Exhaust Rings

[Guest]

Well, I finally got my 850 engine back together and running well, but now I'm puzzled by those exhaust rings that came with the Athena gasket set (I did use Suzuki head and base gaskets, for those showing concern).

There were no rings in the head when I took the engine apart, and I didn't have any leaks there. After the head was bead-blasted, I had leaks, so I finally reckoned what those shiny rings in the set were for. I installed them, and the exhaust leakage went away, but now I get rattling/ringing from that area under load. Very annoying, and, I hope, not indicitave of any other issues.

I've search for any reference to these pieces, and have come up zilch. Should I get Suzuki ones instead? Or should I just keep gradually compressing these ones as they warm up?

[Big T]

Are you sure there weren't any in the head?

They get really swished in there over time and it can be hard to tell they're not part of the casting

A ringing sound indicates something loose

Check the proper torque for the bolts, make sure you've put antiseize on them and torque to spec

[Runningdog]

Nope there aren't any rings squished into the head....I had the head bead-blasted during the rebuild, plus the work included a bit of porting, so anything in there would have been removed.

The torque is only to be 7-10 foot pounds, so I'm sure that they are not under-torqued (torqued them with my brand-new inch-pound wrench, with conversion to ft/lbs. carefully checked). Puzzler......