Hi,

Tell me that I'm nuts here.

As part of a provincial inspection (Alberta, Canada) to get my bike registered in my province, my stock 85' K100 requires the heat shield to be attached to the exhaust.

The previous owner removed the heat shield at some point and ran the bike for years and years without. They also ground down the tabs completely flush. After this inspection I want to run the bike without the heat shield forever.

I've acquired a secondhand heat shield and want to temporarily attached it to the stock exhaust for the ride to the inspection (private motorbike shop), for the 20 minute inspection, and the ride home where I'll remove it. We don't have annual inspections or anything like that so it's probably 20 mins of riding and 20 minutes inspection.

I don't think a metal hose/band clamp or similar is going to pass.

Some options.

1. Buy all the OEM parts, clips, square nuts, etc and do it right.

• Seems like a bit of work for taking it off afterwards, if done correctly I guess I'd probably keep the heat shield on
  
• I do have access to a welder but I've never welded in my life, I understand the exhaust is SS and I believe that complicates welding even more
  

2. I have seen this: https://www.k100-forum.com/t1411-installing-a-bmw-muffler-repair-kit-p-n-95009000390

• I'm not keen on drilling holes into the exhaust
  

3. JB high temp weld some bolt heads to the exhaust, add some nuts to add some distance up the bolt, place heat shield and then washer / acorn nut it down

• Tell me if this is just dumb
  

4. Similar to 2 but with socket sex / sleeve bolts

• Tell me if this is just dumb
  

Any other ideas?

Thanks

When are you having your inspection done?

(3) has possibilities. Do it, test it and if it works, take the heatshield off again. Within two minutes of the inspection shop put the heatshield back on. Remove for the ride home, then grind off the JB Weld and polish. That way it's only attached for the minimum of vibration time.

RS Rider may have a better idea because, IIRC, he's been through that cr@p.

You could pop rivet wide stainless steel cable ties to the shield then attach the shield to the muffler. Or alternatively drill hole in the S/S ties and use nutserts. As long as it is securely attached they should pass it. Many years ago I failed a RWC test when trying to register a trail bike  with a highish rear mudguard. The rules stated that a mudflap had to be fitted and had go past the centre of the wheel. I went back to work and attached a 30Cm long piece of reinforced rubber to the rear number plate.  The motor reg guy said it looked ridiculous and tried to fail it again. I argued that it fulfilled the requirement and the looks were irrelevant. He then argued that there was no way I was going to leave it on if he passed it. I countered with what  I did after it passed was not his concern. He called in an offsider and I argued my point again and begrudgingly they passed it. As soon as I got back to work as predicted it was removed.
Regards Martin.

I agree with Dai's choice of #3. #1 will take experience or reliable connections in the trade to undertake. #2 seems a drastic measure to perform on a usable part. #4 seems too hardcore besides being somewhat painful, unsatisfying, and irrelevant to the goal.

Other options are to buy, borrow, beg or steal* another exhaust system for the purpose of the test.  

*  Not really recommended.  Just being silly.

Attach some small flat stock steel to the shield that can be bent and clamped to the muffler similar to the heat shield on semi stacks.

RS Rider wrote:When are you having your inspection done?

No set date yet, haven't picked a shop or anything like that yet. I'm thinking as soon as Calgary roads are good enough, late spring / early summer. I think I have the bike near ready, I just need to get it up to speed to make sure nothing is hiding. I've had it idling in my garage and around the block once last October but it hasn't been above 10km/hr in over a decade.

caveman wrote:Attach some small flat stock steel to the shield that can be bent and clamped to the muffler similar to the heat shield on semi stacks.

I like this thought caveman. It would look pretty decent as the wrap would go under and behind the muffler. I'm in the process of trying number 3 on my list. If (or maybe when haha) the JB weld just ain't doing it I'll take a harder look into this. Appreciate the suggestion. Thanks.

TacKler wrote:Other options are to buy, borrow, beg or steal* another exhaust system for the purpose of the test.  

*  Not really recommended.  Just being silly.

This is the best option, buy someone a dozen of their favourite beer and borrow it for inspection day.

Dai wrote:(3) has possibilities. Do it, test it and if it works, take the heatshield off again. Within two minutes of the inspection shop put the heatshield back on. Remove for the ride home, then grind off the JB Weld and polish. That way it's only attached for the minimum of vibration time.

