I ordered my HMF high mounts last year, but hadn't had a chance to install them until yesterday.
There should seriously be an "I've installed HMF and lived to tell about it" club or designation on the forum. Those sunna guns were hell to install!
I had to uninstall and install the things no less that 5 times, dinging up my oil cooler and radiator in the process.
Ultimately, by the 3rd install I was starting to see an emerging pattern. No matter that I did, the left rear pipe still touched the swing arm. Finally I got an idea to use washers, although I was desperate at the time and really didn't think it would work. I used 3 washers on the rear bolt in addition to the spacers. And just like that, I had a perfect fit. Interesting enough the 1/8 inch of the 3 washers ultimately translated into a 1/2 inch of clearance from the swing arm.
In the end I decided not to install the rear foot pegs, seeming I had so much trouble to get it right, I didn't want anything else getting in my way.
The install looks great, I can't wait to fire it up "My battery is dead at the moment, and I couldn't push start it".
In reflection, for those of you that want advice on how to cut time and pain installing these things, I provide the following instructions based on what I learned during the whole ordeal:
1. Tape some cardboard to the backside of the radiator and oil cooler to avoid damage. All it takes is one accidental bump and you will be spending hours combing out the fins.
2. Start everything out separately. Do not put any piece together, it needs to go on in order. Start off the header pipes on one side, making sure they are flush to the exhaust ports, tightening them with your fingers so that you can easily rotate the pipes down below the oil pan without them moving about above "this proved to be very critical".
3. Take the collector and line up the 2 header pipes so that they match up perfectly to the collector. This will give you the proper angle for the install. For reference everything should be lined up perfectly "no pipes at an angle into the other" and close to the oil pan. Mark the angle with a marker "make sure you make this as straight as possible because once you insert the pipe the line will no longer match up properly if it isn't straight.
4. Remove the header pipes and assemble them to the collector matching up the lines. Do this off of the bike, this will help you get a good fit lineing up everything with out tugging and pulling on things below getting everything out of whack. Install the springs, and make sure that where the header pipes connect to the exhaust ports, they are flush when exactly 3.5 inches apart measuring from one outer edger of the pipe to the other outer edge. So to recap, make sure the lines are matched up and the ends of the headers are flush and flat with each other when spaced 3.5 inches apart. This will assure that the headers mount flush to the gaskets and everything is lined up properly below.
Last minute tip, use some tape to make sure the angles don't slide during the install.
5. Install the assembly back to the bike, making sure the headers are flush and finger tight and everything is still lined up. Repeat for the other side. Be gentle, don't force anything, make sure that everything stays properly aligned. If you have done it correctly this far, it should all fit very snug, solid and straight.
6. Once you have assembled and attached both sides "now" attach the cross pipe. some WD-40 will aide in this, just be careful not to mess up your alignment, so don't force it, take baby steps until it is fully inserted. Install the cross pipe springs. Once the cross pipe is installed examine your progress, making sure that clearance is the same on both sides and everything looks symmetrical and straight. At pipe connections there should be no angles "this was not quite apparent the first couple times of trying to install." There is no room for any mistakes, it has to be dead on. if you question it, it is most likely going to be a problem.
7. Now that you are sure that everything is on straight, and snug to the oil pan as per the example in the instructions that came with the pipes, start with the right side of the bike, placing the mid pipe on "not installing" and attaching the bracket to the canister. Note, leave the bracket a just loose enough that you can adjust if needed. Also don't forget to slide on both exhaust clamps before getting the canister into place or you will have to tear it all apart to get it on. Place everything together and mount the bracket to the sub frame using the spacers behind the bracket. Mine were not all the same size and were poorly cut. You may want to make sure they are flush before the install.
8. Do the same for the right side of the bike, keeping in mind that most people have their problems here, if when tightening the bracket it touches, you will need to place some washers on the rear bolt of the bracket along with the spacer. My magic number was 3, but your mileage may vary.
9. In the end you should have approximately 1/4 inch clearance between the mid pipes and the swing arm with absolutely no touching when sitting and bouncing on the bike "keep in mind swing arm travel". Once you are satisfied with the clearance, tighten down the canister bolts aligning them in the back so they are of equal distance apart from the sub frame box "glove compartment, and level. You first instinct is to align the canisters to the tire, but the tire is almost a full inch closer to the right side of the swing arm than the left, so you want to align it to the sub frame box, which ultimately will be straight with the tail. Also, the inner canister brackets will be close to the tire, but should not be over the tire, because it will touch with swing arm travel proving to be potentially dangerous and damaging to your bike. On mine I had to push in one of the canisters slightly while tightening the exhaust clamp to hold it in place.
10. make sure you tighten the exhaust clamps good and tight so nothing moves at all, test clearance of your plastics. You don't have to fully put them on but make sure everything is lying where it needs to be and the exhaust should NEVER touch ANYWHERE, if it does you need to tweak your install until you get it right.
11. Once everything checks out, tighten the headers to the engine, hand tight only, they don't have to be too tight, gage this by how hard you had to turn to remove them. Reassemble everything and enjoy.
Hopefully this will cut down your install time from 14 hours that it took me to something like 5. "hopefully..."
Just take your time, have someone help, make sure everything is straight from the very beginning, and protect you radiator and oil cooler, and washers! washers saved me from going on a killing spree.
