S/A maintenance?

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canyncarvr
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S/A maintenance?

Post by canyncarvr »

..S/A being Spark Arrester.

Having ruined my TCII by removing the S/A from the cannister, I thought I'd approach my PC S/A a bit differently.

I tried cleaning the thing with it still in the cannister. Sprayed it down with an engine degreaser. Let it sit for awhile, washed it out with Brakleen.

But....a whole lot of what was sprayed into the thing didn't come out anywhere! I could hear fluid sloshing around in the S/A.

What's in there anyway?

Took out the drain plug. Not a drop of anything.

Anyway..quite a long story. Point is, if you have the bright idea to decarbon your S/A...don't do it!

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skipro3
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Post by skipro3 »

I take my TCII apart every 30 gallons of gas or so and repack using half of a FMF "pink string" bag of stuffin'. (I know, not technical enough, but that's what I call the stuff. ) Last enduro, 2 weeks ago, I was so quiet the ranger just shook her head and pointed me to get out of the way. She didn't even check for the SA or registration.
That little wad of insulation up by the bung hole; I just leave it alone.

BTW, if you've never fired up the KDX with the S/A off, give it a go sometime. That little bike can sound like the starting line of a national moto-x. Physically hurts to rev it up.
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Post by KDXGarage »

Yes, it is amazing how much louder it is. OUCH! :eek:
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
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Post by hoodoo »

Canyon, how did you ruin your TCII? I took mine apart like an idiot (cant leave well enough alone) and so I just ran new rivets back through the spark arrester end of it.
I wil of course never take it apart again from that end. I have repacked mine several times and I just use kerosene and maybe some brakewash to wash it out.
Me screwing with it does not seem to have affected performance.
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Post by canyncarvr »

After drilling the rivets out and removing the drain plug I assumed the arrestor(er..whatever it is) would come out relatively easily. It didn't.

It did with a piece of hickory and a hammer. Well...if you call 2 1/2 pounds of steel-on-a-stick a hammer. No sense in stopping the operation once I started it.

The arrestor did some out..but it was damaged in the process to the extent I tossed the whole mess in the garbage.

All of this applies specifically to the arrestor part of the unit...not the silencer (where the repacking is done). ...has nothing to do with 'normal' S/A maintenance (repacking). And I'm not talking about the spout on the end..but the 'turbine core' part of the thing.

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Post by hoodoo »

I can see if you damaged the turbine core its self...yeah...that would affect things. But I like the way you work with the hickory and sledge. Believe me I wanted to use a sledge hammer on the pipe after I removed the end cap. It one of those moments when you realize in my case that I have nearly ruined a very expensive part due to my curiosity.
Like my dad always told me just before he got really pissed off, "you never know when to stop!"
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Post by IdahoCharley »

If the SA vanes get carboned up you can burn it out with a torch. i.e. Oxygen/acetylene.

I removed a SA from a TC2 which came on a used bike I bought. Like CC mentioned it does NOT come out real easy. I heated up the aluminum canister portion a little to break the silicone bond: reached in the end of the exhaust port with a set of pliers and grabbed hold of one of the vanes: then used a RUBBER mallet to beat on a mounting bracket point until the SA moved then used the mallet on the inlet end of the canister to work the end cap back and forth until the SA dropped free. Heated the SA until cherry red with torch, knocked off the carbon and reinstalled back onto the canister housing with new rivets. Worked out OK!!
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Post by skipro3 »

hoodoo wrote: It one of those moments when you realize in my case that I have nearly ruined a very expensive part due to my curiosity.
Like my dad always told me just before he got really pissed off, "you never know when to stop!"
Man, I KNOW that feeling. It can 40 degrees in the garage, and with the realization that this particular job should have been left to a pro, that I start sweating like it's 115 degrees.

There's no worse feeling than realizing a whole lota hard money was just destroy because you just couldn't leave well enough alone.
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Post by canyncarvr »

IC did it right.

I don't have anything but a propane torch..doesn't get hot enough fast enough over a large enough area.

I started at the edges of the arrestor (from the inside), tapping a bit from side to side. When I saw the edges start to deform, I knew I was screwed already. That's when the hickory/sledge came into play.

re:
hoodoo wrote:...one of those moments when you realize in my case that I have nearly ruined a very expensive part due to my curiosity.
Yeah. What he said. :sad:

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