Anyone got any good ideas for trying to remove the stubborn allen screws holding the heat shield on the silencer?

BooG, have you tried the normal...WD40 etc ? Let it really soak in, then try an impact screwdriver to jolt it. Good luck

The "gentle violence" approach had crossed my mind! I'm happy to give that a shot in the absence of any other ideas.

Maybe you can try and freeze the bolt with a can of special freeze. I bought some but haven't had a chance to use it.
RT

What Ainsjac said is right, let it soak for as long as you can. The normal heating/cooler cycle of riding the bike around will also help get the WD40 in there.

Correct me if I'm wrong (like I even have to say that!), but a 50/50 mixture of ATF and acetone can be applied as well.

If and only IF it won't come out, consider that all you are dealing with is a bolt and nut.If you drill it out you can always replace it with another, maybe slightly bigger. Stainless steel may be a good replacement.

If you manage to loosen them and it puts a hole in the muffler remember there are rivets with an internal screw thread that fix it and allows you to keep the cover

Tony

G'day BooG,A couple of my bolts rattled off the heat shield and I replaced them with 6mm stainless bolts with a normal hex.head.Seems to work OK.

If you can get a few drops of vinegar on the thread 2 or 3 timws a day foe a few days it sometimes will disolve the rust that occurs and locks the bolt. Yes I know it's stainless but a very low grade.

If you do end up stripping the bolt or the captive nut behind it,you can get them from Munich spares pretty cheap.

My experance with workng in stainless (I work with it every day) is that if the thread has picked up and seized then it won't come apart no matter what you put on it. I find that if force is used small bolts will fail, and for larger threads they just get cut off with a grinder and replaced. Get the drill out. I think drilling is better than using any force as you don't want to damage to small square loop welded to the muffler that retains the nut. With stainless keep in mind it work hardens so keep the speed down and some pressure on the drill so it keeps cutting. If the pressure is taken off and the drill rubs rather than cuts the screw will go hard and then your problems start. The nuts are just a flat strip drilled and tapped so are easy to make or cheap to buy.

One of my first jobs as a fitter was to drill hundreds of 3/16 holes in a 8ft x 4ft x 3mm plate of stainless and oh boy did I know how to sharpen drilld after that

I have found that an angle grinder can be your best friend. My old next door neighbour introduced me to his...a 4 inch with guard removed and 9 inch blade put on. He then put a 9 inch wood blade on. At this point I bought my own and LEFT GUARDS ON.

Ground the heat shield brackets off from my exhaust, too many problems with those fixings.

The replacement nuts and bolts are cheap. Just got new ones last week. I think $15 for all??

Ainsjac, you made a wise decision leaving the guard on your grinder. I was using a 4" grinder at home a few years back with one of those scotch pads for paint stripping a tractor bonnet. The pad was a 5" so off came the guard. Now I've been using grinders all my life without incident but this one got me. Just a momentary touch on the little finger was enough to do some serious damage. They cause horrific injurys. Guys, don't take the guards off, not for any reason.

Peter

Agree with you there pjjms, seen too many nasty injuries with 4'' and 5'' grinders without guards. One of my boilermakers decided to adjust the guard on a 5'' the other day while the thing was still on. Finger slipped on to 1mm cutting disc, straight to the bone. Touched for about a second. When asked what was he thinking, reply was that he clearly wasn't!

I didn't get a heat shield with my bike just the ugly brackets which i decided to remove .
Despite plenty of experience with ss and using flap disc (polyfans) for the final finish i still managed to overheat the muffler . Have had some surprised comments about the blueing so far back! I've had no problems with heat but i don't have hard panniers so can't comment on that except that it looks far neater without that ugly shield .

Hear Here Ghost who rides
I'm thinking of taking mine off. No matter what I've done it rattles and bangs.
Can't be bothered fixing it properly.
Next time I have my missus on the back with hot pants and stilletos on remind me to tell her to watch out for the heat.

Hey RT what about your mother in law.

Hasn't she got one of those new BSs ? Broomstick ?

Leave my family out of it guys, I know you don't feel sorry for me.
Oh by the way Mother in law bought me a new tyre, give it a couple of days
and she'll forget and buy me anothery. I'm stacking them up.
Do I have to plug the holes in the exhaust if I remove the shield?

No there are no holes just captive nuts on the outside.

If you have a look at this pic you can see the tabs that the captive square nuts sit into. They,re the raised sqaure thingos on the top off the muffler in the pic.



You can remove them with a cut off disc just above the weld and gently sand the excess off. If you get a cheap metal buffing kit and some autosol, you should be able to polish the muffler to a nice shine.

I had to clean all the road grime and gunk off mine first with soapy water and a scotchbrite pad, gently so as not to put deep scratches in the stainless.

.

I got frustrated with the Heatshield and it's fixings, so ground the tabs off and buffed the box.
I hate noisy exhausts so these boxes for me are great, but what a poor design on the heatshield