XJ6N Warning Rusty Nuts, Don’t let the manifold nuts get too bad .

[monkeyjim]

Hi , 

Had my 2009 XJ6 from new and it’s on just under 70,000 miles now. Been off the road for a couple of years as I bought a Triumph Sprint GT , not that I have used that much due to ill health shortly after purchase. Unfortunately the XJ fork seal was leaking when I parked it up and subsequently has got worse so I decided to get it from workshop  fix the seal and get it back on the road for my wife to ride as she has not ridden for over 5 years and it’s better as a re-introduction than her Street Triple , particularly as the ST lives at French house and XJ is in U.K. house where we live until we move permanently to France.

Anyway I had been aware that the manifold nuts were rusty , actually all fixings on it are not great but that’s what a idiot valeter (yeah mate I do bikes ……so you should see what he did to my bike the bosses R1 and the calipers on his 911 with chemicals not suitable for motorcycles) and riding all year round for 10years does . So I thought with the front end off I would replace the manifold/header nuts .

  Oh dear …….Obviously existing corrosion does not stop even if a bike is parked in the dry and all nuts had continued to corrode with vigour . I only managed to get one off and that came out with the stud . Some studs and nuts were no more than something that looked like nipples and no way they were coming off as I could not even grip small mole grips on. I have been in the motor trade a very long time and am aware of the ways to get things off but no joy on this one . Yes I know it’s my fault and I I should have known better however sometimes a illness stops you doing things mentally and physically so stripping a bike down that’s buried in a workshop is easily forgotten, not a important thing in life compared to life itself. 
 There are swages on the pipes that act like collars for the retaining  flanges to butt up too and on mine some swages had completely rusted away and the flanges were that bad they were only a few mm thick . Well that rendered the exhaust as scrap , genuine used ones are available with good flanges at a reasonable price especially compared to aftermarket replacements or new ones that are something like £900 from Yamaha.

I cut the bloody pipes instead of trying to remove the nuts with the pipes in place which made things so much easier. That left me with three full length corroded studs with remains of thread I managed to get the nuts off ,one snapped off stud 3mm long and the rest looked like they had been in the sea for 10 years only a few mm thick and half there original length. I carefully tried heat and Wurth rost off ice (not together obviously) but the buggers were not moving . Delayed delivery Stud extractor should turn up in a few days and again I will try heating etc whilst using the extractor but I think I am looking at having to drill out the things. 
However there is a Induction heater at work I might be able to borrow but I am vary aware of the amount of heat those things generate and what It could do to the surround castings. 
 

So the moral of the story is that if you own one of the XJ6 series of bikes and have corroded manifold/header retaining nuts and studs then think about replacing with stainless steel ones before they get too bad but be aware you could be in for a hell of a job if they round off or snap . 
If you are not confident in doing it please don’t attempt the job. 
D
 

Edited September 25, 2022 by monkeyjim