I need some advice.

I did a search and could not find a problem like mine.

I had the exhaust system off of my bike (see signature) today.

The header and muffler are both OEM items.

The heat shield is rubbing against the header.  A noticeable amount of metal has been eroded away on both of these items where they are rubbing against each other.  Oddly enough, there does not appear to be any contact in this area when the bike is not running.  It seems as if the rubbing occurs because of the engine's natural vibrations.

Here is the heat shield in its installed position:





After removing the heat shield, you can see where it's been rubbing against the header:





Here is a shot of the inboard side of the heat shield, where the rubbing is occurring:





What I think I'm looking for is some type of material (high temperature resistant padding or durable tape) that I could put between the heat shield and the header to prevent any further wear.

Or, perhaps I could add some extra washers at the rear muffler mounting point, thus raising the muffler up a bit.

I could even, instead, add some extra washers between the heat shield and the footpeg bracket, thus increasing the static separation between the heat shield and the header pipe.

Although I'm not real anal concerning the appearance of my bike, I'd like the solution to be difficult, if not impossible to see when all the parts are back in place.

Ideas?

TIA!

mmmm
...it's not really supposed to do that, I think your muffler
and/or joint are kinda lose or something; check ur back
bracket and re-pack ur joint w/fiber, good luck

Your pipe is loose dude. I have removed my pipe a few times and dont have that issue. My issue has been that the nuts dont screw back on to the heat shield as the part the nuts screw onto turns with the nut and the nut vibrates off. But I fixed that problem with lock tight. Perhaps your muffler is not mounted to the frame properly. There is a mounting arm where it bolts onto. did you positin the pipe back to its original spot and tighten your nuts at the cylinder nice and tight?

iS THE MUFFLER TIGHT ON THE REAR SUPPORT? cAN YOU RAISE THE MUFFLER UP A BIT IN THAT SUPPORT & GET THE CLEARANCE BACK DOWN FRONT>?

OOps dang caplox, sorry.

I think the header has rotated slightly outward.  A quick fix would be to loosen the header collar, muffler clamp and rear mount, then tighten them while you apply a little inward pressure to the header.  Wedge a small piece of wood or something between the shield and header as you re-torque the bolts.

When I put on a Dyna muffler I had to do that, as well as remove the asbestos pads (good riddance) and put a small washer behind the lower heat shield mount.  For some reason there was always plenty of clearance at the top of the shield, but the lower one was a PITA.  I will look for the same problem you have; thanks for the heads-up.

Well fudge, marshmellows, and crappity-smack, mine rubs too.  Without the pads the header wants to drift outward over time. I "fixed" it by folding some aluminum foil 16 layers thick, and about the same 1"x2" size as the original asbestos pads.  Then I loosened the lower acorn nut and put the aluminum pad where the pinch was tightest before tightening the nut.  If that doesn't stay put I'll switch to copper shim stock (same as I used to shim out the muffler joint) and stick it on with a dab of Autozone muffler adhesive.

Thank you Digger,  I need another exhaust leak like I need a hole in the head(er).

Another piece to the puzzle:

There are two rubber spacers that hold the muffler out from the rear muffler stay.  The forward one on my bike (see signature) was damaged.

Here is the rear rubber spacer:





Here is the front (damaged) rubber spacer:





One wonders if the misalignment of the muffler caused by the damaged rubber spacer could cause the above-mentioned rubbing.  My gut says no, but I'll investigate further.

Arthur wrote on 06/30/09 at 20:16:31:


Gort,

Thanks for your input.

When I bought the bike, it had 50 miles on it.  I've never dropped it, but I suppose the PO could have.

This is the first time I've ever had the pipe off of the bike.

The padding (exhaust manifold gasket material) you mention might be a player....I'm still looking into the problem.