ear has had enough – it doesn’t matter. This is not about fundamental questions of taste, but about the technical part: How does the new exhaust come to the motorcycle.

Tools

We assume that the motorcycle is stable, dry and parked with sufficient working space. The new muffler is ready to hand and the tool assortment includes at least the following items: ring and open-end wrenches in sizes 8 to 17; socket wrenches with T-handle in 12, 13 and 14 or a ratchet with extension and corresponding sockets; torque wrench, wire brush, emery paper, copper paste, spray oil/rust remover, a small metal saw just in case, screwdriver as well as a spring hook to be able to disassemble and reassemble the tension springs without injury.

Check seals

While you’re at it: Is your old exhaust still tight? Run the engine and check – be careful, it’s hot! – check all the seals in the system by holding your hand two centimeters away from them. If something blows through, you’ll notice it right away. The sketch below right shows where seals can leak. If you notice a leak, don’t just tighten the screws on the outside! This only deforms the pipes and makes them leak even more. Defective seals must be replaced, end of announcement.

Dismantle the old pot

Let’s get to the heart of the matter: remove the old pot so that the new one will fit:

1. Loosen the clamping screw of the exhaust clamp at the connection of muffler to exhaust manifold. The screw is usually as dirty as it is rusty, so first remove the coarsest dirt with a wire brush, spray with rust remover, let it work for a few minutes. Open the screw with an exactly fitting hexagon nut.
2. Spray nut and bolt on muffler (often on pillion footrest) with rust solvent. Open nut with wrench, hold screw head with nut against it.
3. Dismantle the muffler. If the package gasket is crumbled, the muffler is usually relatively easy to pull off. If the gasket is older, it likes to stick in its seat. Spray with rust solvent, grab the pot with both hands and pull it off with light twisting motions.

Install new pot

1. Get a new exhaust gasket. This silvery-black sleeve is similar to a gauze bandage and
   similar to a gauze bandage and should be handled with care.
2. Dismantle the old gasket, if necessary use a saw. Contact points
   of the exhaust gasket on the outside of the exhaust manifold pipe and in the clamping point
   of the muffler. Thoroughly remove rust and remains of gasket with steel brush and emery paper.
3. Lubricate the inside and outside of the new exhaust gasket with copper paste and push it into its seat in the clamping point of the connecting pipe on the exhaust silencer all the way down to the stop. This must be easy, nothing must jam – otherwise: Pull out the seal again and slightly widen the opening until the pipe can be pushed on without force. 4.
4. Push the muffler on in line with the manifold pipe, do not tilt (otherwise the seal will be damaged), and use slight twisting movements to push the muffler on until the rear retaining lug comes into contact with the retaining hole.
5. Position clamp so that the hook engages in the cutout and the clamping point faces backwards/downwards towards the tire. Screw in screw and tighten to approx. 20 Nm. 6.
6. Slide washer onto bolt, insert bolt through hole in bracket, slide on additional washer, screw on nut and tighten to approx. 25 Nm.