RS Rider may have a better idea because, IIRC, he's been through that cr@p.

#3 is in progress. We'll see how it turns out. Good idea to minimize the time on the bike.

I took some assembly pictures. I'll update with results.

MartinW wrote:You could pop rivet wide stainless steel cable ties to the shield then attach the shield to the muffler. Or alternatively drill hole in the S/S ties and use nutserts. As long as it is securely attached they should pass it. Many years ago I failed a RWC test when trying to register a trail bike  with a highish rear mudguard. The rules stated that a mudflap had to be fitted and had go past the centre of the wheel. I went back to work and attached a 30Cm long piece of reinforced rubber to the rear number plate.  The motor reg guy said it looked ridiculous and tried to fail it again. I argued that it fulfilled the requirement and the looks were irrelevant. He then argued that there was no way I was going to leave it on if he passed it. I countered with what  I did after it passed was not his concern. He called in an offsider and I argued my point again and begrudgingly they passed it. As soon as I got back to work as predicted it was removed.
Regards Martin.

Yes, good idea Martin thanks. I'm trying #3 at the moment, JB is setting up so we'll see how it goes.

What I should do is pick a shop and bring the muffler in and explain to them something like your ss cable ties idea and see what they say.

Another option may be to attach your heat shield with muffler wrap like the cafe guys put on their exhaust pipes.  Takes about 5 minutes to put it on, and the same to take it off.  No welding or metalwork required.

Tell the inspector you are using it to make the bike a little quieter because the heat shield was rattling.  Might even score you a couple extra points.  Leave a little heat shield showing at each end so they know it's there.

I would probably just use these nuts and bolts, simple.



With so many plastic parts on cars now, you see these a lot, for example when something is bolted to a plastic bumper. I use these in lots of different applications.

Screw them on, screw them off, in a jiffy.

Original post states that the tabs/cages have been ground off, otherwise a very good idea.

Ah ha missed that detail. Now I'm liking point sevens idea of muffler wrap, I thought it was an alternative to a heat shield.

Something else to consider, as ridiculous as it sounds, is silicone to stick the nuts on. I've used that in all sorts of strange situations. I think of high temperature JB weld as just high temperature silicone with some additives. Silicone would be easier to cut off.

I think metal band clamps should pass, you could ask, it might help to point out that it's stainless steel, and have one on the narrow part. Sometimes I've got a pass by going to a different rego branch.

So this is what I came up with, overall a little frustrating. Would I do this again? haha probably not. I'm still not convinced that what I ended up with will last long but it needs to last for an inspection only.

I had to do this twice. The first time, all the attachments snapped off. I changed my method the second time around and its been holding since even when hot.

First method:
I placed the heat shield on the muffler and marked the hole locations. I then removed heat shield and JB welded attachments to the muffler. And then attempted to attached the heat shield. As expected, because the attaching hardware is on two different planes, getting the shield to attach was difficult. I cut back the hardware quite a bit to get the holes lined up properly and when I finally got the shield on there was a quite a bit of stress on the hardware. A couple disconnected from the muffler immediately. I was pretty impressed by how well the JB held until it didn't. It seemed to really hold the hardware. I think because the hardware was not perfectly aligned, the stress was high.

Second method:
I installed all the hardware into the heat shield, placed on the muffler and then JB welded. Definitely not as clean because the clearances are tight. I used a screwdriver to grab a large dollop of JB weld, lifted the heat shield and placed JB weld under the hardware. I then clamped the heat shield onto the muffler. The nice thing about this JB weld is that it chips off really easily so when I remove the hardware clean up will be ok.

Final Result:
Not my prettiest work, the gap doesn't look great but its holding. Lets see if it passes inspection.

JB product I used:
 

Attaching hardware: (the one closest to the header required longer length, its just literally a long bolt I had laying around)






First method:




Second method final result:

Point-Seven-five wrote:Another option may be to attach your heat shield with muffler wrap like the cafe guys put on their exhaust pipes.  Takes about 5 minutes to put it on, and the same to take it off.  No welding or metalwork required.

Tell the inspector you are using it to make the bike a little quieter because the heat shield was rattling.  Might even score you a couple extra points.  Leave a little heat shield showing at each end so they know it's there.

Yes, I like this idea. If what I have starts to fall off I'll be trying this.