Beta Front Exhaust Section

[neil-yaj396]

Spent all day today  fitting my new exhaust front section. The old one had split on the seam where it joins to the mid section (which is stainless steel). The mild steel end broke off in the stainless pipe necessitating the removal of the mid section and all manner of hammering and sawing before it came out.

Fitting the new piece would have been far easier if the flange was held together by studs and nuts as I expected. That’s what it says in Haynes and I’m sure it was the case with my 2000ie. Instead it is bolts, with a long one for the section of the manifold that isn’t tapped all the way through. I just happened to get lucky catching a thread on one of the short bolts, otherwise I could have been there until next week and was already seriously contemplating sacking it and picking up some 13mm studs from Bradford Bolt & Nut tomorrow. However once one was in I was able to jam a small Philips screwdriver into the opposing hole and line everything up.

The presence of the long bolt puts me off the idea that this was some kind of bodge? I was also surprised that the heat shield was located by a flap that sits between two manifold gaskets between the flange and the manifold. Again, no mention in Haynes and not present at all on my old Beta if I remember rightly.

Anyway all sounding great and ready for the Giro de Salopia in two weeks.