Good point well made but you haven't taken into account one vital factor. My complete unparalleled ability to mess up the simplest of tasks! I've made a pig's ear of one of the exhaust manifold bolts as well now :tear: so all work must grind to a halt until my new drill bits arrive.

I sort of accepted that doing the exhaust fitting myself would result in the bike being off the road for a few days/weeks/months/indefinitely. I've still got my Versys to keep me occupied while I stock my toolbox :ytiller:

Hopefully I won't need to turn up to the Wales meeting on it!

Having looked at mine I'd very doubt being able to get a drill in straight at the bottom one anyway so drilling it off the right way or the wrong way is a minor detail so long as the heads come off.

Unless anyone comes up the exact because they have used them I'd go for these if you need any.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-XT-...item3ce27285de

All of which you shouldn't have touched because you need the pipes tight for when you lean on the spanner to get the lamba out.

The next important bit Arn when trying to remove the lamba don't go using a rubber open ended spanner because if you round that off as well you'll be spitting feathers!!

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...pslomihxvo.jpg

Re out conversation you haven't got to the difficult part yet!!

And don't forget when undoing the lamba count the number of turns so you can do the same number for when you put it back in so the wired isn't twisted.

Success!!!

The LH drill bits worked a treat. I ended up having to use a slightly larger drill bit to remove the heads of the bolts as the shafts just would not budge. I'm leaving the broken screw shafts in the old exhaust for now. I've had enough of drilling.

I've bought some flare nut spanners as suggested. Don't fancy rounding off anything else.

Thats a great tip. Without it i'd have definately ended up with a twisted cable.


I ordered my replacement manifold screws before you were kind enough to send the link for the XT500 ones.

For reference: Stainless Steel M8 x 35MM grub screws plus M8 domed hex nuts, both from ebay. I've tried them for size and they look like a perfect match.

I would guess plenty of copper grease should prevent me having similar issues in the future.


A big thanks to everyone who helped. I owe you all a pint!

:smilies0349: Victory at last! Well done.

Can we see some pictures of the finished result?

I'm surprised the L/H drill bits didn't unwind the screw shafts.

If you just wanted to decapitate the securing socket cap heads then drilling with a slightly larger drill bit (say 6.5mm or 7mm) dead centre of the head (rounded hex socket helps here) is easy - with normal drill bits too.

Shhhhhhhh he hasn't got the pipe on yet and made sure it isn't blowing from the front headers there's knack to doing it I just hope he remembers what I told him it took me 2 attempts and a lot of four letter expletives if there is anyone out there with 3 hands then it's a doddle!!!

If I remember correctly. Use 3rd hand to prevent gaskets from falling out while attaching new downpipes.

Attach downpipes loosely, run without silencer (apologise to neighbours), tighten once warm then attach silencer.

That's the plan anyway.

Once I'm all done I may put together an idiots guide to exhaust replacement, for other mechanically challenged individuals.

Sort of !! offer the headers up and try and keep pressure on then them so the exhaust gaskets don't move inside have the exhaust header nuts close to hand and attempt to screw on while keeping pressure on the headers.

Don't go mad with the allen key on those header nuts you can get a lot of pressure on them with a long allen key and that's not what you want take it steady screw both sides in square when they feel tight(ish) put the can on,no need to start it and fit into position with as little force as pos and of course you have fitted the lamba!!.

When you start it and the(if) header are blowing take the can off and slacken the header nuts off wobble the headers to taste!!!! and try again came good the second time for me.

Well, I've gotten myself into another fine mess. After removing the O2 sensor guard I set to work on the exhaust manifold studs. Two came off pretty easy and the other two, not so much.

Neither stud would budge using a mole grip. I managed to get one of the reluctant studs off using the double nut method. Tried it on the last one and completely stripped the thread off the stud.

I've still got my LH drill bits but I'm a bit nervous using these to drill out the stud. It's a really awkward angle and if I'm not dead on I'm worried about stripping the thread off the header.

So, unless anyone else can give me any better ideas I'm going to buy an arc welder and weld a nut onto the stud and use this to get some leverage.

Any advice/suggestions... Please!

:surrender: