Exhaust Systems - 400

In [email protected], "mike s" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> noticed a rattling sound today on startup, and figured the heat
shield was
> loose on my exhaust.
>
> nope.
>
> apon closer examination, i noticed a crack right where the exhaust
pipe goes
> into the canister, at the weld. a crack i could see daylight
through. the
> pipe is held firmly to the head, the bolts are tight, the canister
is bolted
> to a subassembly, so thats not going anywhere. definately a less
than
> perfect design and/or materials. had the same thing happen to a
honda elite
> i had... in the same spot. same type of metal, too.
>
> hm. not good.
>
> went inside, pulled out my paperwork folder, found my warranty
card. good
> til 9/20/04! went to my local dealer in long beach, who i did NOT
buy the
> scooter from.
>
> guy came out, looked at it. had his boss look at it, took my card,
put it in
> the computer and printed up an invoice. said itll take about 3 days
to get
> the exhaust and theyll call me. overall, pretty friendly
considering i didnt
> buy the scoot there. N/C for everything.
>
> they also said theyd check for any recall campaigns and stuff, if
any.
>
> so i went to autozone and got a roll of exhaust pipe tape, and
wrapped it
> around the crack. at least it wont sound so harley anymore.
>
> i sure hope this isnt going to happen again. if it does? ill deal
with it
> the same way i dealt with the elite 80... bust out the arc welder
and lay
> some fat beads of weld on it! beats a couple hndred on a new
exhaust, and
> ive been meaning to brush up on my welding skillz!
>
> but hopefully it wont happen again, and if it does, its another
year away.
>
> should i have gotten the extended warranty- 4 more years for $600?
dunno. i
> can buy a lot of welding rod for that money
>
> then theres always the aftermarket leovinci muffler! hopefully its
a 2 piece
> design, with a slip joint where a slip joint should be!.

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Sorry your exhaust broke. You did not state the model year of your
Burgman. At some point I think Suzuki switched to a stock stainless
steel exhaust. It could have rusted from the inside out. Or it
could be a stress crack, since the exhaust and engine move with the
rear wheel with bumps. Your timing is bad since I replaced the
original exhaust on my AN400 K3 with a Leo Vince and took the
original to the recycling center. I always end up replacing the
exhausts on my scooters and motorcycles and the originals just take
up room in the house, so I gathered them all up and recycled them.

If you want to know about the Leo Vince replacement exhaust, here is
my original post about installing it. It was not as easy to install
as I had anticipated, but now that it's on, I am very happy with it.

Leo Vince Exhaust Installation:
I replaced the stock exhaust on my AN400 K3 with a LeoVince 4
Road system. Western Power Sports had it back ordered 6 weeks since
it had to be made in Italy and shipped to the USA, but it arrived
just when they said it would (the end of March). It took longer to
install than I anticipated. The instructions were very brief "1.
Remove OE silencer 2. Fit the LeoVince silencer....", some body work
had to be removed, a hole for an O2 sensor had to be plugged, and the
entire stock exhaust (including the short header section bolted to
the engine block) had to be removed. But the fit, finish,
performance, and sound are excellent.

To remove the stock muffler, I unbolted the exhaust pipe from the
short header section using a 6mm Allen wrench and then unbolted the
three bolts holding the muffler to the muffler bracket. This was the
easy part that did not require removing any body work. This left the
short exhaust header section attached to the engine block with Allen
head manifold bolts. To reach these I had to remove the black under
cover (belly pan), right front and right rear floor mats, and then
the painted right side leg shield. The front manifold bolt was then
easy to reach. But the rear manifold bolt required a long 10" socket
extension slid into place outside the right centerstand bracket. The
manifold bolts are on TIGHT! Use care and make sure the allen head
is fully engaged and use strong steady force to unbolt them. A long
handle socket wrench will give you leverage and control. You have to
reuse the manifold bolts, so don't ruin them. Also, take care not to
damage the aluminum gasket in the engine exhaust port, since this is
reused too.

Once I had the header section off and took the new pipe out of the
box, I realized that the stock header on my USA model did not have an
O2 sensor, yet the LeoVince pipe had a big hole threaded for an O2
sensor (European and Californian models?). I took the LeoVince pipe
to the auto parts store and found a metric oil drain plug that fit
perfectly and plugged the hole. I used some anti-seize on the plug
threads to make a good seal.

The LeoVince exhaust system has three main parts: a long header pipe
(no short segment), the muffler (which clamps onto the header pipe),
and a mounting plate to attach the muffler to the muffler bracket.
First I attached a supplied mounting plate onto the stock muffler
bracket. I applied antiseize onto the threads of the stock manifold
bolts, then I attached the new pipe onto the engine block using the
stock manifold bolts. This is were an assistant would be helpful to
hold the pipe steady as you carefully hand start (to prevent cross
threading) and then tighten the manifold bolts with a socket wrench.
For the rear bolt, I had to slip the socket extension between the
pipe and the right centerstand bracket. The pipe should be firmly in
place without final tightening of the bolts. You then slip the new
muffler onto the end of the pipe until the mounting bolt holes on the
muffler line up with the holes on the mounting plate. Then bolt the
muffler to the plate, without final tightening. Do a final
tightening on the manifold bolts, then tighten the plate/muffler
bolts, then lastly tighten the muffler/pipe clamp. This sequence
insures proper fit and seal at the critical pipe/engine block
junction, with no twisting force on the pipe. Wipe any oil residue
off the pipe and muffler.

There is a removable tube shaped baffle at the rear end of the
muffler. I took it out for more sound. Start up the engine and
enjoy the new sound and performance. Check for exhaust leaks, mine
fit perfectly. You can do a quick test ride without reinstalling the
right floor mats, right leg shield, or under cover (belly pan).
There was some oil burning smell for the first ten miles as some
internal oil residue burned off. The exhaust is all stainless steel,
that in my experience looks good lots longer than aluminum mufflers.
It is not very light weight but it looks and feels sturdy and is very
high quality. There is some bluing at the engine end of the header
pipe but that is normal. The scooter is louder at idle and hard
acceleration but is smooth at cruising speed. No back fires or
surging. My scooter sounds like a motorcycle now. I also have a K&N
air filter installed. I have not done a top speed test yet. I have
gotten up to 95 mph indicated stock.

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