Talon Evo exhaust install, all the gory details

[HondaTech]

Agreed. It is a problem on the Pioneer 500 as well. I went to change the oil right before selling one of my P5's and stripped out half the bolts holding the seat bottom, trying to get them loose. Had to buy new bolts from the Honda shop just to get it back together to sell it. The bolts are not only soft, but surprisingly tight or bonded in many cases.

The big phillip headed bolts always get whacked with a hand impact driver before I remove them and greased before reinstall.

Kawasaki uses those damm things everywhere. Atleast Honda uses them sparingly.

 

[Admin]

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

The big phillip headed bolts always get whacked with a hand impact driver before I remove them and greased before reinstall.

Kawasaki uses those damm things everywhere. Atleast Honda uses them sparingly.

I would much rather have a #3 Phillips than an allen head. At least the impact works on the Phillips.

 

[stellarpod]

Agreed. It is a problem on the Pioneer 500 as well. I went to change the oil right before selling one of my P5's and stripped out half the bolts holding the seat bottom, trying to get them loose. Had to buy new bolts from the Honda shop just to get it back together to sell it. The bolts are not only soft, but surprisingly tight or bonded in many cases.

My first introduction to Honda's substandard fastening hardware was on a 2007 Honda ST1300 sport-touring motorcycle. The bike was generally a great, bulletproof ride. But the socket-head and Phillips screws were abysmal. And, sadly, many [most] of them were proprietary shouldered bolts/screws which could not easily be replaced by the garden variety hardware store, blister-packed fare. Those used in their breather box and the funnels within were particularly appalling - too tight to break loose, and metal so soft that stripping the head was almost inevitable. It amazes me still that Honda, an otherwise quality-minded manufacturer, is so blind to the problems associated with their poor quality fasteners.

Steve

 

[jamesh]

My first introduction to Honda's substandard fastening hardware was on a 2007 Honda ST1300 sport-touring motorcycle. The bike was generally a great, bulletproof ride. But the socket-head and Phillips screws were abysmal. And, sadly, many [most] of them were proprietary shouldered bolts/screws which could not easily be replaced by the garden variety hardware store, blister-packed fare. Those used in their breather box and the funnels within were particularly appalling - too tight to break loose, and metal so soft that stripping the head was almost inevitable. It amazes me still that Honda, an otherwise quality-minded manufacturer, is so blind to the problems associated with their poor quality fasteners.

Steve

Maybe they think their machines are so reliable that you'll never need to remove a bolt, haha.

 

[BPINE]

So no one else had to modify the bracket in this picture to make them fit Flat, I find that hard to believe.

The SxS Blog guys did their part just fine as far as I can tell. They passed the order along and Evo drop shipped the wrong thing. SxS Rick answered my (sent during biz hrs) email within an hour as I recall, got with Evo, and again Evo sent the wrong thing. I didn't do a Freedom of Info act request to see if SxS initially told Evo black instead of red, but I doubt they did since that would require somehow changing the order form. The labels on the boxes show that Evo sent the wrong thing, such as calling the wrong red replacement a Honda one.

For those saying that build quality is top notch, this is how yours is built, also. The black crescents around each fastener is empty space that Honda intended to be filled with bolt. While Evo obviously has lowered their standards, perhaps up yours? I hope you guys used thread locker, please remember to go back and check frequently that they're still holding. Nice that install was easier for you than for me though.

View attachment 182892

 

[Fyathyrio]

There is a lot of cognitive dissonance, sunk cost fallacies, fanboi-ism, and just plain BS in many of the responses. Some have made us all dumber for merely reading their reply, such as the one dude that thinks the Honda bolt and Evo bolt must be the same diameter. Oh, but they used bold and/or caps lock, so their opinion must be more accurate than the photos provided!

 

[jamesh]

There is a lot of cognitive dissonance, sunk cost fallacies, fanboi-ism, and just plain BS in many of the responses. Some have made us all dumber for merely reading their reply, such as the one dude that thinks the Honda bolt and Evo bolt must be the same diameter. Oh, but they used bold and/or caps lock, so their opinion must be more accurate than the photos provided!

Why you triggered? Nobody's forcing you to buy an EVO exhaust.

 

[Fyathyrio]

Your sarcasm meter is broken.

 

[jamesh]

Your sarcasm meter is broken.

Sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt. Seems like your post conveyed plenty of that. Sarcasm meter appears to be functional. Sorry (but not sorry) you're butt-hurt over your purchase. Some people get cull items off the factory line. No need to be petty toward others who didn't. Then again, your problem isn't mine, so I don't really care.

 

[jamesh]

so where are the factual crescent openings from my install that my personal opinion.disagrees with?

 

[jamesh]

Perfect fanboy fit.

 

[HavasuDave]

Sorry that was such a pain. I really appreciate your posting about it though. I have been thinking about doing it. I have a weird question, could you mount the exhaust, but keep the factory heat shields? I think your red shield looks great. My problem is that my R is registered street legal in Arizona, and my license plate and light are mounted to the stock heat shield.

 

[GoTalon]

I too had ordered the same exhaust before Christmas and had it sent along with a few thousand dollars of other stuff to a friends house. We I finely arrived everything I had ordered was there except the Exhaust. So I called SXS Blog and they said they would get it right out (it was a couple weeks late by then and I think somehow my order was lost or who knows what? s*** happens!)
anyway they got it right out and it fit perfect, no issues whatsoever and I absolutely love this Exhaust!

 

[GoTalon]

Sorry that was such a pain. I really appreciate your posting about it though. I have been thinking about doing it. I have a weird question, could you mount the exhaust, but keep the factory heat shields? I think your red shield looks great. My problem is that my R is registered street legal in Arizona, and my license plate and light are mounted to the stock heat shield.

No you ditch the factory shields and order the Green to match, looks awesome.
Im putting my license on a bracket I had that slides into my 2” receiver.

 

[Fyathyrio]

I too had ordered the same exhaust before Christmas and had it sent along with a few thousand dollars of other stuff to a friends house. We I finely arrived everything I had ordered was there except the Exhaust. So I called SXS Blog and they said they would get it right out (it was a couple weeks late by then and I think somehow my order was lost or who knows what? s*** happens!)
anyway they got it right out and it fit perfect, no issues whatsoever and I absolutely love this Exhaust!

The stock heat shield will likely fit, but will probably have to be modified to prevent the edge of the shield from hitting the exhaust outlet. I held my old parts up to the new exhaust, but didn't try to bolt them in. It'll likely be close but possible.

 

[SpeedBuggy]

I have the evo exhaust and am very happy with it. Great sound and looks good. To me it sounds so good going through the gears and puts out a much better tone compared to my buddies RZR’s with the droney dual muffler slip ons. Mine wasn’t damaged and also had the red heat shield. It did take a few weeks. I also ordered around Christmas, expected delays with the holidays and did not receive shipping details. I don’t recall seeing the gaps and will take a closer look after work.

 

[Greg1958]

This is a horror story, those with weak constitutions or any SJWs in the audience should leave the room now, I'll wait . . .

I first ordered my Evo exhaust through SxS Blog on Dec 15th. It took nearly 4 weeks to arrive, but with the holidays and the advertised 2 week lead time on exhaust orders, this wasn't a problem. The problems we did have were no shipping notification (I'm one of those dicks that likes to know in advance when hundreds of dollars in junk is gonna be left sitting on my porch), and the heat shield was black instead of the red I specified.

A quick email to Rick at SxS Blog and he sets the Evo wheels in motion to get the proper heat shield out to me. About a week or 10 days later, I now have the proper colored heat shield, unfortunately the whole passing along some tracking info thing escaped them. Yes, it's the right color, but it's for a different exhaust. This is starting to get old. This time I call Evo directly and ask if I could pretty-please get what I had ordered 7 or 8 weeks ago. It appears that I can, finally, and I start to install the exhaust after the third try.

View attachment 182828

Now, imagine a circle, now bash that circle against something like concrete until it is D shaped, then shove that fawked up POS into a box before anybody sees you. That is what I received. This damage had to occur before shipping as the box is in surprisingly good condition and the excellent foam packing used did it's job well, ensuring the dicked exhaust system arrived in 100% factory (damaged) fresh condition. The end of the exhaust mid-pipe joint, along with the included heavy duty clamp, could not slip over the pipe leading to the engine. It appears that Evo anticipated the exhaust pipe possibly getting damaged, for they taped the stout clamp over the end to make it that much harder for the shaved apes in the back of the warehouse to bend the crap out of it. But, they were up to the challenge, dug deep, and came through! Since it's a Saturday, and I don't feel like waiting another week and a half to get this 1 hour install completed, I turned to those fine purveyors of quality tools for decades, Harbor Freight. I picked up a $20 exhaust pipe expander and got the clamp and pipe back into something resembling round that would now slip over the other piece of pipe. In my irritation and desire to hopefully finish the install, I unfortunately failed to get a photo.

