Honda-SOHC
SOHC.co.uk Forums => CB500/550 => Topic started by: Gromitdog on September 01, 2025, 04:22:31 PM
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By chance would anyone have the fitting instructions for a set of exhausts from CSM for a CB550 K3 all I got this morning was a printed sheet from the CEO saying to follow the instructions on how to fit them I gone through all the boxes and No instructions in sight only the invoice, Very disappointing considering I just spent over £1200 on them, I have emailed them and it may take 5-7 days to get a reply I am not holding my breath they actually have a set of instructions
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Do you mean the four pipe silencer system Nigel?
If you do page 52 & 53 of my build below covered this as I had no instructions.
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Hi Ted
Yes I do I will have a look at those pages cheers, Hope all is well with you. I have to say I think cam take the "mick" charging what they do for these and can't be bothered to put a sheet of instructions in 😖
Cheers Nige
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CSM NL have replied they don't do any instructions for fitting these exhaust system for a CB550 K3 But are happy to charge over 1k for them 😖, They are not quite the same as Teds system but it still involves 4 separate exhaust pipes,
The boxes which each exhaust pipes come in are marked up A, B, C, D, would I be right in thinking
A =L/H pipe N01, B + L/H pipe N0 2 and so on as CSM are of no help what so ever, Can anyone tell if I am on the right track ? Or has anyone had any experience in fitting a 4 pipe exhaust system to a K3 that they have purchased from CSM
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If you look at the photos on my 500 project you should be able to identify number 1 & 2 pipes easily. I think A & B were 1 &:2
Once you loosely fit pipe 2 first, the bracket fits on the inside of the foot rest mount. The bracket for number 1n pipe fits on the outside of the footrest frame fitting.
My 4 brackets were marked as per my rebuild posts.
I would be surprised if the 500 is much different.
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If they are like the originals I remember you have to fit the pipes for 2&3 first. They are the ones with the two threaded studs. Fit them to the bracket and hang them. Do not tighten everything too much at this stage. Then the pipes for 1 & 4 which have one threaded stud and one plain stud can be hanged and fitted into bracket. Then move to your satisfaction and tighten the lot.
They were much easier that the four pipes on the earlier 500/550s.
Or if you bought the earlier pipes then ignore all that. They may be tricky to fit a K3.
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Hi Nige, has the pipes not got the stamping on them stating iL and oR etc? Mine were a number of years ago but they were a bitch to fit. I used ratchet straps so they would eventually fit. I believe they were a prototype set I think that were pre - production. There were quite a number of years they were no longer being produced.
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Hi Johnny & Seabeowner & Ted
Yes I have since had a look and have found the ones marked A & B on the boxes ( I which I take are L/H 1 & 2 ) do have the following code stamped on them of L1 & SL only trial fitted so far and S1 seems to be very close but L1 miles away more tea needs and some deeper investigation I think , Might get the C & D and just see if they fit better as I had to have some welding done to the frame on the L/H side just fwd of the swing arm area which might a have effect on exhausts 1&2 ?????
Ted has suggested the same to fit 2&3 first then hang 1&4 slave together loosely then tight up when happy
will have a look later this week as Sheila is hinting I need to fit some acoustic panels that are lying on the living room floor at the moment 😂 so you can guess which order the jobs will be in 😂😂😂😂
Thank you for all your help on this so far guys
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Are the acoustic panels for when you fire the 550 up?🤔😳🙃
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I'm assuming you can identify pipe 2 from the position of the bracket on the silencer section.
What is the situation when you just try to fit the pipe for cylinder 2 ?
Is it that you aren't sure if you are using the right bracket ?
Using a bungee strap at the end of the silencer attached to the frame can help you get the first pipe in place, be it no2 or no3.
Are you sure you removed the old front pipe seal rings from the cylinder head exhaust ports ?
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Hi Ted
I am sure I have the correct brkts for the fitment of the exhausts for a K3 I have removed the old copper gaskets from the cycling head, As you suggested I am fitting N02 pipe first then hanging pipe N01 to the brkt . Pipe N0 2 seems to need to go rearwards more and upwards more (A) to clear the side stand when in transit and (B) rearwards to aline with the brkt hole on the frame. Pipe N01 seems to be about right .
