Staintune Removal Tips?

[WGREGT]

Looks like the exhaust needs to come off my 07 due to a crack in the downpipe (the OEM part) that I noticed while warming it up on our recent Central Coast CA tour last week.

And since the bike came with Staintunes on it, I thought I'd see if anyone has the same VTEC, same pipes, and had any tips for taking everything apart. I figured the rear wheel needs to come off, but I'm hoping the seat doesn't (its a PITA with the rear rack on.)

If you're in SoCal and know of a welder who does stainless stell exhaust, that would be helpful too.

[Veefer Madness]

Check the shop manual, on the sight; it may help. Or contact Staintune and ask for instructions.

[Dedofnite]

Hey, Greg!

Had a good time riding with you last week. I have some pics, but the video didn't work so well. (Ok, I don't know how to run the camera correctly)

I will post some pics or "stop action" vid as soon as I figure out how to work the edit program!

Your mufflers are connected together into one header attachment. Yes, you will take the seat, rear cowl, and rear part of the fender off to reach

the bolts easily, then there is only one clamp to loosen to remove both mufflers and the cracked down pipe. Wheel removal may make it easier.

I don't have one to look at right now, but I seem to remember the wheel being in the way for easy removal. Any good auto or bike muffler

shop can do the ss weld easily. Maybe make sure the mech has ss welding experience. Good luck with your repair. PM me if you need help.

Kevin

[PACIFICMAN]

No reason to remove the seat or cowl. Just the wheel. The bolts that hold on the cans are accessible with the cowl in place. If your "Y" Pipe is the part that has failed you should contact Cal Moto the Staintune distributor in San Francisco, ask for Shari. I had the "Y" pipe crack and they replaced it. I shipped it to them from SoCal on a Monday and I had a new one on the bike by the end of the week.

[Dedofnite]

Hey, that sounds even better, Pacific! I couldn't tell from the manual pics. I hope the new pipe is better quality than the first one. Any other cracks so far?

Kevin

[WGREGT]

Kev-

Thanks for the tips. Always apprecated. Really enjoyed that ride. I found looking back on that ride that I ONLY commute by bike far too much, and had forgotten how much fun it is to be on the bike for a few days straight. Funny...I used to ONLY do long getaway rides like that when I was younger/in college, etc. Need to do more of them.

And thanks for the tips on finding someone to weld it. I called Cal Moto when I got back, thinking it was a Staintune issue, but it appears the cracked part is the OEM part from what I can tell?

The bike came with them already on, so I didn't get to see what parts come from Staintune beside just the cans. Thing is, the Staintune site shows them at $1300, so there's GOT to be more to their stuff than just the cans, right?

If I take it apart and see more damage, I'll speak to Shari for sure. I'll know more when I get it off tomorrow.

[Dedofnite]

Greg,

The Honda manual shows those pipes and mufflers are all one piece. When I looked at them on your bike I could see the mufflers were welded to the 'y' pipe, so that has so be a Staintune part, not Honda OEM. Call them Monday and get it replaced. It shouldn't crack like that from normal use.

Kevin

[WGREGT]

Alrighty then. Sounds like it all comes off in 1 piece then at the bottom of the down pipe, which gets me new cans too then, sounds like. This sounds like the perfect time to order a hugger...

[Bandit01]

Hi,

I bought my Staintunes 2nd hand and the person I bought them from provdied the following info on fitment. Not sure how much it may help, but if you simply reverse the process, you may be OK.

1. Remove the seat
2. Disconnect the license plate light electrical connector (thin white plug)
3. Remove the two 10mm bolts holding on the license plate and light
4. Draw the license plate light wire down through the ducktail
5. Remove the license plate and light, being careful with the wire
6. Remove the four 10mm bolts holding the pannier mounts to the mudguard bracket
7. Under the seat area, use a 10mm socket on a long thin extension bar to remove the two forward-most 10mm bolts holding on the mudguard
8. As with number #7, use the 10mm socket to remove the rearmost 10mm bolts holding on the mudguard. To make it easier to access these bolts, place your hand on the stop light lens and gently lift - this clears access to the bolts.
9. Accessing from under the bike, remove the two 12mm bolts holding on the mudguard bracket
10. Loosen the clamp holding the exhaust onto the headers, just near the centrestand
11. Using an allen key and 12mm spanner, loosen the two hex bolts (one on each side of the bike, just under the grab rails) which are holding the exhaust cans to the bike. Be careful because once you remove these the exhaust may fall onto the tyre. They're stupidly heavy.
12. Twist and rotate the whole exhaust assembly so that it comes off the headers. You may need some WD-40 to help but it's usually pretty easy. Once the exhaust is off, laugh about how much lighter the 'tunes are.

Congratulations, you will never have to go through the above process ever again because it was ALL just so the stupid OEM cans can be removed. The Staintunes don't need any of that crap to be removed.

1. Now as for installation of the Staintunes, we need remove only one more bolt. It's the rearmost bolt on the right-side passenger footpeg bracket. This bolt gets replaced with the one supplied with the Staintunes.
2. Insert the new bolt, but only spin it in by hand until you can just feel it poking through the exit hold. Don't go any further yet.
3. Slip the Staintunes midpipe onto the header/collector. It should slide on fairly easily.
4. Rotate the midpipe up until it is sitting in the ducktail. Using your hands, get a feel for when the hold in the midpipe is lined up with the tip of the bolt from number #2
5. Screw the bolt all the way down, ensuring the staintune midpipe is hanging off it. I believe there was a nut provided from Staintune to cap it off but I never used it
6. Install each Staintune exhaust can. Don't be upset with yourself if you get left and right mixed up the first time! The cans literally just slip on, but I recall that the right hand side was firm yet the left was quite loose. Staintune themselves told me this is fairly normal.
7. Insert the bolts that the cans hang from and tighten
8. Tighten up the clamp holding the midpipe to the headers
9. Remove the baffles from the Staintunes (I mean, why wouldn't you?!)
10. Start the bike and listen to that Fat sound

[Dedofnite]

Well, I guess you should just take 'em off and see what's up, then decide how to proceed. Then, fetch a child of 5, just in case...LOL !! Thanks Bandit!

