Guest Action Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 For those that don’t want read the entire post, my recommendation is save you pennies up and buy the Motad headers if you are shy about doing some work to get your headers to fit. The Delkevic headers are stainless steel and are aprox 5mm bigger that the stock 04 headers and do not have a tab for the center stand. They were $275.00 including shipping. A gasket set from Service Honda will run you about $60 bucks. Ok, so here is the full story: EDIT: I've since heard that a couple of people have had similar problems with Motad's - YMMV Some things I did not know that would have been helpful – • The gasket between the header and the block is a crushable copper ring. They are a one shot deal so if you have to take the header back off to do some grinding you need a fresh set of 4. They are $2 ea at Service Honda so I would order an extra set. I had to buy a set locally and they were $5 ea w/tax. • The gaskets where the rear pipes hook together suck. They are a soft metallic material that tears up easily when you have to take the pipes back apart. • Don’t be cheap (like me), buy new clamps for where the rear pipes connect. I re-used mine and both bolts ended up stripping out and I could not find any kind of suitable band (in town) to replace them with. • At least on mine, you have to really crank the same clamps tight or you get exhaust leaks. • That burning smell when you are test running your bike is either coming from the black plastic piece in front or your rear seat cowl. As far as the install I started my project on Friday afternoon. I recommend taking both side fairings off for easier access. Otherwise, follow the manual. The OEM header came off easy. First problem I ran into was the two front tubes did not want to line up. I ended up putting one side on and taking a large screwdriver and prying the other side over about a half inch. I placed a small floor jack under the bike to prop up the header. I then put on the back tubes. While I was trying to get the outside bolt on the left rear tube, I dropped the nut. I ended up looking for it for a few hours, including taking the cover off the front sprocket and moving the chain guard. I never found it, so Saturday I went to the dealer and paid $5 for a little nut. Once I got the back tubes on it became apparent that things were not lining up. At one spot the headers were tight up against the side of the block and the back tubes did not want to mate up. After a little more prying got the tubes to align and I found out that the rear most tube did not want to seat all the way down into the collector. This is where I also found out that the bands I was planning on reusing would not work. I spent a couple of hours running around town which produced no suitable substitute for the bands. I ended up modifying the original bands to fit the larger tubes. That killed Saturday. Sunday was Easter so I did not get back to the bike until later in the afternoon. After another trip the Lowes for longer metric bolts for the clamps I had everything together. When I cranked her up I discovered exhaust leaks where the rear pipes join the main header and one of the front exhaust ports. I tried using a little muffler tape on the rear joints and figured I would take Monday off and replace the front gasket. The tape did not work and I still could not get the rear tube to seat all the way into the collector. To make maters worse, since the rear pipe would not seat properly it hung down lower on the bike and interfered with the center stand. Result - another day down the drain with my bike still in pieces. Monday morning I took a fresh look at everything and decided to pull everything apart and see if I could get that rear tube to seat all the way into the collector and fix my clearance problem. After another trip the dealer and $$ for new gaskets, I took everything apart again. A lot of Dremel work removed the excess material inside the collectors that the rear tubes mate with. After replacing the exhaust gaskets and putting everything back together the rear tube seats in the collector better and fits good enough so my clearance issues with the center stand were corrected. I temp installed a small metal strip for the center stand to rest on. Once I'm sure everything's good I'll have it welded in place. Due to weather and other commitments today is the first day I've gotten to ride. Initial impressions, I really like them. The bike definitely winds up quicker and feels like it wants to run. I’m currently using Tinyminds map and it seems to be working well. I do plan on getting a custom map done but it'll have to wait until the end of the summer. I'll update this as soon as I get more miles in. Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baileyrock Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks for that as I think this is the most cost effective way for us 6th genners to go. A trick I found when doing these exhaust is fitting the front and rear pipes loosely, then taking that same floor jack you used to push the entire system up and under the center of the bike, then tighten everything up. This also helped the rear tube and collector junction whether it was stock or 2Bros exhaust system. I have Not done a Delkevic system yet! :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks BR, I figured that out the 2nd time I put them back on :blush: Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer800Canuck Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Wow, sounds like you got the runaround. I've had days like that...... Did you ever think about using a heavy duty T-bolt clamp, or perhaps two of them, stacked, per joint? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I was looking for something like that, but could not find anything even close to that in the size I needed. Everything I found locally was for a larger application, trying to find someting like that on a weekend didn't help matters. Had I known the old bands would not work well, I probably could have done a little more research and found one locally. Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer vanion2 Posted April 17, 2009 Member Contributer Share Posted April 17, 2009 Now we definitely have to go for a ride. :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 You still liking these things Action? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You still liking these things Action? Seb, sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Yeah, I still like them. They are holding up real well and still look like new (of course I live in the frigging desert and they've only been in the rain 4 or 5 times.) Then only complaint I have is that where the aft rear down pipe hooks into the header, it doesnt sit all the way down into the connecting pipe. It doesnt leak, but it bothers me. They have a one year warrantee so I may contact them and see if they will send me just the left rear down pipe. I really don't want to take the whole system off to exchange. Most likely I'll just leave it as is. Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You still liking these things Action? Seb, sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Yeah, I still like them. They are holding up real well and still look like new (of course I live in the frigging desert and they've only been in the rain 4 or 5 times.) Then only complaint I have is that where the aft rear down pipe hooks into the header, it doesn’t sit all the way down into the connecting pipe. It doesn’t leak, but it bothers me. They have a one tear warrantee so I may contact them and see if they will send me just the left rear down pipe. I really don't want to take the whole system off to exchange. Most likely I'll just leave it as is. Action The fit and more importantly, the reliability of the fit is what concerns me the most. Nothing ever fits like OEM, as you found out. I was mostly curious to know if the system developed any noticeable leaks or anything like that. The finish should hold up nicely, since they're stainless, you can clean burnedon things back off with Easy-Off oven cleaner, and they should shine up very nicely if rubbed with Scotchbrite. (think pot scouring pad) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You still liking these things Action? Seb, sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Yeah, I still like them. They are holding up real well and still look like new (of course I live in the frigging desert and they've only been in the rain 4 or 5 times.) Then only complaint I have is that where the aft rear down pipe hooks into the header, it doesn’t sit all the way down into the connecting pipe. It doesn’t leak, but it bothers me. They have a one tear warrantee so I may contact them and see if they will send me just the left rear down pipe. I really don't want to take the whole system off to exchange. Most likely I'll just leave it as is. Action The fit and more importantly, the reliability of the fit is what concerns me the most. Nothing ever fits like OEM, as you found out. I was mostly curious to know if the system developed any noticeable leaks or anything like that. The finish should hold up nicely, since they're stainless, you can clean burnedon things back off with Easy-Off oven cleaner, and they should shine up very nicely if rubbed with Scotchbrite. (think pot scouring pad) Other than that small issue that I mentioned their fine. I check thme pretty regularly and they seem to be holding up great. Thanks for the cleaning tip. I'll keep it in mind as the miles build up. Action Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baileyrock Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 I had the same fitment issue installing used factory 98 headers on my vtec,rear tubes don't slide in all the way! No leack issues and that's all I really care about! :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer 007 Posted August 21, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted August 21, 2014 Is there a long term update on the fitment issues? I am curious and might buy the full system for my 07 RWB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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