Project FZR: Down and Out

My downpipes arrived today for the FZR in the mail. I bought these off ebay recently as they were going cheap so I thought why not have a replacement set as the EXUP valve was included in the sale.

I opened the box and had a look around the downpipes.

My initial thoughts were promising, a bit of corrosion here and there but nothing that I felt that couldn't be sorted with a selection of wet and dry sandpaper, wire wool and Autosol.

I set to and removed the EXUP valve.

EXUP valve removed from the downpipes. 21 years of extreme hear and carbon

The EXUP cover should clean up easily.

There is a problem though, 2 of the bolts came out easy whereas one of the bolts was very stiff and then became very easy to turn...as it sheared in half.

I've soaked it and tried mole grips but I'm still having no joy removing the stud. If I have to I'll get a machine shop to drill it out and re tap the hole.

I removed the EXUP valve end plate and discovered that the circular bushing was actually an oval bushing. At this point it started to make me realise that this won't be a simple exhuast swap job but I'll have to replace the bushings inside the valve housing.

The bushes won't be hard to change as it shows in the image below, but at £25 for each bush it will cost more for two little bushes than I paid for the exhaust. The gasket needs replacing too as it has seen better days.

I started to have a look around the valve itself to see if it was usable or past it. At first glance the valve rods had a bit of corrosion built up so I clean that off.

The facing has worn slightly but you can't really feel it if you run your finger along it. One thing for sure if that the previous owner can't have ever serviced this part as there was absolutely no sign of copper grease anywhere.

I'll keep working on the exhaust and see how I get on. The downpipes came off an 11,000 mile FZR400 3TJ but in all honesty the condition is pretty lousy compared to my downpipes currently on the bike at 18,500km. Still, the part is definitely fixable and with Stafford bike show tomorrow I'll be on the look out for plenty of bits of pieces to help restore all these parts.