(or should I say "good on ya, mate!" )

Kevin

[PACIFICMAN]

The mufflers are separate from the "Y" pipe. It may not look like it it but... They are, for lack of a better term, "pressure fit" onto the "Y" pipe with hi temp copper sealant. Remove the muffler bolts, one on each side, and then carefully wiggle and ease the mufflers off the "Y" pipe. Then loosen the clamp at the joint between the "Y" pipe and the exhaust system / header. Remove the bolt that holds the "Y" pipe to the rear peg hanger and take the "Y" pipe out. To replace the parts, reverse this process, super easy. I used Permatex HiTemp Copper sealant to reassemble the system. The new design of the 'Y" pipe is superior, 2-3 years on and no issues.

[bayarearider]

Yup ^^

Here is the replacement redesign (completely free of charge, on my commute, from Cal Moto in Mountain View, Ca)

Note: I did see a redesign version the had a direct 90 degree pipe running to the (drivers side) muffler that ended up getting rubbed on by the tire when the suspension is working.

Be sure to get the S-curve in the replacement to avoid this..

[Dedofnite]

Ahhhh... Very nice. There ya go, Greg! Thanks for the pic, Bay.

[WGREGT]

Yep. Thanks for that. Helps a lot to know what I'm dealing with.

[WGREGT]

Got it off. The seat needed to come off to hold the nuts on the bolts that support the cans, but otherwise the tips were spot on. The lower flange was really tight to get the Y pipe off. Had to pry the tabs up with a screwdriver.

The initial crack is all I see, but it's easily 60-70% around the diameter of the pipe. I'll call Cal Moto on Tuesday and see if they'll honor the warranty swap.

That new piece (pictured above) looks much better. Probably thicker too.

[WGREGT]

Oh man. Started it up and let it idle without the pipes on.

Wondering how long I could ride it like that before I got it impounded. What a mean-arse sound!

[PACIFICMAN]

Where in SoCal are you?

[PACIFICMAN]

Cool, god luck with repair.

[WGREGT]

Yikes. Just talked to Cory @ CalMoto (Shari's no longer there.)

Initial thoughts from him are that it'll take a few days of back & forth to get in touch with Australia (which is normal) to get them to cover it under warranty, and then...

...potentially 6-8 weeks of waiting for the part to get here! Here's hoping that gets cut down some. Reason? Cory thinks these are made to order, not sitting on a shelf already.

I'll keep you guys posted. Here are a few fotos of what I got.

Hey Pacman...any idea when you had your swap done? That week turnaround sure sounds good to me right about now!

[WGREGT]

Pacman...did you buy your pipe @ Cal Moto? Cory tells me to contact Staintune/AU myself. Says Cal Moto won't handle it for me.

[PACIFICMAN]

Mine came on the bike. Sounds like a cost savings regime change has happened at CalMoto. I looked up the post I made about the Great service I got, April 2010, Time Flies...

[bayarearider]

wgregt,

Looking at your pics of the cracked mid-pipe on post #19, that looks like the redesign or my replacement. (rubber grommet bolt socket)

My original that came on my bike was a drilled through hanger tab only.

So I'm wondering if you would be replacing it with the same design. (same issue)

Mine has been crack free for several years now.

If Cal-Moto is too slow, maybe search for another distributor that may have one in stock?

I can't imagine that Staintune's replacement policy has changed although stock on hand may have.

Good Luck!

[WGREGT]

Update:

I picked up the phone just now and called the future.

Yep. Staintune in AU. It's early tomorrow there already.

Got Adam from Staintune on the call. I started out by saying I had a warranty issue on my Honda VFR, and by the time I got to the details he knew/guessed it was an 800 and which year it was. They had a few of these go out, apparently. Said they had a batch with bad/cold (?) welds. He knew exactly where the crack was before I told him.

He's gonna cover it 100%, including shipping to me. Thing is, naturally it gets at the back of the line today, so it's probably 4 weeks till it's in my hands. I asked to see if there is another one in the US somewhere. No answer on that one yet.

Great customer service, those guys.

PS Apparently Cal Moto ain't the rep they used to be. If you got an issue, you'd be better off calling AU yourself.

wgregt,
Looking at your pics of the cracked mid-pipe on post #19, that looks like the redesign or my replacement. (rubber grommet bolt socket)
My original that came on my bike was a drilled through hanger tab only.

So I'm wondering if you would be replacing it with the same design. (same issue)
Mine has been crack free for several years now.

Hmmm. To my eye, the fotos that PacMan posted of the replacement looks much sturdier than mine. I'm holding out hope that they know which ones were an issue, and since they are making mine new instead of pulling it out of inventory (and maybe getting the same problem) I should be OK. I'll post up the differences when it gets here though, as they did not need mine back.

[WGREGT]

Oy! Just got an email from Staintune HQ in AU. They want the canisters back to be able to size them to the collector, as each set of cans is a custom fit. Anyone ever heard of this?

Geez...now a week to get my cans to them....looks like I'll be off the 800 most of this summer, damn it!

[bayarearider]

That's weird. I would send pics, dimensions of the cans w/ dia. of the openings that the mid pipe slide into. Any slight gap will be sealed with the high temp copper sealant. There was no special mating required when I swapped the old for replacement mid pipe.

Are they covering shipping?