I noticed my muffler was loose. I ended up taking it off and found that the 2  holes onto which the muffler is attached to the the head are partially stripped. My thoughts are that I will buy 2 new bolts and screw them in and out a few times to try to clean up the thread and then hopefully just attach the muffler again. Attached is a picture of one of the bolts that I cleaned up a good bit but it still shows metal in the thread groove about half way up the bolt. If anybody has any other suggestions please let me know. Thanks.

Thanks badwolf, I'll do as you say.

Pardon the ignorance, but I thought it was a stud with a cap nut.

If you're going the stud route, be sure to use stainless steel nuts with ample hi-temp anti-seize. And don't use lock washers.
Or, you can go the old-school route using brass exhaust nuts. They don't corrode and have reduced likelihood of coming loose given the differential in expansion rates. Not very common in the states. However, they're the same as used on many models of VW air-cooled engines. And still use hi-temp anti-seize.

Well , Bolt are the worse possible thing you could do .   Those threads in the head don't need the wear and tear.

The studs you found ... do they leave enough thread sticking out to hold the exhaust flange on ?  Long thread into the head.   If they do then go for it and use high temp thread lock or exhaust putty to help them stay put.    You don't ever want to remove them once they are in place.    
If you ever did need to take them out you can heat the studs to glowing red hot to break them loose , then let them cool , then heat the aluminum head to swell the hole and they will screw out as easy as they went in.

You know what we mean by using double nuts to screw them in don't you?  

Just a little putty on the threads now ... you don't want putty at the bottom of the hole , just a little to fill-in the imperfections in the threads and supply some lube for installation .
Heating the Aluminum holes and leaving the stainless steel studs cold should let you just snug them up when you put them in.   Don't under-estimate the size difference temperature makes on metals  ...  be careful not to strip them when ya snug-em-up ...

Don't nobody Loves your baby as much as you do ... take care of it.  

Geez, this topic has got me thinking. I've done a lot of on/off with my header pipe - changing mufflers etc. My bike (2014) came with bolts for the header. I've taken the advice from other topics here - screw them in with fingers as far as they will go, then snug them up with minimum tension on the ratchet (I also just installed a new gasket). The idea of installing studs sounds like a super idea. The less 'in and out' on the threads in the head makes a lot of sense.

It seems I need to learn about double nuts. (I was gonna do a Google search but .... that's some provocative search term!)  

IslandRoad wrote on 12/27/19 at 01:08:42:


I don't think you need to worry about how often you remove and install the exhaust bolts, as long as you clean them up and use a good anti-seize on the threads each time you install the bolts......and never remove or install them while the engine is hot - and only snug them up with one hand.

Yeah I thru out the oem bolts and installed studs into the head , stainless with never seize and then double nuts on each stud. Definitely more secure and no worries about stripping the holes , total cost was 5 bucks.