Exhaust Mounting Help. Please

I did manage to get the exhaust mounted on my XJ700, but the header mounts don't look like they are fully seated. The long stud nuts are barely threaded on, maybe 1/4"-3/8" which means the stud is not protruding all the way through the nut, yet they are meeting stiff resistance and I don't want to snap one and go backwards on getting this bike running. I am planning to pull the pipes off and wire brush the studs to remove any corrosion which may be making things tougher than they should be. But, if anyone has a picture of what the header looks like when fully seated, it would be appreciated.
I have new exhaust gaskets, made sure to pick out the old ones first and yes the collars are in place.
Thanks.

 

Did you put the pipes on individually, or try to hook the whole assembly up as a unit?
Should put them on one at a time, tightening everything down to where it's just about done but still easily loose so the next part can go on. Once everything is in place and ready to snug down THEN you can snug it all down.

Dave F

 

Did not even try to break the headers loose from the collector. Seems like taking the entire thing apart would be an unnecessary nightmare.

 

If you left everything together, yeah it SHOULD fit right back together..... But you're gonna fight with it forever to hopefully get it back in right

 

Using all stock hardware, the studs SHOULD NOT protrude all the way through the nuts.

Look closely at those nuts; they have an internal hex in their outer 1/3 or so which would be useless if the studs came all the way through.

Don't go by how tight it feels, or how far the studs come through the nuts. Use your "micrometer" torque wrench and 1/4" drive socket and extensions as needed to properly TORQUE the header flange nuts to spec, which I believe is only 7.2 ft/lb; check your manual. Tighten evenly from side-to-side, incrementally, and torque to spec then stop. Re-check after a few heat cycles or a couple hundred miles.

 

I just went and looked at both my 550s and my 650 and the studs only thread about halfway into the (stock) nuts. I knew they didn't come all the way through, never really looked that closely at how far they thread on.

This is the best pic I have, it's a 550 but I think you probably have the same style collars and nuts. There is a good gap between the collars and the head that you can't see in the pic.

 

Excellent, thank you Fitz that was exactly the info I was looking for.

 

I made this mistake
broke a header bolt off
lesson learned

beware the aluminum will snap!

 

But usually the steel stud will snap. The aluminum issue usually comes in to play when people try to drill the stud out and the drill bit wanders off of the steel

 

Which is exactly what I am trying to avoid.

 

yeah my bad, the stud snapped