Hitchcocks Forum

I recently fit a new exhaust to my 350 iron barrelled Bullet from 2001. I learned a few things, which I record here for the benefit of other forum members:

Getting a tight fit in the head
My exhaust was not a tight fit in the cylinder head. I did not want it to leak like the last one. So I ordered a cheap "exhaust pipe expander" from ebay, to try to stretch it a bit and make it tight. That was a waste of money - the tool broke. Then I looked at the can of beer I was drinking, knocked it back, rinsed it out, and cut a strip off it with scissors. I smeared it with a bit of exhaust paste and inserted it in the head, followed by the exhaust, and it's given a perfect seal.

Middle bracket missing?
My exhaust pipe had no middle bracket, for the attachment point near the gearbox. After discussions with our hosts, I fitted a stainless steel exhaust band, bolted to a strip of stainless steel that I had lying around. By bending and drilling the strip, it made a neat bracket.

Sealing between header pipe and silencer
As noted elsewear on this forum, exhaust paste does not seem to work between two chromed components, it has nothing to stick to. But bathroom sealant works a treat.

I hope these tips are useful to someone.

i remember years ago my dad cutting up a coke can to take up play between the silencer and down pipe of a siamese exuast system on a 350 triumph i owned

A coke can makes a perfect shim for the yokes when fitting v-max forks to a fj 1100