Rebuilding stock 86 Interstate headers

[Peter]

My bike has been running loud and poorly lately so I finally decided to hunt the problem down.

Symptoms are, a bit of back firing and lack of power during acceleration.

Stripped the bike down to check ignition, coils, cables... that sort of thing (to be dealt with later) only to discover an exhaust leak in my right header right where it connects to the exhaust.

Pulled the exhaust system off and discovered the following.

-Right header was almost completely snapped. The tube that mates with the exhaust had separated from the header and was only being held in place by a 1/2' curve of pipe, this broke off when I removed the exhaust.
-I removed the left header and found another hole on that pipe, but the pipe itself was still attached.


Clearly I need to repair the headers.

My questions...
-has anyone done this before?
-are they stainless steel?
-any idea where I can buy the pipe or get this done? (in my area, size of pipe)
- where can I buy the fibre gasket that goes between the header and exhaust for a 86 Interstate? (ebay does not offer an 86 type gasket)
-do you think this will solve my acceleration problem?

Hope you guys can help (I am sure you can)

Cheers and thanks... Peter

[admin]

My questions...
-has anyone done this before?
Yes, I have, at home, successfully.

-are they stainless steel?
No, just mild steel.

-any idea where I can buy the pipe or get this done? (in my area, size of pipe)
Most muffler shops have what you need.

- where can I buy the fibre gasket that goes between the header and exhaust for a 86 Interstate? (ebay does not offer an 86 type gasket)
Your local Honda dealer.

-do you think this will solve my acceleration problem?
No, I doubt it. Sounds like carb rebuild time. Typically the pilot jets get dirty or plugged. See Randakk for a kit.

[Roleketu]

I just purchased the tapered gasket between the header and mufflers from my local Honda dealer. Funny, they stock one, and two go on a bike. Depending on your budget, check Ebay for a set of used header pipes.

[Peter]

All great answers... confidence is high.

Thanks... Peter

[Peter]

Situation to date.

Good news... I have all the parts from Honda. That's two fibre gaskets and four "o" rings.

Bad news... I have to custom make the new exhaust extensions. No one seems to sell the stock mm size I need. They all have 1.5" or 1.75" but not 42mm.

Anyone have any ideas as to where I can buy 42mm exhaust pipe. I am talking two pieces 85mm long and 42mm OD.

Cheers Peter

[Guest]

Most any muffler shop should be able to expand a smaller piece of pipe to the right size. Poorboy

[Peter]

Do's and Don'ts (learn from my trial and error)

Don't... try to cut a 1.75" OD exhaust pipe and re-weld it to be 42mm OD. Success was very low.

Do... find that little muffler shop that sells a line of products by ROL exhaust http://www.rolmfg.com/exhaust.htm. They produce a connector pipe that is 3.5" long and 1.5" ID the entire length. Beauty is 1.5" ID turns out to be 42.5mm OD which is to as close to perfect as it gets. The Honda exhaust gasket being 42.7mm ID. The ROL exhaust part number is 548 519, cost is about $5 each.

[Peter]

Rebuild was mostly successful.

Could not accurately get the angle of the new extensions so a little exhaust putty had to be used to plug the leaks.

Re-assembly was a little rough but once I figured out the sequence all was well.

Had to buy...
Two exhaust extensions for the repair ($12), two exhaust connecting gaskets ($20), and four exhaust header gaskets ($10), one package of exhaust putty ($8), one bandaid ($.09), and I called in a favour at the local machine/welding shop ($0).

It now sounds like I need to balance the carbs or go through a complete carb rebuild... apparently someone in the forum sells kits... anyone... anyone.

I was going to sell... I said "WAS"... but now that it sounds nice and it's riding weather I decided to keep it. I think my better half is okay with that... I said "I think?" :-\ .

Cheers Peter