The first thing you need to do is loosen the flanges that hold the exhaust into the port in the cylinder head. You’ll need a 10mm socket to get these off. Remember, these bolts heat up to 300+ deg and cool back down to air temperature every time you ride the bike. They also get all of the water and grime kicked up by your front tire. Basically, the nuts aren’t going to come off easily. I advise letting them soak in PB Blaster, WD-40, or Deep Creep (my personal favorite) overnight before going at them. If you break the studs, you’re in for a world of misery replacing them.

Next, remove the rear mounting bolt using a 14mm socket.

Next, you have to get under the bike and take out the through-bolts that hold the H-box to the bottom of the engine and frame. Sorry, but I don’t recall what size these are.

From here, I was hoping to be able to remove the exhaust as one complete unit, but it just wasn’t meant to be. So, next we take off the headers. Mine were attached to the H-box with a couple of (not very stock looking) 10mm hose clamps. YMMV.

This next shot makes it all look easy. Look, the header comes right off. In all actuality, I beat on it with a rubber mallet for a good 15 minutes before it finally gave in and loosened up. Be patient. Be consistent. Use a soft-faced mallet.

Some P.O. had made gratuitous use of exhaust tape (which disintegrates upon removal). I’m still finding this stuff all over my garage.

Same game on the other side…

More exhaust tape as well as proof that my E had a close encounter at some point in its life.

Once the headers are no longer an issue, you can jiggle the rear pipes and the H-box off as one unit. Again, this is not as easy as it sounds, but it is simply a matter of jerking it around until it falls off. Make sure the H-box is completely unbolted from the bottom of the bike or you could spend a half-hour or more jiggling and cursing while not accomplishing anything. Don’t ask me how I know.

And here she is with no exhaust…

And that’s all there is to it. Next time we’ll actually pull the engine out.