I’ve mentioned before that, long ago, some **** started to undo The Duke’s exhaust (probably in a failed attempt to steal the starter) and that fixing it was going to be an absolute nightmare. Well, this evening I spent three hours doing just that.

I’d meant to start putting the suspension back together, but found I was missing a couple of bits I need. So given that suspension was suspended, sorting out this nightmare job seemed like a great way to spend a Wednesday evening. Like I said, it took three hours to do - two of which were spent drilling out one stud!

Who knows why somebody put a stud here instead of a bolt. It’s impossible to get a drill anywhere near it, as the carb, manifold and throttle linkage all get in the way. In the end I got a hole started with a hand drill, then used a really crappy drill extension rod (now in the bin) to drill out the stud. Very very boring, but I was entertained by some kind of Hari Krisna festival going on down the street!

Here’s the offending stud. Blackened in the middle by leaking exhaust fumes.

Replaced with an M8 nut and bolt. Hopefully it won’t mind the heat. Will keep a close eye on it over the next few weeks.

As a worst case, I’d costed up a new manifold and exhaust for this job (roughly £150 worth), so I’m very happy indeed that I got it done for the price of a few drill bits and some elbow grease!