Repacking an Aluminum Leo Vince SBK muffler
 

After about five years and 60,000 km., I thought it was time to repack the Leo Vince mufflers on my VTR. However, in the course of spending several hours over several days completing the job, I was able to confirm that there was no compelling reason to have done so. The packing and muffler internal parts were in very good condition and the pipes were only slightly louder than they had been when new. I could have left them alone and all would have been fine. In any case, here are a few tips and observations in case you want to waste your time as I did.

Using a proper spring puller speeds up removing the muffler from the midpipe, lessens the chance of launching a Leo Vince spring in a low trajectory across the road and makes your language less colourful. Lying on the floor beside the bike with one foot braced against a passenger peg looks ridiculous but ensures that the power of the spring is easily overcome.

I used a Leo Vince repacking kit, part number 414205R. It comes in a really big box but it contains only enough material to repack one muffler. That was OK in my case because I trashed the other muffler in a crash and had to buy a new one.

Although the Leo Vince “Sound-Proof Kit Fitting Instruction” booklet has five languages on the cover, the information in it for the SBK Factory/Oval consists of photos without text showing “Exhaust Dismantling” and “Exhaust Assembling”. The booklet ensures that, regardless of which of the five languages you speak, you will have only a vague idea of what to do.

The box contains six stainless steel rivets, packing material and some fabric to line the inside of the muffler shell. The fabric is a sandwich of coarsely woven material on the outside and some sound-deadening material on the inside. It must be cut in order to fit properly. According to the chart in the back of the instruction booklet, the correct dimensions for a medium “C” size muffler (125 mm. tall, 95 mm. wide and 480 mm. long) are 350 mm. by 500 mm.

Drilling out the rivets at the end of the muffler was easy. Removing the end cap was more of a challenge. I had to beat it 118 times with a rubber mallet before I was able to remove it. Carbon dust stained the mucous in my nose.

The packing material consists of long, wavy strands of wool-like material. Think of Rapunzel with a perm. The photo in the booklet shows it coming out of the muffler in one big clump. It doesn’t happen that way. You’ll need to reach deep into the muffler to get it all out. I used some forceps that were about 22” long. A cut wire coat hanger with a hook at the end would work too.

You’re supposed to replace the old packing material with 550 g. of the new stuff. Roughly that much is included in the kit so use it all.

There’s not a lot of room between the muffler core and the fabric lining the inside of the muffler shell. I used a piece of wooden lath about 2 ft. long, ¾ in. wide and ¼ in. thick to push in the packing material. Some masking tape around the end of the core prevented the material from snagging. It was tedious but mindless work, something to which I am well suited.

The rubber mallet again worked its magic and the end cap went on fairly easily. However, the stainless steel rivets that attach the end cap to the muffler overwhelmed my anemic riveting tool. The shop I bought the repacking kit from had a proper manly riveting tool and the job was completed in no time and, more importantly, at no additional cost to me.

Installing the muffler went without a hitch. The short ride that followed gave me the satisfaction of knowing that I hadn’t made things worse.

"It was tedious but mindless work, something to which I am well suited.
The short ride that followed gave me the satisfaction of knowing that I hadn’t made things worse. "

Dude this had me laughing my ass off. Classic! :)

interesting account comedo and it chronicles what many of have to do to maintain not just our beloved bikes, but many other things in our lives.......learning the real way.

Esp difficult with the piss-poor excuse for what they consider their obligation to include directions in most of todays' products..... like an after-thought on a austere budget. Good pics could save them and us alot of time. Aggravating shit esp when you fuck something up because of it.

as far as packing, makes you wonder what conditons might cause the need to repack considering that you found nothing askew after 60,000km. Is it a testament to the quality of Leo Vince packing, packing in general or what?

Well I guess my Leo's won't be coming apart anytime soon...... ;)

I expected the interior of the muffler to be filthy and rusted. It was actually in very good shape. Much of the old packing was almost as white as the new stuff. There was no deterioration of the perforated pipe that's connected to the inlet end of the muffler. A sleeve made of two layers of fine steel mesh with steel wool between the layers and which slides over the perforated pipe was in excellent condition.

There is a video on the Leo Vince site which purports to show how to repack an SBK muffler. It doesn't correspond to the instructions provided with the kit and the interior of the muffler in the video doesn't match the interior of the mufflers on my VTR. The packing material shown in the video is not at all like the material that came out of the muffler from my bike nor is it like the material in the kit.

While I am very happy with the quality of the Leo Vince slip-ons, I am far from satisfied with Leo Vince customer service. A shop I've dealt with for a long time ordered the repacking kit but, according to the shop, Leo Vince didn't want to ship it to me in Canada until a bigger order was placed. I ordered a new left midpipe and muffler in the middle of July, 2012. The repacking kit came in August or September and the midpipe came in sometime after that. The muffler didn't arrive until October and the one they sent was for the right side of the bike, not the left as I had ordered. The shop put an aluminum Leo Vince emblem on the left side of the muffler so at least on a cursory examination it looked acceptable. I'll try to remove the emblem on the right side of the muffler with a heat gun.

I had most of the damage caused when I crashed my VTR repaired by the end of August. All I needed was a midpipe and muffler. I had plans to ride to Cape Breton Island in the second week of September and I would have been unable to take the trip but a friend lent me some debaffled stock pipes and I was able to go. I was told the midpipe had to come from Italy. Lesson learned.

Ditto, won't be packing anthing any time soon. ;)

I was wondering if and when I should repack my LV SBK's, well not for awhile

Man the last two times I opened mufflers to repack them they were pretty much empty of packing. Really past due.