Flange bolts, any tips?

[Katarat]

I tried the 50/50 mix of acetone & automatic transmission fluid and mine came right out of my GS1100 after a 2 hour soaking. The stuff is better then anything you can buy

[exzachtly1]

I tried the 50/50 mix of acetone & automatic transmission fluid and mine came right out of my GS1100 after a 2 hour soaking. The stuff is better then anything you can buy

Cool, think it is worth brushing this on to the remaining stubs? I'm willing to try pretty much anything to help out at this point. Maybe this + some impact screwdriver action will help loosen the ones that aren't flush.

[exzachtly1]

Well, after a (VERY) long time of being in this situation - nearly a month actually - I finally have the new exhaust on!

loud_et came over on Monday night and helped me with the drilling and helicoiling. We ended up having to do 5. I think he can attest to the fact that these bolts were not budging... we tried every trick, worked on each bolt for at least 1/2 hour to an hour. Tried heat, impact (with a slot cut in the end), etc.. and eventually just had to drill them all.

We got one of the bolts to spin out part way with a left handed drill bit when we were near the threads, and managed to get the rest out with a small screw driver and a hammer. These threads were partly damaged near the opening of the hole but we tested it and it seemed like a new bolt would hold, so that's the only one we didn't have to helicoil.

Got everything back on with studs. They went on pretty well, but a couple of the helicoils seem like they went in kind of funny and as a result a couple of the studs ended up bottoming out at different depths. Not sure what's up with that.

On exhaust #2, I had a lot of trouble. The helicoil at the top got weird somehow, and the stud wouldn't go all the way in. The bottom hole is the one I mentioned that we did NOT helicoil, and it seems that it is not strong enough to take much pressure. I stripped out part of the threads when I torqued it down and it's just barely hanging on at this point. Here's a picture of number 1, where things should be, and you can see the bolt in number 2 sticking out a bit too far:



Here is number 2. As you can see the bottom stud went way in for some reason... unless the flange is just at an odd angle, I'm not sure what's up here:



Similar issue on number 3, had to skip the washer to get this one on:



Number 4 looks pretty good:



So. It's on there for now, I went for a ride, and it sounds A-MAZ-ING. Like a new bike. I didn't realize how bad that old thing was. Seemed to improve performance too, it's a little less sluggish. Got new exhaust gaskets in there too and I don't feel any leaks.

I'm thinking that I will go with this setup for the rest of the season if it holds, and then maybe look into fixing it up a bit better during the fall / winter. I'm thinking I will have to drop the exhaust again and drill/coil the holes on #2. Which brings up a question, can I re-drill, re-tap, and re-helicoil a hole that already has one in it???

The other issue I think is that these are fully threaded studs. I would like to get appropriate partial thread studs so that they go to the appropriate depth... any wisdom here? I hear that autozone has a kit but I haven't looked yet.

EDIT:
As an afterthought that I forgot to mention... yes I used anti-seize
And I now plan to loosen the exhaust bolts and re-tighten at each oil change, or some other similar interval. I just never, ever, want this to happen again... what a pain in the butt! Big shout out to loud_et for helping me out, yet again!

[tkent02]

The other issue I think is that these are fully threaded studs. I would like to get appropriate partial thread studs so that they go to the appropriate depth... any wisdom here?

You don't want to bottom out the studs in the hole. Screw it in unti it gets to the bottom, back it out a turn. This makes the threads in the head much stronger.

[exzachtly1]

Yeah I will do that if I can. They were being very finicky on some of the helicoiled ones, really not sure what is going on with a few of them. I think I'm gonna roll with it for now for the rest of the season and fiddle with making it perfect when the bike is down for the winter. I just can't face having it out of commission again after being down for a month already!!

[loud et]

So when are we riding? Haha
Glad you got the exhaust on! I did get your text message, but I got busy.
I know its difficult getting all the studs at the exact depth ...once you start tightening, some studs want to move and some stay put. All in all if they are tight they are fine. Just not visually perfect. I put them in as far as I can so the least amount of gaudy stud hangs out. So the one you think is in too far is where I would personally want then. OK, maybe a couple threads longer. Lol
Looks good, you are on the road!
Go get in on the riding game! You been on this forum waaaay too long for us to not see many riding pics from you!
Congrats.

PS....yes, those bolts were virtually welded in from the reaction of the two metals.
Just plain impossible.
Glad we did as good as we did. They look straight and we didn't have to pull the head/ engine

[exzachtly1]

I went back through and sunk the studs in deeper. They are now all virtually flush with the nuts on (except for one with a messed up coil), feeling better about it now. Over the winter I will need to fix the threads on port #2 - the helicoil seems to have failed but it is holding on enough to work. Almost like it uncoiled about half way in, or cross threaded maybe. For the one we didn't helicoil, I think I may end up installing one there or at least attempting to re-tap the threads since they are barely there!

Here's a video for a sound sample

http://youtu.be/t_eQJa2cn9E

I already rode the **** out of it yesterday it's so much fun now with the new handlebars and grips (also seen in this video!)

Gosh, this thing has come a long way since I bought it.

[loud et]

My bet is the helicoil that " failed" threaded itself in further as you threaded the stud in. It likely went in too deep and you only caught a few threads.
You may be able to put another hehicoil in the same hole....the first one will "backup" the additional one and not allow it to go in too deep. Slide that flange out of the way and see if the original helicoil is pushed in too deep.

Your judgement call.
Bike is looking good BTW.....

[exzachtly1]

My bet is the helicoil that " failed" threaded itself in further as you threaded the stud in. It likely went in too deep and you only caught a few threads.
You may be able to put another hehicoil in the same hole....the first one will "backup" the additional one and not allow it to go in too deep. Slide that flange out of the way and see if the original helicoil is pushed in too deep.

Your judgement call.
Bike is looking good BTW.....

Hard to tell, but here is a picture from when I had it off:



It's either in too far or somehow "split", will need to take a closer look later. The stud goes in a few turns and then just stops, and I didn't want to force it in. I'm not touching it now because I'm having too much fun riding