Fitting a V&H 4-1 on a GS1000

[renobruce]

I'm about ready to install the V&H 4-1 on the 1000. Is there a trick to getting the muffler on the header? The instructions say to mount the header first, then "slip" the muffler on. I tried fitting the two together in the house, and boy is it tight. I couldn't get them together. It might be easier once I mount the header, but thought I would ask if there are any tricks to it? Thanks!

[Buffalo Breath]

pipe

check to see if there is a lip on the header that needs to be ground off,also check the muffler for same, or if the muffler or header is egg shaped, if its painted you may need to remove some of the finish, just a tip but on chrome pipes, if you wipe them down with MEK, to remove all traces of oil and finger prints and then wax the pipe a few times with a straight Carnuba wax and only Carnuba, no cleaners, it will help eliminate, some discoloring of the pipe provided you dont run it to lean, if you still cant get the pipe and muff to fit you can go to a muffler shop and they have cones that can be used to expand the muff with out damage

[KGB]

They are tight.........

When I mounted mine, I had to "expand" the opening in the muffler
to slide it over the headers. It was easier to mount the headers first, then add on the muffler.

Be careful of the muffler hanger, mine didn't quite line up on the 1000S.

Don't tighten the header bolts until everything is in place.

And as stated, wipe it down really clean aand polish, unlike mine, where my finger prints are now burnt into the pipe.

[renobruce]

Re: pipe

check to see if there is a lip on the header that needs to be ground off,also check the muffler for same, or if the muffler or header is egg shaped, if its painted you may need to remove some of the finish, just a tip but on chrome pipes, if you wipe them down with MEK, to remove all traces of oil and finger prints and then wax the pipe a few times with a straight Carnuba wax and only Carnuba, no cleaners, it will help eliminate, some discoloring of the pipe provided you dont run it to lean, if you still cant get the pipe and muff to fit you can go to a muffler shop and they have cones that can be used to expand the muff with out damage

What's MEK?

[Buffalo Breath]

Mek

MEK is a Keytone solvent ( Methyl Ethyl Keyton) witch most hardware stores have, it will remove all oil to an absolute so use nitrle gloves (mechanics gloves)I use 2 pairs one over the other, it wont go to waste it can be used for many things and its cheap, the gloves at most auto part houses, box of 100 about $10 bucks worth it cause they save your hands from grease an abrasion (blue colored)

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I didn't have much trouble mounting mine. Maybe I got one of the looser ones?
I loosely mounted the header first, then had to partly rotate the muffler in two directions to make it slip on.
Use new header gaskets and uniformly tighten the bolts. Be sure the bolts are long enough for the new pipe and enough threads get a bite before torquing. Final torque should be about 9 ft/lb.

[Hoomgar]

Mine was also a straight bolt on. Not sure what the differences are between them but apparently they make several different style headers?

[KGB]

The first one I got from V&H had the wrong bolt hole pattern
on the headers

And o0f course they wouldn't ship a new/correct one until they rec'd the old one.
Funny it was on the #2 or #3 cylinder that was wrong.

After 2 years, it's showing some wear and rust spots.
You'd think they'd make a better quality product

[Hoomgar]

After 2 years, it's showing some wear and rust spots.
You'd think they'd make a better quality product

I think they have gone down hill in recent years Keith. The reason I say that is because like yours I know some other folks that have them and the same thing, after a few years they are showing some serious wear already. The one I have on my bike was bought and installed over 12 years ago and didn't start showing any rust at all until well after 7 years and still doesn't have a lot. It cleans up quit nice and is good for many more years. It sucks when someone who makes a superior product stops doing it to save a few dollars in production costs. I would rather pay more and get the same thing than pay the same and get less.

I know you can't see them really well but here are pictures of them on my bike after being ten+ years old.

http://home.ptd.net/~megabyte/gsc2.html

[KEITH KRAUSE]

My pipe is holding up well (almost 6 years) but my climate helps and I blanket the bike in the garage.
I know they've changed the flanges in the last couple of years from fixed to slip up. The metal is fairly thin too. Thinner than my old RC Engineering pipe.
The commitment to quality bothers me too. I would like to buy another one new and have it if I ever need it. Someday you won't be able to buy a new pipe anymore. But all these complaints about quality have me putting it off.
But my pipe has been great at least.

[Sleepy]

I put one on my Kawasaki 650 and had a heck of a time getting the muffler on the header collector. I ended up sanding the inside of the muffler and greasing both the inside of the muffler and the outside of the collector before I got it to go on.

V&H said the problem was too much chrome on some pipes. That pipe has been on a year and still looks good - although the header pipes have gone a little yellow - even though the plug color is perfect.

What I took off the 650 was a crap MAC pipe that was rusting bad - previous owner said it was only 3 years old - look like it was 20 years old.

[RJ]

Yup, same problem with my 1100E header. I had to grind the inside of the muffler and the outside of the header pipe before the rubber mallet drove it all home. It sucks that a 30-45 min job gets stretched out to 2hrs for no other reason than poor quality control.

[jeff.saunders]

The problem with V&H is they will only build more pipes if there is enough demand. We order from them and it's a pain. Last year we had to wait 11 month before they finally received enough orders for a production run on one pipe - and that was for one of the more popular vintage Japanese bikes.

[renobruce]

Well, I just got back from the muffler shop. He used a cone to expand the opening of the muffler a little. He was afraid of beating on it too hard in fear of blistering the chrome. I got it home and tried to fit it..... nope. So I went to the hardware store and bought a round grinding wheel for my drill and tried that. Nope. By this time I am MAD. I called the tech line at V&H. and explained my problem. He said that he had never heard of such a problem before, and to return it for another one. No other advice. Now I have to call DenisKirk and see if they will take back a pipe that I have been grinding on. Yeah, right. I am very disappointed to say the least!!

[Buffalo Breath]

exhaust

Dennis kirk is really good about taking things back especially defective Items they just put them on ebay, in there overstock, discountinued and customer returns store