This post will be full of pictures with everything I have done to try to eliminate the leak.
This is the last time I will try the shim method before going a different route. I used 2 layers of shims because 3 was too much and the shims ended up getting damaged. Shims are from a green tea can, but should be the same material and thickness as a coke/soda can shim.
This problem is becoming increasingly annoying, so I might either try to use a high temp rubbery type tube if someone can give me a source for a good fuel resistant one, or I can try to make my own exhaust using a flex pipe and cut the expansion chamber off and attach it to the flex pipe. That will give me more adjustability and hopefully no loss of performance or not more than very minimal loss, but I will still have to figure out how to seal that.
Lowracer, I'd really like to know what you used to seal that place up. If I remember correctly, you used a flexpipe and somehow managed to attach it on there and seal it up.
I want to seal it up once and for all to stop smelling like gasoline with all this burnt fuel spitting on my clothes.
So here is what I did:
First layer of seal: 2 wraps of shims around the head pipe or 2 layers of shims.
Second layer of seal: teflon tape to hold the shim in place while I put the exhaust on and to possibly seal it up even more aside from shims.
Third layer of seal: Fiber glass rope to soak any fuel that spits to prevent that from getting on my pants.
To make the shims, I cut off the top and bottom of the can and bent it in half. Then I measured the size I need, marked it with a sharpie and cut it with scissors. They cut very easily with scissors.
It took me 4 attempts before finally getting the shims in the pipe without breaking. The other 3 attempts they just broke the shims probably due to the tight fit and me trying to push the exhaust on them.
See post below for more images since I was limited to 5 images.
To do:
Make a 2nd exhaust mount to hold the exhaust firmly so as to eliminate the massive play there that occurs when I ride. This play seems to be breaking the seal thus failing it.
Before I ride it again I will add another exhaust mount. I'm thinking of using 2 strips of flexible stainless steel and wrapping them around the bottom of the exhaust to act as exhaust hangers. To holds them in place I will drill 2 holes just below the engine mounts, and then bolt those strips of stainless steel in there. Here is a picture of the bottom of the exhaust that is loose, and that's the part that might have been the cause of the seals breaking all along: