Hi

I'll have soon to remove and replace my copper exhaust manifold gaskets.
How do you remove them without making wrong things? And, of course, what is the right way to refit the new ones?

Thanks by advance

 

New copper manifold gaskets fitting was easy, but now i've a clearance issue:
I can't manage to screw the nut on the studs as far as before. I respect the right screwing order (Middle, Inner then Outer). I don't want to torque it too much, even if these gaskets are to be crushed (that's the way they seal).



The old gaskets were completely flat (10 years of pressure between manifold and head), the new one are toric shaped...so, is this normal?

 

Yeah the shape is normal, that's why their copper (can take extreme heat & are malleable).
I found that when replacing the headers that a support underneath to take any weight bearing off the studs (like a car jack) makes this a lot easier. You tighten the bolts evenly, one turn (from when they start to tighten) on each bolt (outer/inner). If you have a torque wrench all the better (in my Haynes 14 ft-lbs or 20 Nm), this is going to stop you worrying about over doing it a snapping a bolt.
Although I have not had to do this on my CBR, on my other muti's, you tighten, warm the bike up, you tighten & so on. On just about all my bikes, the header bolts get loose eventually & the slack has to be taken up. Just remember that as long as there is no blow by the gasket, the clearances don't matter, as you will probably be tightening them again sooner than later.

 

Interesting. When I did mine, I found having the jack underneath the manifold put too much pressure on the bolts, and they were harder to put in. I took the jack off the exhaust and used a tree stand to eliminate undue pressure.

 

Thanks guys