Club 80-90 Forums

Afternoon all

I've been trying to find a definitive answer on the this but can't find one. I'm trying to replace the tailpipe on my westy. Managed to shear one of the bolt heads off and can't budge the other 2.

Thought that it might be easier to remove the silencer and get the thing on a bench as it looks like some drilling is now needed So I removed the lower nuts to the heat exchanger on both sides but the upper nut on the right hand side is completely inaccessible as the engine bay is in the way and I can't get a spanner in there.


Can I remove the silencer without taking the whole heat exchanger off or, even worse taking the engine out??

Thanks for any advice

Jason

You have my sympathies Jason. Been there and done that one. Those are real pigs to get at. You might be able to chase it undone with a chisel? Lots of plusgas (not WD40) essential. Oddly, although I have a later watercooled one, I had exactly the same exhaust fitted and after doing battle for an entire day, went to bed and slept on it.

In the morning I decided to ditch the whole silencer and fit a Kawasaki one so I never had to tackle one of those blasted tail pipes again. They really suck!

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The only other way is to find a way to destroy the nut, but I dunno, by the time you've got a rusty box off and messed with drilling and new gaskets everywhere, you may decide its simpler to do what I did. Runs better on the kwaka one too and £25 to replace each time instead of a £100+. All kinds of funky exhaust cans you can hang on those headers.

You could try supporting engine on a jack and see if removing unbolting engine carrier each side + lowering slightly will give you a smidgen more room? I think thats what I had to do but it was several years ago. I know an angle grinder featured heavily.

When I changed mine a few years ago I ended up chiselling off the three studs that held on the tail- pipe and getting the garage to seam weld the new one onto the silencer. Hopefully the silencer & the tail pipe will both reach the end of their service life at the same time in the future.

Thanks for that. I'd like to keep it looking stock if i can so i might try to chase it off with a chisel. I'm tempted to leave that nut off as well and run with just the 2 lower ones in place, not ideal but should be ok I suppose

Other than that I'll see if I can get a nut splitter onto it. Like you say though, it's probably only going to make the tailpipe removal a bit easier

Jay cut a ring spanner down to size so you get clearance to fit the top one then it gives you a bit more to hit with a bar and hammer makes it easy.
Sas is cheap for plus gas chap.

Paul

if you use a cranked or s shaped spanner it fits on top nut without any hassle

Leave the silencer in place and cut the pipe off with a grinder or saw. Extreme but doable. By cutting the pipe you'll gain access to the nut. On this type of zorst they're just studding into the flanges. It's possible to change the studding.
If you leave the top nut off your silence it will leak as the heavy silencer pulls down on that nut.

Great. I'll try the less destructive methods first

Remember.....you are not yet a Jedi.....
The time has come to take you to the graveyard.....let me know when you have half an hour free one evening...I have a plan.....

The Bobdogs wrote:Remember.....you are not yet a Jedi.....
The time has come to take you to the graveyard.....let me know when you have half an hour free one evening...I have a plan.....

There is a good exhaust in that graveyard

Whoa! Nice. The silencers ok though and I've got a new tail pipe. I now have s shaped spanners too [OK HAND SIGN]