gotta pull the pipes off my '01 900s & have no clue wtf i'm doing! (with photos)

[Rawr01]

I recently purchased a 2001 monster 900s ie. the previous owner did alot of great mods, including an exhaust wrap. I dont mind the look of wrapped pipes, but mine are completely blanched. I know they aren't actually unraveling, but when I picture the bike in my mind they almost always are. they look like mummy bandages.

I've got to do something about those pipes, but am uncertain of my options. I s'pose alot of it depends on what lies beneath the bandages and am wondering if any one has any idea what to expect?

I don't even know what material my pipes are made of. I have stock headers that exit though an aftermarket high mount kit (i think) into a pair of stainless GPR ovals so there could be a visible difference between the stock and aftermkt pcs. meaning i'll most likely need to rewrap them or consider some sort of coating.

in a perfect world I would be able to unwrap the pipes and find only slight corrosion th@ i'd able to clean up with a wire brush, sand paper, & scotch brite. in a slightly more perfect world I could afford to send them off for ceramicoat or black chrome. in an even more perfecter world its all SS under there and everything will pollish right up and look great. and in an IDEAL world a set of titanium pipes and a pair of carbon termis would be delivered to the wrong house.

but before any of th@ can happen, those pipes are gonna have to come off the bike which looks like a bit of an undertaking. if anyone has any advice or suggestions i'd like to hear them. better yet, has anyone documented the process, hopefully with pictures?

[JEFF_H]

you should be able to remove the wrap without taking off the pipes
do that first and see how they look under there.

taking off the slip-ons are easier than removing the headers.
not rocket-science, but the rear bolts at the motor are a bugger to get to.

[greenmonster]

Just a perfect word if stock headers.
If you have to remove them,
start from rear to front, it is all pretty obvious.
There`s a clamp f rear cyl pipe at back of engine.
A 12 or 13mm ring spanner, shortened to 4-5", will come in handy, you`ll get it.

[Rawr01]

so the object of the game was to get from here....




to here....







in my case it went pretty much how i thought it would go: the rear sets had to come off. i might have been able get away with just loosening the bolts and fishing the pipes out, but putting them back on the bike would be a whole nother story. besides, now i can clean things up a little. oh, and BTW, lying on the floor under my motorcycle doing math involving the flashpoint of gasoline and the temperature of a nearby halogen work lamp is probably not the best time to figure out that one of the lower bolts that mount the rear controls (which i was removing) also help hold the kickstand on. one of these was very stuborn, i fn got it tho......then the bike fell on me! good thing i was there to break its fall. can you see what went wrong? (besides not using a cycle stand to begin with. note: got one now)



so the pipes are off the bike and in the shop. i'm bouncing a couple ideas around and waiting for estimates. at the moment i think i'm leaning toward a matte black JetHot coating, but there's also a different type of wrapping process i'm kind of interested in that involves some sort of epoxy or resin. the other option is to jus skip all that an just get 'em polished up.
i've been told by at least one forum member that with the high mount system i'll probly cook the backs of my legs, but then i've seen systems similar to mine that have been neither wrapped nor coated. im going to have to be pepared to give an answer pretty soon so i am open to hearing any ideas or suggestions.

[Speeddog]

I've got some customer pipes out for a satin black ceramic coat right now.
I'll try to remember to post some pics here.

My coater recommended against the matte black, as it's not very good about staying clean-looking.

[greenmonster]

with the high mount system i'll probly cook the backs of my legs,

Never read that, no problemos w mine.

[ccm900]

Never read that, no problemos w mine.

+1

[Rawr01]

this is the back side of my rear control mount where they contacted the wrap

[Speeddog]

That's pretty standard for the S-pipes on high mount cans to rub the footpeg bracket.

[Rawr01]

take a closer look....they're melted. there was actually some aluminum on the pipes that had aparently wicked through the wrapping.

[tankerbutt]

take a closer look....they're melted. there was actually some aluminum on the pipes that hand aparently wicked through the wrapping.

looks like grinding/rubbing to me too

[Rawr01]

maybe the pic isn't the best, but it is definetly not "machining". some of the rearset has literally soaked through the wrapping and is stuck to the pipe.

[Grappa]

Partly off topic...  Notice how your kick stand is only connected by one bolt right now instead of two?  Don't forget that!!  I was working on my 2001 M900 in my kitchen once, had the same footpeg brackets that you have.  Took them off and needed to take the bike off the rear stand for a moment and lean it on the kick stand to maneuver something in the kitchen.  Noticed that the bike was slowly leaning farther and farther!!  Almost lost it.  Felt like an idiot.  Just a warning.

[Rawr01]

you noticed that. for an interesting read, check out the paragraph above it i took the rearsets off without a stand :[ funny story: i wound up under the bike covered in gas 3 feet away from a halogen work light

[koko64]

As you said, luckily you broke the fall with your body (been there)  ! The halogen lamp, that was close.

I reckon those short cans would look great on low mount headers, real tough lookin'.