Anything new with exhaust donuts?

[thor452]

Question I have will your sled quit with the copper installed using the towel test at the end of your exhaust? If it wont bog and quit with a wet towel then you are losing air from the donuts. My brother installed Ulmers donuts and now cannot get the sled to quit with the test; it will stall some but will not shut the engine down. I have read some people are installing with permatex to create a better seal, the longevity of the permatex who knows. No one has come right out and said and I have read plenty on this. I plan to install copper soon and trial if I cannot get the sled to stall then I will go back to oem. I assume that air lose will = some loss in power. I think that after all the years of production of the apex, vector, and nytro if copper was the ultimate fix yamaha would have switched over to copper. I like that exhaust donuts are the only worry I have and my nytro is by far the best sled I have owned. Great to work on, built like a rock glad I bought what I did. The new sleds just do not have the same build quality. I'll sacrifice weight savings for build quality any day of the week. When you work on these yourself you can really see the differences in quality yamaha and yamacat are no way in the same.

mine shuts off like I turned off the key I use tennis balls to make a good seal on the tail pipes.

 

[steveg_nh]

Same here. Tested mine tonight after reading the question. I used rags and it idled down and stalled within seconds.

 

[Teamblue4]

Reasons for OEM?

I don't like the solid fit of the copper ones, I couldn't get them to seal up. All 3 of our Apex's have OEM gaskets, miles and miles of no problems.

To each there own I guess.

 

[Seavey82]

Thanks for all the info guys!! Really appreciate it!

 

[musselman]

I have the same problem with the copper donuts on my apex, I can see where they have been leaking because the heat shield is discoloured and it would not stall when the exhaust was plugged. I'm thinking about going back to stock, although copper donuts seem to be perfectly sealed on the nytro, not sure what why.

 

[Deeppow16]

Ok! I will make sure its good and clean. Clamps came off easy but the Y-Pipe bracket bolts wont budge! One on the verge of stripping ******* allen head (thanks Yamaha). Walking the heat to them tonight and if worse comes to worse I'll drill the rivits out and get the entire pipe/bracket on the bench. How do you like your barker with the programmer? I went with the Ultra Q due to Maine's Noise laws but wanted to go with barker looks way better made!

Sorry I didn't see this sooner but I really like my Barker exhaust. There are people out there that say there is no way it makes the power they claim but I feel different. I rode the sled for 2 years before adding the exhaust and after I added the exhaust it was a completely different sled. I felt a huge power gain once the programmer was hooked up. Then once I added a clutch kit my sled became a real animal. It has crazy low end pull almost feels like a diesel truck.

 

[gitrdun]

I would think if you pay attention to details when installing the copper donuts, you should end up with a good seal. The old gasket usually leaves some residue and has to be cleaned off of the flex pipe. The ends of the Y pipes have to be in perfect condition, or replace them. A couple of the donut clamps may have to be custom fit(grind a little off of the clamp spacer) to ensure that there is enough tension to keep them tight. And I suspect you have to pull that union of the flex pipe, donut, and Y pipe flange, together nice and tight before you tighten up that donut clamp. I question how much that clamp will suck the joints together on its own.

 

[CaptCaper]

I would think if you pay attention to details when installing the copper donuts, you should end up with a good seal. The old gasket usually leaves some residue and has to be cleaned off of the flex pipe. The ends of the Y pipes have to be in perfect condition, or replace them. A couple of the donut clamps may have to be custom fit(grind a little off of the clamp spacer) to ensure that there is enough tension to keep them tight. And I suspect you have to pull that union of the flex pipe, donut, and Y pipe flange, together nice and tight before you tighten up that donut clamp. I question how much that clamp will suck the joints together on its own.

yea..before tightening the clamps you have to have the flanges right up against them tight. I always make sure they are snug before tightening the clamps. I still would use the copper.. not to have to go thru the work again if your a high mileage rider like me is a plus. And like I said the extra noise isn't much at all.

 

[musselman]

I will loosen the clamps and make sure the flanges are tight before assembling, hopefully that helps.

 

[Winderallday!]

Wouldn't hesitate to take a couple millimeters off the spacer on the clamps either to ensure a good grip. Should also make sure there are no defects or deformation on the flared flanges on both pipes and headers. The OEM donuts will conform to minor defects where the copper likely will not. As mentioned previously, on my 11 Apex, the wire mesh inside the OEM donuts left an upstanding knurled pattern on my EXUP inlets, I smoothed them off well before installing copper replacements, and did not have any audible leaks/noise and doing the exhaust block off test.
As a matter of practice, I always tightened the header/donut clamps first before anything rearward to make sure nothing would hold the joint from sealing up properly.

 

[Seavey82]

Copper is going in mine tonight i finally have all the parts to get this thing buttoned up. I am not chasing the OEM donuts either! I want this to be one and done. Not a fan of tearing my sled down every 4k miles to inspect it would be one thing to open a hatch to inspect but its a pain really. I just want to ride the thing and not worry about. Great info here guys!

 

[CaptCaper]

Copper is going in mine tonight i finally have all the parts to get this thing buttoned up. I am not chasing the OEM donuts either! I want this to be one and done. Not a fan of tearing my sled down every 4k miles to inspect it would be one thing to open a hatch to inspect but its a pain really. I just want to ride the thing and not worry about. Great info here guys!

How'd you make out?? piece of cake... I found you don't have to grind the clamps down at all with these Coppers. They do fit tight tho on the flex pipes.. like the man above said you have to clean the flex pipes up good so they will slip on.
If you have high mileage you may have to tear it down again when a flex pipe cracks..hopefully not soon after the Donut change... you'll think it's the donuts probably at first.. Ask me how I know...Ha.

 

[Seavey82]

How'd you make out?? piece of cake... I found you don't have to grind the clamps down at all with these Coppers. They do fit tight tho on the flex pipes.. like the man above said you have to clean the flex pipes up good so they will slip on.
If you have high mileage you may have to tear it down again when a flex pipe cracks..hopefully not soon after the Donut change... you'll think it's the donuts probably at first.. Ask me how I know...Ha.

I made out just fine myself! Everything fit nicely as my old OEM donuts came off cleanly without any residue left behind on the pipes. The copper was a nice fit and the clamps fit tightly around the copper without grinding any off the clamp stops. While installing the copper donuts I shoved the Y-Pipe against the donuts and flex pipers while tightening the 2 Y-pipe bracket bolts in the tunnel with red lock tight. This made everything as tight as possible when I installed the clamps. I used new OEM bolts in the clamps with never-seize as its been recommended to use new bolts. My sled quit immediately with the towel test so apparently they are not leaking. I also installed a Skinz Ultra Q pipe (which sounds awesome without being obnoxious). I also replaced all my track bearing with SKF bearings FYI (there are 6 (6005), 3 (6004), and 2 (6205). I also installed the GYTR boondocker tunnel reinforcements, LED headlights (mostplus 100W, 12000 lumens) which now look like two welding arks they are so bright and so much better then stock, dupont slides and a 4th wheel kit. I plan to change the jackshaft and drive bearings next year! Now bring on the Freaking Snow!!

 

[steveg_nh]

Well done!