To recap, I was ridin' the busa around the driveway the other day without a helmet and discovered that I had an exhaust leak. I mentioned the leak on the board and thought it was prolly because I didn't replace the gaskets between the headers and the head exhaust ports when I installed my BDE/Hindle system. In that thread some of you (I remember grabntwist for sure, can't remember who else) said that it prolly wasn't the gaskets and suggested checkin' the spigot bolts and all the pipe joints in the exhaust.
Well I finally had time today to try and find/fix the leak. As with most busa wrenchin' projects I started by gettin' 'er nekkid.
After removin' the lowers I fired 'er up to listen for the leak. Well, I've got good news and bad news. Good news is that I don't have to pull the headers to put in new gaskets. She's quite as a mouse up there. Bad news is the worst and loudest leak is apparently in a seam in my Hindle can.
(pic included below... of course) Even worse, when I hear it without a helmet it sounds like a fuggin' Ford Pinto on steroids with a bad muffler. I'm ashamed for people to hear it when I ride.
I also found a very, VERY slight leak in the slip joint between the right header and collector pipe and a very slight leak between the collector pipe and the mid pipe. Couldn't hear those except when I got right up on them. Nothing a little Ultra Copper gasket gunk won't fix. Didn't put any on those joints during install since Brock's instructions didn't call for any there. Knew I should have...
Anyway, back to the worst, loudest leak. I can feel a fair amount of exhaust gas blowin' out of the seam where the titanium sleeve overlaps at the bottom of the can, right below where the mid pipe goes into it. I eliminated the possibility that it could be coming from the mid pipe/can joint by wrappin' my hand around that joint tightly. Nothin' was hittin' the inside of my hand but I could feel the exhaust gas blowin' across the back of my fingers from that joint.
This sucks. I can pull the system apart leavin' the headers on and Ultra Copper seal the slip joint leaks but I don't really know how to fix this short of fillin' this joint/seam with somethin'. Not crazy about that idea though. It'd be tough to fill it with anything that would really stay without gettin' it all over the front of the can and makin' it look like shid. Not sure how to handle this leak yet. Gonna contact Tom @ Veltune and see if he or Brock have any ideas.
Anyway, you know me... I took a picture of it. Here's the area the leak is comin' from. Gotta love those Macro close-up lenses.
Well I finally had time today to try and find/fix the leak. As with most busa wrenchin' projects I started by gettin' 'er nekkid.
I also found a very, VERY slight leak in the slip joint between the right header and collector pipe and a very slight leak between the collector pipe and the mid pipe. Couldn't hear those except when I got right up on them. Nothing a little Ultra Copper gasket gunk won't fix. Didn't put any on those joints during install since Brock's instructions didn't call for any there. Knew I should have...
Anyway, back to the worst, loudest leak. I can feel a fair amount of exhaust gas blowin' out of the seam where the titanium sleeve overlaps at the bottom of the can, right below where the mid pipe goes into it. I eliminated the possibility that it could be coming from the mid pipe/can joint by wrappin' my hand around that joint tightly. Nothin' was hittin' the inside of my hand but I could feel the exhaust gas blowin' across the back of my fingers from that joint.
This sucks. I can pull the system apart leavin' the headers on and Ultra Copper seal the slip joint leaks but I don't really know how to fix this short of fillin' this joint/seam with somethin'. Not crazy about that idea though. It'd be tough to fill it with anything that would really stay without gettin' it all over the front of the can and makin' it look like shid. Not sure how to handle this leak yet. Gonna contact Tom @ Veltune and see if he or Brock have any ideas.
Anyway, you know me... I took a picture of it. Here's the area the leak is comin' from. Gotta love those Macro close-up lenses.
