Mid-pipe Repacking

[neonsurge]

My 250's started to run really smoky again recently and I suspect it because there's a serious buildup of gunk in the front and mid pipes. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the mid pipe had packing in it... is this true? If so, how do you repack and in either case what's the recommended procedure for cleaning the inside of the exhaust (in the absence of caustic soda or similar which is becoming very difficult to obtain )?

[essex rider]

with my mates DT50 exhaust we filled it up with petrol and left it to soak then set fire to it for fun That cleaned it good!

As for the mid-pipe having packing in it, i alsways thought there was a mesh type stuff inside it-no packing??

[beta_basher]

Yes my old Beta had that round plate with holes in. I think i have a small peice of it in my garrage if you would like a photo.

Edited May 1, 2006 by beta_basher

[beta_basher]

Here It is,

[bob]

Shouldn't that have been in the bike????

I think they are on about the stuff around that perforated pipe.

Bob

[beta_basher]

Oh well im not to sure then. I suppose it will just be the same wool stuff that

Edited May 1, 2006 by beta_basher

[lewis_gasgas]

LoL is that the essex way of fixing your bike ? Set it on fire haha

[essex rider]

LoL is that the essex way of fixing your bike ? Set it on fire haha

No thats what we do with cars- leave them on a farmers field on fire!!

[betamike]

The packing in the midbox is more like steel wool.I know because my dad and I tried to clean out my midbox by using a blowtorch and a long wire brush.The problem was that whenever we put the blowtorch inside the midbox it went out - lack of air.So my dad decided to use the compressor to supply the blowtorch with air.Bad idea! There were embers flying out the end of the pipe and we thought 'oh great it's working'.But then the midbox suddenly began to melt and a large gaping hole appeared!It was not repairable as it had lost its shape aswell.I think we had achieved a blast furnace effect! All because of oil build-up by using fully synthetic at about 60:1! Never again.As far as I am aware the midbox is not repackable.You can still buy caustic soda in B&Q for drain cleaning.Hope this has helped

Mike.

Edited May 1, 2006 by betamike

[neonsurge]

Thanks for all the advice (well, thanks for the "don't try this..." comments anyway ) Caustic soda it is then. Or something.

Hang on, I know this guy in Baghdad who said he's got a stash of stuff that'll do the job.... large quantities no problem

[mattylad]

Somewhere on the Todo trial site is a description on how to do it.

[alan bechard]

I have not done the Beta one, so I could be well off, but my bet is that it is full of steel wool, or more likely, stainless steel wool.

To do the Sherco one's (which to more accurately compare would be to say the front of the Sherco one, we have to cut the muffler in half, then put it back together after cleaning and restuffing.

There were some great pictures someone had of an SWM I think that they had made a very nice door for to access this in the future. If you could joggle in a step, then make a nice small door, sealed with high temp RTV, you could go in there and repack as desired.

I will say that I would not do the cuastic thing or the burnout thing that much as at some point, you are removing that "steel wool" that is the packing along with the oil and gunk (at least to some degree) You really do not know what you have when you are done as far as remaining wool. I guess you could make a guess by the tone, but I would wonder if it was mine, if I was getting the right results.

When I do them, my approach is actually based upon the equipment that I have sitting in the shop, It would certainly not be commercially feasible to do, I would tell you to buy a new one.

Oh, and from the picture, the core is steel so you should be fine, but I tried to do a Scorpa one once, and the tube thing was made of aluminum. What a mess, you could not differentiate between shell and core, and I had a heck of a time getting that one back together.