[NE350]

This may seem like a stupid question, but....

How important are the copper ring exhaust header seal things? When I took my headers off there was none. Should there be?

 

[tbpmusic]

VERY important !!!
Don't run the engine without them.
Get a bunch, and whenever the pipes get taken on/off examine them - if they get too flat replace them.

Maybe the remnants are still in the head - take a look and see....sometimes they're so old and smashed you can't recognize them, with all the carbon and stuff around.

 

[NE350]

sooooo your saying I should use them! :lol:

Roger that- 10-4, loud and clear, I gotcha etc....

 

[dlslick]

Uh Oh........ I am not sure my bikes have those. I have two 350's a 450 and a CM91 that if they do have them they are stuck up in there and not recognizeable like was posted above. I know that my GL1200 has them in there though.
I dont notice any leaking around those pipes on any of my bikes so maybe they are there. I would imagine now that I think about it that it could cause some problems with heat that may not be taken away by the header pipes?
Don

 

[tbpmusic]

It will lead to big time exhaust leak there, maybe fry your exhaust valves.

A lot of times you actually have to pry out what's left of the old ones with a screwdriver or hook....

 

[dlslick]

I think I will get the proper rings and put in new ones. Hopefully there are still some in there. I have never really paid much attention for them other than on my Gold Wings for some reason.
Thanks,
Don

 

[fasterspider]

A lot of times you actually have to pry out what's left of the old ones with a screwdriver or hook....

It was a PITA to get the old donuts out but, I used my little dentist type hook and pried them out of my CL350K3 head.
New exhaust donuts are readily available at Honda.

 

[DrBombay]

I'm guessing that the copper donut is so infrequently spoken of, that most don't even know about it. I say this because I didn't know about it until I looked at the fische. I thought that maybe my bike didn't have them. However, I just pulled 6 smushed copper donuts out of the head of my CL350.

Given that I found 3 of them in there, that's just bad form, right? I mean, it's not detrimental, but silly. A tack pry bar works great for poppin' 'em out.