[Jaxian]

So I had eye surgery Friday and can't ride for a week so took the time to finally put on my full Termi exhaust. Ended up going in very easily and was a pretty nice kit. Some of the details could have been a bit better, there where some pieces that where mentioned nowhere in the instructions and also they changed how the carbon fiber piece is mounted from the instructions to the actual parts they give you. Not hard to figure out though.

The carbon piece doesn't flow very well and actually had a seam in it but other than that seems to be ok. I can't ride it for at least another couple days but started it and wow does it sound mean without the db killer in. Just fantastic. Might be too loud though to drive. Gonna scare all the Prius drivers around here . Will have to see. Here is the final look:

So that's the good part. Now the not so good part. As I disassembled the stock system. I found a surprise. This bike had just finished it's 1000km/600 mile first service so very low miles, and treated very well. I left it in Urban mode the whole time and never broke 6k rpms. No hooligan moves. This is what I found.

This is the head, the stock exhaust flange and both sides of the gasket. Sorry the one is blurry, hard to hold the camera still enough. I checked the cylinder head and the flange for flatness. Both were fine. The gasket when cleaned up was also ok, it actually looked unused.

It seems as if the lower bolts were kind of loose when I took them off. They have a very low torque spec so hard to tell but that's what looks like happened. After checking that everything was in spec I took pictures and sent them to my local dealership as a heads up in case there is ever any problems related to this area. They are a great stand up dealership so I am not worried about them backing me there.

I am a little worried that the factory worker was a bit too lazy to torque those nuts down all the way though. Going to keep an eye on things and hope nobody was slack in an important area. Of course given a few thousand miles and some harder riding and that gasket would have burned through and overheated that spot and probably cause all manner of problems so I am very glad I caught it when I did.

I have been going over the visible parts of the bike now very closely just to see if I can find any other indicators of possible issues just to assuage my worries. I guess the bottom line is to be VERY proactive if you think you have something wrong, find it before it becomes something potentially very bad. Anyway, just thought I would share.

 

[whistle]

In hindsight, it's a good thing that you installed the Termi. Another hindsight: good thing you had eye surgery

Just rode around Santa Cruz hills less than a month ago. Great area you live in.

 

[Turkishexpress]

Yeah it looks like they didn't torque down the screws well enough and a lot of exhaust gasses were coming through. I noticed during my install that those bolts weren't torqued much at all as well. It surprised me.

 

[w0mb2t]

good catch .

i have just swapped out for the Mivv mid pipe , but it requires removal of the front header .. there was a slight carbon mark on part of the steel gasket , but the bike has travelled over 33,000k .. BUT it did worry me when one of the screws going into the cylinder came out when undoing the 10mm nut even though it is such a low torque value.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this , and will become part of my regular check up of the bike.

 

[whistle]

good catch .

i have just swapped out for the Mivv mid pipe , but it requires removal of the front header .. there was a slight carbon mark on part of the steel gasket , but the bike has travelled over 33,000k .. BUT it did worry me when one of the screws going into the cylinder came out when undoing the 10mm nut even though it is such a low torque value.

I will definitely be keeping an eye on this , and will become part of my regular check up of the bike.

Perhaps they're afraid the metal might crack if its tight and the engine is submitted to high temperatures? Maybe we should let the internet engineers chime in?

 

[Jaxian]

Good point.

Perhaps they're afraid the metal might crack if its tight and the engine is submitted to high temperatures? Maybe we should let the internet engineers chime in?

Interesting thought. I have definitely run across enough 'sacrificial' bolts and other parts over the years so that wouldn't be out of the question. I am used to V8 automobiles mostly so the lumps of metal are much heavier and the amount they change shape during use is much lower. I don't know enough about bikes to know if the large difference in rates of thermal expansion from say an aluminum head to a stainless steel flange would cause problems if a certain amount of 'slack' wasn't allowed for it to expand and contract. I will search around and see what I can find.

Of course that still doesn't excuse a blatant exhaust leak from the factory. They need to get all those bolts tight! Hope there is nothing like that inside. I saw the threads about transmissions and the clutch drums being shimmed/adjusted incorrectly from the factory. So I know mistakes can be made. But that can happen in any machine. I have owned some really nice stuff and found that even the most expensive hand made stuff can be wonky. So I will just keep an eye on things.

My only gripe on the function of my bike to this point is the transmission. Man it requires a firm move to get it to respond, and the popping out of gear when you don't get it all the way in can be scary. Mine is so new though I am still evaluating. I hope it gets better, but honestly no bike I have had has changed that much until they have lots of miles. If I keep having to kick it that hard and that far to feel confident it will stay in gear when I go to full power and rpms after break in I will ask the dealer to check it out. When you have to move your whole leg to feel good about a shift staying put that is not so good .

 

[MTScott2]

How is the sound with the baffle in ?
Like you I don't want to wake the dead all the time when riding..
And appreciate some more sound somewhat louder than stock.
I don't want ears ringing and a headache after a few hours of riding...

Do you think you could have heard that exhaust leak before the Termi install?
If I had seen that I might have used some High heat silicone on the joint just for some good measure...
Now I have to go look for the tell tale sign of exhaust leak...

Thats a nice colour of Prius next to the MTS!