Need some ideas on how to break the end-caps free on My Ti Akra. I repacked this can about 5 years ago and don't remember having much difficulty getting it apart. I\m getting close to wailing on it with my rubber mallet

Don't you just drill out the pop rivets? That's all I do. The end caps fit pretty tight and when thy've been run for a while the packing dust and carbon gets blasted into any gaps there are and seems to cement the caps in place somewhat. Give them a knock with a rubber mallet to break the bond and they should just pull out.

I bought a packet of rivets and a tool for inserting them so that when I rebuilt the silencers they had the right fittings as the original ones. These are only there in case you want to fit the carbon heat shields but I wanted to be thorough.

So, wailed on it, entrance cap came off with a bit of a fight, some small almost invisible dents from the mallet, the exit had to be knocked out from the inside. Looks like the masking tape I used to compress the packing last time might have been the culprit.

Any recommendations for repack material other than the Akra stuff? I here that there is some ceramic stuff that's suppose to be good forever.

i have used rock wool



does not blow apart like fiberglass, handles the power pulses of a big bore twin well and lasts a long time

apparently the ceramic stuff is impressive...never used it myself

(read the comments, they are funny..."i wont run my car on acetylene" lol)

Thanks Path, in the end i grabbed a bag of loose pack fiberglass, FMF brand if memory serves. Packed up well, just did a 15 minute reset after changing maps and she sounds sweet. Probably be good for a season or so...

just looked at the date of your post...a little late i suppose.

i wrapped the core of the pipe with the rock wool, formed some stainless steel mesh around it to hold it in place, and riveted the cap back on. this was 5 or 6 years ago on my Buell cyclone and it is still holding together great.

something to think about next repack.

Rock wool is also made from spun ceramic so it is very close.
Pulling it out of old houses (I know it's not an exhaust ) It doesn't seem to get as brittle with age.

I bought some clecos to aid in some metal work I'm doing and threw in some 3/16" into the order to help out with reassembling mufflers. Tried them out today while putting my Leo's back together and they make re assembly somewhat easier assembling the band with clecos, they hold everything nice, tight, and inline for the rivets