Exhaust Leak

So I installed an Agostini hydroformed exhaust and ever since then I've had an exhaust leak where the headers go into the central 2-1 pipe. Figuring the exhaust gaskets were bad I replaced them but the leak persists much to my dismay. When looking at the figure 8 clamp from the left side of the bank it's the upper part of the top exhaust tube that's leaking. I can feel the exhaust gasses coming out of that area. I tried torqueing the clamp to the spec, then tighter all to no avail. From some light markings I think the previous owner laid the bike over on the left side. When the bike warms up the exhaust leak disappears.

I think my next thing is to take it all apart again and see if I can find out what's causing the leak. The new gaskets went in pretty tightly but maybe there's a gap somewhere. Anyone have any ideas?

"When the bike warms up, the exhaust leak disappears" - why change something when it already works. Simple: warm up bike first before riding!

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

"When the bike warms up, the exhaust leak disappears" - why change something when it already works. Simple: warm up bike first before riding!

I do but call me a bit vain but when all my buddies are around to check it out and it sounds like wet farts until it warms up takes some of the Guzzi luster away.

Well, you are on a Guzzi, it's different anyway - you don't need to prove a thing!

I'd try loosening the centre bolt a bit and tightening the upper and lower or visa-versa. It may just be clamping in the wrong places.......

And Tony, I can understand his frustration. Shit like that drives me bonkers!

if expansion is causing the exhaust to tension that much in any dimension there is a risk of it developing a resonance leading to a buzz vibration at certain revs or maybe even a fatigue crack due to the vibration.

So in my opinion ir would be worth loosening all the exhaust mountings, push the headers into place and shake the whole thing to find the most easy, natural place. Then evenly tighten each mounting point whilst giving the system an gentle occasional shake.  

It should 'sit down' so that the headers seal and nothing is pulling to one side or another.

Well no dice the leak persists. I tried every imaginable scenario for tension on the figure 8 clamp, then took everything off besides the headers cleaned the surfaces, re-aligned it all. For an experiment I took the clamp from the 2-1 to the silencer/slip on and put that over the leaking section and it was able to clamp it with enough force to stop the leak in that one spot. I could order two more of those exhaust clamps and then be good to go I suppose but at $40/each it seems excessive and I ended up snapping the clamp screw in half which was odd since I didn't feel like I torqued it that much. I bought a stronger screw from the one hardware store in town that has a decent selection of metric screws/bolts and it worked and held just fine.

That being said looking at aftermarket 2-1 pipes like the Agostini or the arrow titanium does the power suffer greatly from the lack of the sharp bend like the stock pipe? Assuming I buy yet another map from Beetle anyway...

I might just try some exhaust sealer first before dumping too much more money into it. Seems odd that I'd have to do it to begin with though and wonder about the root-cause of the problem rather then just band-aiding it.

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Maybe the clamp itself is worn out.... I am sure my next header removal will require me to replace the clamp. As I'm sure u know that figure 8 clamp is very expensive, otherwise I would have replaced it last time I took off my exhaust system for cleaning. It's beat up and had to follow steps on forum to finally get it to seal properly. Also, the top of my fig 8 clamp is fully tightened. To assure great seal start at front with new gaskets and find and follow steps on forum with the new clamp. It's a job and a lesson in patience... an exhaust leak also would drive me batty.

Gootzibird13 wrote:

Maybe the clamp itself is worn out.... I am sure my next header removal will require me to replace the clamp. As I'm sure u know that figure 8 clamp is very expensive, otherwise I would have replaced it last time I took off my exhaust system for cleaning. It's beat up and had to follow steps on forum to finally get it to seal properly. Also, the top of my  fig 8 clamp is fully tightened. To assure great seal start  at front with new gaskets and find and follow steps on forum with the new clamp. It's a job and a lesson in patience... an exhaust leak also would drive me batty.

The bolts on mine are super weak, or maybe I overtorqued them (I really dont feel like I was that ham-fisted with them though) and one of the bolts broke in half during my fitment attempts and now I can't get the last bit out of the threaded hole for the figure 8 clamp. If I needed to buy a new clamp I'd get two of the rear exhaust clamps instead of the figure 8 oddity and use those on the headers instead of the figure 8.

I found some cheap ones on Amazon but I'm not convinced they are any good, but we'll see. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Hydroformed exhaust is that a complete system or just a silencer?
I would put back what you had before and see if its your assembly.

They are a bit of a funny fit on that 8 clamp, think I fitted mine back to front first time  
Couldnt get the cosmetic cover back on  
Quite a faff to hide clamp parts behind cover.
There is a write up on the ghetto!? I never seen it, how hard can it be.
I persevered used the original gaskets.
I did a really shit job on mine, top pipe is not far enough in.
Nothing leaks though your thread has pushed me to do it better
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Not something I would torque an exhaust clamp, you go by feel, if it feels tight it's tight, its spring loaded so never going to undo itself.
Graphite gaskets are superb fit like a glove, if you have a leak on new ones something is pissed or too small.
If you put it back as it was and it seals then the last thing you fitted is the culprit.

Yes mine is all stock Buellbloke. But as yours is, the spacing is fairly noticeable under the front of heat shield. Which bothered me early on particularly because the removal of exhaust was for polishing reasons. Fiddled and fiddled even added a few washers to the silent block exhaust mount under bike to get more push forward to help seat. All to no avail. It's a fairly durable exhaust system and the stock muffler will fit no matter what, which was nice. But after all the wrestling and settling down evenly tightened 8 clamp then tightened header to heads @25nm with blu lock tight it's never leaked or come loose. And at the end of the day we bought these bikes to ride not work on daily....hope my input helps friends.