This is as far as I have got at the moment due to other work that has to get done in the living room ie the acustic panels 😊
I might try seeing how 3&4 fit before coming back to 1&2 as I mentioned I had to have some welding done to the area just fwd of the swing arm on the L/H side of the frame.
Will update after the when when I got these panels on the wall hopefully, Thanks again for all the help and advice on this matter most appreciated.
Nige
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If its the same as 500 the one on side stand side goes what feels like the wrong side of the sidestand, hope that makes sense
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Big Thank you to you all for your help and advice on how to fit these K3 exhausts as was not obvious to me how the L/H side fitted, I have been out to the garage this afternoon to see if I could slave both sides on and if any adjustments where needed, The L/H side just need the main brat filing a bit to give the inner brkt bolt some movement. The R/H side main Brkt needs a bit of filing on the main Brkt to get dowel location hole to fit on the outer exhaust as its tight to fit.
Hope that makes kinda sense as its hard to explain
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My center stand was rather close to the silencer, I used a nut & bolt with a rubber on the end to ensure clearance.
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Hi All
As I mentioned on yesterdays update on fitting my K3 exhuast system which other than a bit of filing on the rear main brackets it should be good to go for a final fit tomorrow 🤗 🤗 However the outer exhaust which has 1x 10mm nut and a location pin I can't seem find a nut to fit it 😞 I have put a thread gauge on it and it seems to be 10 x 1.25mm it will only go on 1/2 a turn before feeling like its cross threading The thread has been chromed which might be the cause of the nut not wanting to go on correctly.
Any thoughts please
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If you don't want to use a die.
Find a spare nut of the correct thread. Cut a slot on the inside of the nut, Run a bolt into the slotted nut, grease nut.
Use the nut as a die.
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Have a good look inside the threaded nut, there may be a bit of weld spatter blocking the bolt.
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Run a tap down the nut and a die down the bolt.
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Thanks Guys for all your replies I am out in the garage this afternoon so I will look at the stud and hopefully it get it sorted 🤗.
PS Nice to see your back on line Ken hope your improving as the weeks go by ? look forward to hearing from you when your up & about 👍
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Hi All
As I mentioned on yesterdays update on fitting my K3 exhuast system which other than a bit of filing on the rear main brackets it should be good to go for a final fit tomorrow 🤗 🤗 However the outer exhaust which has 1x 10mm nut and a location pin I can't seem find a nut to fit it 😞 I have put a thread gauge on it and it seems to be 10 x 1.25mm it will only go on 1/2 a turn before feeling like its cross threading The thread has been chromed which might be the cause of the nut not wanting to go on correctly.
Any thoughts please
Is it a captive nut welded on to the bracket or a bolt that's causing the problem?
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The afternoon update I have spent the afternoon out in the garage and I have sorted the problem with the outer exhaust pipes 🤗 If I use the correct threaded 1.25mm nut guess what they go on NP "What a Muppet" 😖 😖.
Both outer exhaust are really tight length wise with little or no adjustment / movement to get the exhaust pipe flange to sit nicely onto the copper gasket , So maybe I am going to have to do a bit more filling on the main rear bracket to try & get some movement at the cylinder head end.
The split collars seem to long to be able to get the outer finned collar to bolt up as there is very little thread left. I have checked the part N0s of the split collars and from what I can see they are the same P/No for a K3 or a F1/2 I can see why this item comes with NO INSTRUCTIONS 😂
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I had a similar problem getting my Cb400f exhaust to fit just could not get it close enough to the engine though as you did that the split collars were too long , the mistake I made was trying to fit the exhaust with everything done up too tight.
I therefore loosen everything off and then tried again and with a lot of patience I all came together , when everything is loose there is enough flex in the down pipes to get it to fit together.
Do you have the original pipes ? I did and when I couldn’t fit the new pipes I tried to fit the old ones and had the same issue.
There is a utube video by CSMI showing how to fit the cb400 f exhaust which might be helpful , of course they guy does this job all the time so makes it look easy.
Good luck regards Ken4004
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I just remembered I also unscrewed the studs a little way out of the engine to help get the first nuts started, be careful to leave enough thread in the engine otherwise you may strip out the threads in the engine, y
Then just a process of slowly tightening everything bit by bit .
