6th Gen Cat removal Instructions

I finally chose to cut the cat out and it was quite the feat. First you will need to remove the exhaust and basically most of the plastics. In short you have to get the entire manifold off the bike...it may be able to be done on the bike but I tend to shy away from welding to mounted items. Plus you get a lot of needed leverage to the belly of the cans. Note: you do not need to remove the 2 rear manifold down pipes. Just disconnect behind the right tripple calmp. Now that you have the manifold off you will need to cut out a rectangle where the cans are with a die grinder or small cut-all blade. This pic shows about how big the hole need to be to get those pesky little cans out. Getting the cans out will require some cursing and throwing of some objects but I will say that work on one until the tack welds give and allow you to squeez it out.:mmph: Once the first goes the extra space will allow the second one to come a little easier. Now that is done you will need to cut a piece of steel to cover the hole you have made. I used some
.062 cold rolled steel and band saw cut to rough size. Lay ovr the hole and use a mallet to shape around edges. Grind off any excess or to make the shape fit better. Tack weld one corner and work your way arround all the time using the mallet to make it form a complete seal. Note: To make the welding a little easier the original exhaust has a coating on it that will cause excessive poping while welding so a light sanding will do the trick. Once all corners are done finish off with a steady bead all the way around. Grind any excess welds to make it look professional and water test to see if it made a complete seal . Dust with some high heat black paint and put it all back together. You now will hear a throaty and much deeper tone.