Tips on Exhaust Repacking
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 11:25 pm
I found a hollow spot in my Carbon Can Co - carbon fibre oval cans on my Falco and decided to repack them myself. Drilling out the rivets and dismantling them was a piece of cake. Rebuilding (did one last night) is a different story.
The way these cans are built is by slipping the caps into the inside of the sleeve and pop riveting a band round the outside of the sleeve at the cap, so you have the CF sandwiched between the cap and the band. Now these caps are a tight fit in the sleeves as you'd expect, but bugger me they're bloody tight. The exit end cap is merely that, but the input cap is joined to the perforated core tube and is a couple of feet long.
Getting the packing was a weeks wait for the shop to get some in. You'll need 2 packs said the bloke, OK says I, but when I picked them up I had to order another 4 and wait another week for them.
Meanwhile I thought I'd nip down to the hardware shop and get some stainless steel wire wool to wrap the core.
Couldn't get it anywhere, eventually had to get some sent from a company in Sydney, took 2 weeks. Managed to find stainless steel pop rivets though 
So the tips:-
1 Don't do it - it's bloody hard work, especially in Oz where getting stuff that's easily available in the UK, is like trying to find a bloody spider that isn't poisonous
2 Don't use your wife’s best scissors to try and cut the stainless steel wire wool - they won't do the job and apparently now they won't do any other job either.
3 Wear gloves when buggering about with the wire wool - there was no blood loss (that comes later), but the bits stuck in your skin are really annoying 'coz you can't even see them to pull them out.
4 Oval cans only have oval end caps - the carbon fibre sleeve reverts to round the instant it's not on the caps.
5 Oval caps don't fit into round sleeves - try this with an infant’s shape sorter, it's great fun NOT!
6 Put silicone sealant on the inside of the sleeve not on the outside of the cap so you don't get it all over you, the sleeve, the cap, the floor, the cat - ever tried putting a fag down when your glued to it? - mineral wipes or baby wipes com in useful about now.
7 The sheared ends of pop rivets are really sharp, take care - this was the blood loss part.
8 When dismantling keep the parts of each exhaust separate - they won't necessarily be interchangeable, but you won't notice this 'till it’s time to start swearing.
9 Now this is a good one. Put the sleeve somewhere warm and put the caps in the freezer for half an hour. The sleeve expands and the caps contract. Makes getting the aforementioned oval into round job easier, by no means a breeze just easier - do, however, wrap up the long core part in plastic bag, 'coz no matter how clean you consider it to be your partner will disagree
I’m going to do the other one tonight if I can summon up the courage. Pretty satisfying to do something new and the results look good (well at least the same as before I took them apart).
The way these cans are built is by slipping the caps into the inside of the sleeve and pop riveting a band round the outside of the sleeve at the cap, so you have the CF sandwiched between the cap and the band. Now these caps are a tight fit in the sleeves as you'd expect, but bugger me they're bloody tight. The exit end cap is merely that, but the input cap is joined to the perforated core tube and is a couple of feet long.
Getting the packing was a weeks wait for the shop to get some in. You'll need 2 packs said the bloke, OK says I, but when I picked them up I had to order another 4 and wait another week for them.
Meanwhile I thought I'd nip down to the hardware shop and get some stainless steel wire wool to wrap the core.
Couldn't get it anywhere, eventually had to get some sent from a company in Sydney, took 2 weeks. Managed to find stainless steel pop rivets though So the tips:-
1 Don't do it - it's bloody hard work, especially in Oz where getting stuff that's easily available in the UK, is like trying to find a bloody spider that isn't poisonous
2 Don't use your wife’s best scissors to try and cut the stainless steel wire wool - they won't do the job and apparently now they won't do any other job either.
3 Wear gloves when buggering about with the wire wool - there was no blood loss (that comes later), but the bits stuck in your skin are really annoying 'coz you can't even see them to pull them out.
4 Oval cans only have oval end caps - the carbon fibre sleeve reverts to round the instant it's not on the caps.
5 Oval caps don't fit into round sleeves - try this with an infant’s shape sorter, it's great fun NOT!
6 Put silicone sealant on the inside of the sleeve not on the outside of the cap so you don't get it all over you, the sleeve, the cap, the floor, the cat - ever tried putting a fag down when your glued to it? - mineral wipes or baby wipes com in useful about now.
7 The sheared ends of pop rivets are really sharp, take care - this was the blood loss part.
8 When dismantling keep the parts of each exhaust separate - they won't necessarily be interchangeable, but you won't notice this 'till it’s time to start swearing.
9 Now this is a good one. Put the sleeve somewhere warm and put the caps in the freezer for half an hour. The sleeve expands and the caps contract. Makes getting the aforementioned oval into round job easier, by no means a breeze just easier - do, however, wrap up the long core part in plastic bag, 'coz no matter how clean you consider it to be your partner will disagree
I’m going to do the other one tonight if I can summon up the courage. Pretty satisfying to do something new and the results look good (well at least the same as before I took them apart).
) of wire wool in two hands and pulling apart to separate is not the smartest move in the world.
to the girls.