Removing exhaust downpipes to do oil change

[Sebo]

Morning

I've bought a new (to me) track bike - a GSXR-1000 K3. It's got a full Arrow system on it which does look and sound lovely.

One pain in the arse is that the routing of the pipes means that there is not enough room to get the oil filter off without taking the downpipes off. Anyone have this issue themselves and have any tips / anything I need to watch out for?

The headers are joined to the manifold with Allen bolts so it should be quite easy but there isn't loads of room down there (may have to unbolt and move the radiator too) and being a lazy fecker, I want to find a short cut.

Anyway... this is probably the crappest post on the forum today and TBH I am not expecting a better answer than "you bought it like that, just get on and take the pipes off you tt" but there we go

[Sebo]

Cheers for replying to my pants post

Prof Prolapse said:

This is a lay opinion, and maybe I've misunderstood your post, but I'm really not convinced Suzuki would design a bike you need to take the downpipes off to change a filter.

I agree and have read that the GSXR is actually a very easy bike to do an oil change on as the filter is easily accessible - I suspect it's simply that this arrow system is badly designed from the point of view of oil filter access

Prof Prolapse said:

I'm not sure if you've done it before but when removing the header bolts, just bear in mind those bolts get a hard life, they may not be so easy to remove. So if you can avoid taking them off, that may be best.

That is my fear - frequent removal of the stud bolts and eventual rounding of Allen heads. I might proceed on the basis that the previous owner couldn't get his hands in there to get the filter off and see if I can do without removing headers though as it's a K&N, they are easy to remove generally so I am sure he would have tried that approach.

[Sebo]

Prof Prolapse said:

Ah. Well that's a total pain in the arse! If it's only a small amount out, I'd be looking at undoing the exhaust bracket further back and pushing it forward a touch. Perhaps loosening off the bolts rather than removing entirely. Just a thought.

Best of luck.

Cheers

[Sebo]

MattOz said:

Sebo,

My Yoshi full system on my GSXR1000K7 is exactly the same. The headers are on slip joints at the head end, so once I've removed the can, link pipe and 4-into-1 collector, I can swing the headers apart to remove the filter. Naturally, with an OE set of headers, there isn't a problem. You can imagine the issue looking at the pic below

Yep that would be a tad tight..

[Sebo]

mckeann said:

Access on my R1 was more difficult with akrapovic full system, but I was able to get a socket in between the pipes on a long extension bar to reach. Never tried on a gixxer though.

Cheers.

[Sebo]

Had a closer look this afternoon and it is pretty tight down there:





If I do need to take the headers off or even slacken them / take the springs off the link pipe and give myself a bit more room - what order would i do that in (bearing in mind I'd want to run the engine up to temperature before dropping the oil out of it but don't want to be trying to take header bolts out whist it's hot down there) ? I presume slacken the bolts, run up to temp then remove bolts, drop oil or would you run up to temp, turn engine off, take sump plug out, drop the oil and then once cool, take the filter off (gaining access along the way) ?

Thanks....

[Sebo]

I don't think I can get a socket on the end but might be able to get a spanner. From one side it looks like I should be able to do it by hand (or use an oil filter tool to undo it) will report back on the weekend once I get more than 5 minutes to myself.

Thanks

[Sebo]

Just to close this off, I left the headers in place and removed the end-can, link pipe and the tension springs so as to give myself a bit of wiggle room. The oil filter "just" unscrewed and I managed to get it off. I've replaced the K&N filter with the nut on the end with a HiFlo filter which has no nut on the end (I'm not wire locking it anyway) so as long as the HiFlo filter isn't total mince, it should mean the next oil change requires no removal of exhausts etc.

If anyone recommends a "better" oil filter (but with no nut on the end), please shout