Regards,
There should seriously be an "I've installed HMF and lived to tell about it" club or designation on the forum. Those sunna guns were hell to install!
I had to uninstall and install the things no less that 5 times, dinging up my oil cooler and radiator in the process.
Ultimately, by the 3rd install I was starting to see an emerging pattern. No matter that I did, the left rear pipe still touched the swing arm. Finally I got an idea to use washers, although I was desperate at the time and really didn't think it would work. I used 3 washers on the rear bolt in addition to the spacers. And just like that, I had a perfect fit. Interesting enough the 1/8 inch of the 3 washers ultimately translated into a 1/2 inch of clearance from the swing arm.
In the end I decided not to install the rear foot pegs, seeming I had so much trouble to get it right, I didn't want anything else getting in my way.
The install looks great, I can't wait to fire it up "My battery is dead at the moment, and I couldn't push start it".
In reflection, for those of you that want advice on how to cut time and pain installing these things, I provide the following instructions based on what I learned during the whole ordeal:
1. Tape some cardboard to the backside of the radiator and oil cooler to avoid damage. All it takes is one accidental bump and you will be spending hours combing out the fins.
2. Start everything out separately. Do not put any piece together, it needs to go on in order. Start off the header pipes on one side, making sure they are flush to the exhaust ports, tightening them with your fingers so that you can easily rotate the pipes down below the oil pan without them moving about above "this proved to be very critical".
3. Take the collector and line up the 2 header pipes so that they match up perfectly to the collector. This will give you the proper angle for the install. For reference everything should be lined up perfectly "no pipes at an angle into the other" and close to the oil pan. Mark the angle with a marker "make sure you make this as straight as possible because once you insert the pipe the line will no longer match up properly if it isn't straight.
4. Remove the header pipes and assemble them to the collector matching up the lines. Do this off of the bike, this will help you get a good fit lineing up everything with out tugging and pulling on things below getting everything out of whack. Install the springs, and make sure that where the header pipes connect to the exhaust ports, they are flush when exactly 3.5 inches apart measuring from one outer edger of the pipe to the other outer edge. So to recap, make sure the lines are matched up and the ends of the headers are flush and flat with each other when spaced 3.5 inches apart. This will assure that the headers mount flush to the gaskets and everything is lined up properly below.
Last minute tip, use some tape to make sure the angles don't slide during the install.
5. Install the assembly back to the bike, making sure the headers are flush and finger tight and everything is still lined up. Repeat for the other side. Be gentle, don't force anything, make sure that everything stays properly aligned. If you have done it correctly this far, it should all fit very snug, solid and straight.
6. Once you have assembled and attached both sides "now" attach the cross pipe. some WD-40 will aide in this, just be careful not to mess up your alignment, so don't force it, take baby steps until it is fully inserted. Install the cross pipe springs. Once the cross pipe is installed examine your progress, making sure that clearance is the same on both sides and everything looks symmetrical and straight. At pipe connections there should be no angles "this was not quite apparent the first couple times of trying to install." There is no room for any mistakes, it has to be dead on. if you question it, it is most likely going to be a problem.
7. Now that you are sure that everything is on straight, and snug to the oil pan as per the example in the instructions that came with the pipes, start with the right side of the bike, placing the mid pipe on "not installing" and attaching the bracket to the canister. Note, leave the bracket a just loose enough that you can adjust if needed. Also don't forget to slide on both exhaust clamps before getting the canister into place or you will have to tear it all apart to get it on. Place everything together and mount the bracket to the sub frame using the spacers behind the bracket. Mine were not all the same size and were poorly cut. You may want to make sure they are flush before the install.
8. Do the same for the right side of the bike, keeping in mind that most people have their problems here, if when tightening the bracket it touches, you will need to place some washers on the rear bolt of the bracket along with the spacer. My magic number was 3, but your mileage may vary.
9. In the end you should have approximately 1/4 inch clearance between the mid pipes and the swing arm with absolutely no touching when sitting and bouncing on the bike "keep in mind swing arm travel". Once you are satisfied with the clearance, tighten down the canister bolts aligning them in the back so they are of equal distance apart from the sub frame box "glove compartment, and level. You first instinct is to align the canisters to the tire, but the tire is almost a full inch closer to the right side of the swing arm than the left, so you want to align it to the sub frame box, which ultimately will be straight with the tail. Also, the inner canister brackets will be close to the tire, but should not be over the tire, because it will touch with swing arm travel proving to be potentially dangerous and damaging to your bike. On mine I had to push in one of the canisters slightly while tightening the exhaust clamp to hold it in place.
10. make sure you tighten the exhaust clamps good and tight so nothing moves at all, test clearance of your plastics. You don't have to fully put them on but make sure everything is lying where it needs to be and the exhaust should NEVER touch ANYWHERE, if it does you need to tweak your install until you get it right.
11. Once everything checks out, tighten the headers to the engine, hand tight only, they don't have to be too tight, gage this by how hard you had to turn to remove them. Reassemble everything and enjoy.
Hopefully this will cut down your install time from 14 hours that it took me to something like 5. "hopefully..."
Just take your time, have someone help, make sure everything is straight from the very beginning, and protect you radiator and oil cooler, and washers! washers saved me from going on a killing spree.
Regards,