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Hi Ken
Thank you for the update on how you fitted your exhaust system unfortunately "Muttely the Honda" came with a lot of parts from other series of 550 fours fitted and it had a 4-1 system fitted to it, Its has been a slow process to put on all the correct parts back onto "Muttely". Not much left after we got exhaust on 🤞
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After a afternoon of filing the 2 main brkts managed to get all 4 exhausts on both sides so they had some movement managed to get the half collars on and the finned collars on and nuts just on by a thread or two although N0 2 exhaust is not showing any thread on one stud (Changed this stud) so it may be shorter did buy 6x40mm ones have left the exhaust just nipped up over night.
Will need to strip down again and touch up paint on the brkts before final fit I noticed on Wemoto they where selling 6x45.5x1 mm studs wondered if that might make it easier to fit as the nuts would have a couple of mm more thread to start would help
https://www.wemoto.com/parts/ae4673?srsltid=AfmBOoqLLLun2rt3DFzjpvvt_uRheFRB2Z7RJtKHTZWLd32VPBPffPnR
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The on going saga of fitting my exhausts continues 😒, We seem to have got the R/H side fitted and I am happy with them 🤗
Can anyone tell me why the L/H side pipes sits higher by about 10-15cm is it to clear the side & main stands when retracted ? I ordered some 6x45x1mm studs to give me a chance to get some nuts onto N0 2 exhaust which seems to be giving me the biggest problem.
If I put 2x sets of washers between the bracket that bolts to the frame it brings them level with the other side. But then only gives me a couple of threads to bolt the exhaust up which won't be safe to do. Any ideas ?
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Clearance from the stands is essential, so why not adjust the left side exhausts to the best position for that first. Then adjust the right side exhausts to match the height of the left. If that is possible, of course. 🤞
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Hi Gareth
Yes good thinking I have spent the morning on the bike doing the L/H exhausts & still having trouble with N02 pipe I have put on 6x45x1mm x2 exhaust studs hoping that this would give me a few more threads , But I am only just getting a thread or 2 to start the nuts up on which is not where I want to be, I like a few more threads if possible on all of the pipes as I am struggling to get spring washers onto any of the pipes at the moment.
I took off a 4-1 system & I am reusing the old collars from the 4-1 system is this where I am going wrong 😖 Just as a thought are the split collars different size / thickness that go on 1st around the pipe its self ? As none of the pipes seem that easy to get the collars to seat into the cylinder head far enough to get the finned collars on comfortably,
Unfortunately I don't have the old original 4 pipe system to be able to match too all I have is the 4-1 system Its temping to send this back as had no support from CSM as they say they have NO Instructions for fitting these and get out of any responsibilities by saying the frame could be bent !!!
Thank you all for all your support help & suggestions with on going saga of the exhaust system
Nige
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Nige, putting on a brand new system can be troublesome, try fitting it without the exhaust gaskets in the exhaust ports. As they’ll be new they’ll be thick and hold off the pipe somewhat. Fit number 2 pipe first, keep everything loose so you can move the pipe around if needed. Then fit number 1.
Once you get things lined up you can remove one pipe at a time and fit the gaskets .
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When I fitted my 400f exhaust all of the old collets had been "adjusted" so there was a mix of different lengths .
I used new collets, but it was difficult to get enough threads showing to get the nuts on.
I managed in the end. It might be worth your while shortening the collets to get the nuts on.
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My 4 pipe Delkevic exhaust came with new collets and clamps.
If you leave out the collets does number 2 pipe fit?
If you post the depth of your collett I'll check my original ones for comparison plus I have a set of SS ones via NJ that I did not use.
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Thanks to Ken,Gareth & Ted
Thank you for your suggestions will give them all a go it just seems that the N02 is giving me the trouble the others seem to kinda fit if only on a few threads. I will have a look in the bin to see if I got the old gaskets as they might just give me the couple of threads I need .
I did think of shorting the N0 2 collet by 5mm to see if I could get a better fit All my old collets are all different DIA wise (If that makes sense) but the lengths are all the same. Obversely the 4-1 system was not a straight fit either for the previous owners Just wish I had numbered the collets to which cylinder they came off of.
I will have another go to day and see keep you all posted to how I get on .................
Nige