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Spin the nuts on by hand till contact is made with the flange, apply a 1/2" socket preferably using a 1/4" extension to get past the downtube on the upper nut, then tighten 1 turn at a time, alternating between upper and lower nuts until tight. And not Gorilla tight either. I think the spec is 90 inch pounds, but I don't use a torque wrench on these. You'll know when they're tight.
Then ride the bike through a couple heat cycles and retighten.
I've always had success following the service manual sequence:
a. Tighten the top nut of the front cylinder head exhaustflange to 9-18 in-lbs (1-2 Nm).
Tighten the bottomnut to 100-120 in-lbs (11.3-13.6 Nm).
Final tighten the top nut to 100-120 in-lbs (11.3-13.6 Nm).
b. Tighten the bottom nut of the rear cylinder headexhaust flange to 9-18 in-lbs (1-2 Nm).
Tighten thetop nut to 100-120 in-lbs (11.3-13.6 Nm).
Final tightenthe bottom nut to 100-120 in-lbs (11.3-13.6 Nm)
IMHO, the best results come from using the following tips:
Use the appropriate gasket for the exhaust header design, where it fits into the exhaust port at the head.... ie: the cone shaped exhaust headers seal best with the OEM tapered, collapsable gaskets. The flat, square exhaust headers seal best with flat, square "Screamin' Eagle'" style exhaust gaskets.
Always re-torque after a few heat cycles.
Always ensure the exhaust clamp retaining clips are in good shape. If they are twisted or warped, they won't allow the clamps to properly pull the header into the exhaust port against the exhaust gasket. On poorly designed, or off-brand exhaust headers, I've know people to solve leaking exhaust at the head, by doubling up the retaining clips..
If your shields are still on, removing them makes it easier. If your tightening the whole system, hang the system loosely but in the proper place and start at the head and work your way to the rear.
I have a 2008 Heritage, stage 1, with the Khrome Werks 3" Slash cut mufflers.
I recently removed the baffles to compare tone and the packing was destroyed.
I realized I prefer the tone WITH the original packing vs. without packing and now cannot seem to identify their packing and wrap "blend", as it looks like multiple layers.
Aside from the photos looking like a decaying bird carcass, any idea how I can reproduce this type of packing/wrap to restore the original tone?
It looks as if it begins with a glass wrap, followed by a glass mat(about 1/2" thick), and then all wrapped with a paper type material, which I have not seen anywhere.
I have a 2008 Heritage, stage 1, with the Khrome Werks 3" Slash cut mufflers.
I recently removed the baffles to compare tone and the packing was destroyed.
I realized I prefer the tone WITH the original packing vs. without packing and now cannot seem to identify their packing and wrap "blend", as it looks like multiple layers.
Aside from the photos looking like a decaying bird carcass, any idea how I can reproduce this type of packing/wrap to restore the original tone?
It look as if it begins with a glass wrap, followed by a glass mat(about 1/2" thick), and then all wrapped with a paper type material, which I have not seen anywhere.
J&P Cycles and probably a couple other places on line have exhaust baffle wrap.
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