I have put this sorry tale in the Humour section instead of Engine and Transmission.

I decided to replace my rear Main seal and clutch O ring as I intend to keep my K for many years.

First hint of humour came when I had to remove the exhaust.

The little guy in the back of my mind said " I wish my exhaust was as shiny as the example set by one of the guys here "

Okay, exhaust seperation came and abruptly stopped when pipe number 4 refused to budge.

At this point I should have refitted the other pipes back to the muffler and carried on.

but I didnt listen.......

I decided it needed more heat and  that meant some serious heat, so I contacted a  guy at the local car garage I knew and left it  with him.

Big mistake. his guy got it off alright, but left gauge marks on the pipe where his 36 inch stillson had been

and he charged me 40 quid for his time ...and thought he was doing me a favour 

The job itself was fine, allowing the new seal to be preshaped via a pill bottle overnight, prior to refitting .

A new friction plate for the clutch went in .

Only one exhaust stub sheared off, which was drilled out to 6.5mm and then 8mm starter and final taps to remove last remnants of the broken stud.

I then found that replacements exhaust studs are too short by about 10mm  which meant holding the new stud via its allen key slot in the end and turning the nut at the same time to secure the flanges

All exhaust pipes were cleaned via a  brass brush wheel on grinder, not like new, but shiny enough to double the value of the bike from at least ten yards...

and then.....number four exhaust pipe would not line up .  miles out ......

Had to reduce the pipe by a couple of inches to allow the pipe to line up with its flange.

I was trying to imagine how the guy at the garage got the pipe out of the muffler,,

He was a big guy, very amiable , but perhaps not on my list of people who I trust to do jobs for me anymore

and definitely off the Christmas card list.

Took me ages to refit the exhaust, fully expecting a leak somewhere, but none , so that was a my live and learn moment.

Bike started perfectly, clutch seems good, time to clean tools and the garage, and finally go over torque setting on everything . Then time for my first ride in a month . 

God I miss riding my K..

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooOgTx1rMhg


We are not alone...

If you ever need to remove the exhaust from a K100 you're best off not removing the headers from the main exhaust can and just removing the headers and can as an intact assembly. Why?  Because it's a PITA to get all of the headers re-aligned and then reinserted into the can.

I loved the u-tube video Saxon 7 wonderfully funny

I guess we have all had our " moments " with things mechanical

Looking back I agree with you duck, but the state of my exhaust had been irritating me for a long time so I sort of expected trouble at some point. 

My K is never going to win any shiny awards, but definitely looks better than she did.

The headers went back into the can easily enough once they were " polished " and the can entry stubs were cleaned and lubed, just number 4 which, looking from fotos of other pipes, had a kink in it from my friend up the road..

Fortunately BMW left loads of pipe length in the can spare for me to cut enough off for the header to fit, and be gas tight at the clamp.

Just got move one clamp a bit which is in the way of the centre stand..

Bob