I'm confident of the answer but still wanted to check with you guys. Here's the thing.... I'm mounting up the pipe (stock headers, FMF mid) and (the real issue is) I cannot- for the life of me and whatever I try- get one of the two head pipes out of the mid pipe (RH header.) Yes, agreed, the only 100% right way to do this is to get the headers totally free, mount those up perfectly, then slip on the mid. I know that's easier said than done- the FMF mid doesn't mate as neatly as it should to the headers (I recall from when I first installed...not a great fit and took quite some tapping..I know there are alignment issues...more on this at bottom.) So anyway the right side mates to the head neatly- as you know there's a detent where the flange ridge of the pipe seats. Now that header (right) does sit about 1/2mm out (if a half mm), but the pipe flexes easy enough (even by hand) to seat proper. The left is the issue- the small u-ey header. That one comes close to mating (about half the thickness of the flange ridge, and down to 2/3's of where it should be if I push hard but couldn't do that and snap a semi-decent pic- so what you see is slightly further out than when pressed.) Now that's at the lower header bolt- at the top it's closer to perfect. Here's the pic: If I tighten the flange (as much as I dare) it just doesn't cinch perfect. Within a hair (perhaps a third of a mm) but not perfect. Given this (the fact that the right header mates well and this one doesn't, uniformly) indicates very slight misshapen-ness. So I think you see the pickle. It's not like I can mount the small u-ey first- the issue there is that I then can't get the mid-pipe/right header onto the u-ey (once the right header is looped around the down tube you can't pull what is for now a one piece right header/mid backwards far enough to slip onto the end of the u-ey, as it hits the head.) So is that tiny mis-mate the issue that I think it is? It's gotta result in a leak, even if so slight I can't feel it. My guess is that the right answer is to take the can/mid/header to a muffler shop to if they can free the header. My concern there is that their strong-arming will result in it all being even more mis-shapen/mis-aligned. If such is the case will the headers- once mounted- handle a little man-handling to reset parallel? They're thick so it'll take some might. As always sorry to go long- just don't wanna start any further down any of these paths w/out consulting you guys. This is frustrating- all I have left to do is get the pipe back on, mount up the cooling system, and I'm set to give the bike a test-start of the engine. Thanks! EDIT: BTW- in the pic...furthest to the right of the spot I'm referencing...it looks as though the flange ridge is further from the header there. That's an optical illusion, the result of that surface being closer to the lens.