The Talon exhaust hangers are marvels of engineering, designed to last for decades or more. The hanger brackets are held onto the exhaust can with three 8mm dia bolts, sturdy bolts with a large head to carry the load. Nuts are welded to the Honda exhaust to attach these serious fasteners. The unfortunate Evo solution is to use low quality bolts roughly half that diameter in an attempt to increase their margin of error in matching the simple triangle bolt pattern. This wee hardware is merely threaded into the drilled & tapped sheet metal of the Evo exhaust bracket instead of nice solid nuts. Despite the increased play allowed by the teensy-weensy hardware choice, they still barely managed to hit the mark. While I at least didn't have to drill the holes out any larger to get the cute li'l bolts in, I did have to struggle with the 3rd one due to Evo induced mis-alignment at both ends. On the bright side, the Evo hardware is so small that some of the hole for the nicely sized Honda bolt is peeking around the edge even after using the included Evo HO scale washers.

Oh, and despite skimping on the bolt size and quality in order to get a few more mm of play, they still managed to have the Honda hanger interfere with the Evo exhaust bracket. If the hanger doesn't sit flat against the bracket, then it won't go on the machine correctly. Good thing I have a grinder and some spare time, removing hunks of metal should be part of any install of a "quality" component!

View attachment 182831View attachment 182832

Individually, none of these issues would really concern me other than the piss-poor, tiny, baby hardware Evo selected. But, taken in totality, these issues scream out "Run away! Run away!" as if we were in a Monty Python movie. For what this "Made in 'Merica" exhaust cost me, I would expect an offer of oral gratification, or at least a blow-up doll in the box. Instead I get fit and finish and engineering design choices on par with the worst of stuff made in China two decades ago. Sad.

On the bright side, the exhaust does look good and sounds better than stocker.

View attachment 182833

I also purchased one of these for my Talon.. What a joke they are!! I didn't have the damage issue but everything you described I went thru also. I additionally had a price quote and after calling back to get it ordered they told me a mistake had been made and the price quoted was incorrect. Sorry about your luck! I paid the price and as you mentioned had to do fab work to make it fit. This is a buyer beware type of product. I purchased a different product for my wife's RZR. Good customer service and quality product by another manufacturer. I left a voicemail and email for owner but never got a response. Imagine that! Dissatisfied customer! Greg in Texas.....

 

[jamesh]

I also purchased one of these for my Talon.. What a joke they are!! I didn't have the damage issue but everything you described I went thru also. I additionally had a price quote and after calling back to get it ordered they told me a mistake had been made and the price quoted was incorrect. Sorry about your luck! I paid the price and as you mentioned had to do fab work to make it fit. This is a buyer beware type of product. I purchased a different product for my wife's RZR. Good customer service and quality product by another manufacturer. I left a voicemail and email for owner but never got a response. Imagine that! Dissatisfied customer! Greg in Texas.....

Sounds like they are inconsistent in build quality. That's too bad because its a great sounding exhaust. I've been complimented on the sound every ride I've been on. I know delivery would take a while since it says like 4 weeks, or it used to, on the sxsblog website where I ordered mine.

 

[1HasBeen]

I had to resurrect this thread, as I helped a buddy install an Evo on his Talon today, and all the fitment issues presented by the OP were 100% there in full force, turning a quick, easy install into a few hours of aggravation. The oblong lightening hole hit the muffler bracket requiring grinder work. The fact that they did not weld the hangers flush on the outside prevents the bracket from sitting flat even after the grinder work for the lightening hole, so we used a step bit to hog out the two holes for the hangers large enough to clear the sleeve and welds. The face to face dimension of the brackets welded to the muffler were already an 1/8" or so wider than OEM so putting spacers between the factory bracket and the muffler bracket was not an option, since it would not allow the rubber mounts to sit properly. The muffler bracket was tapped for the factory screws, but they definitely should have had weld nuts on the muffler brackets for more bite, as there are only a few threads in that bracket. We also had to hog out the holes of the triangular pattern for everything to line up properly.

In the end it looks and sounds great, BUT I am extremely disappointed in the lack of forethought on the mounts. At this price there is ZERO excuse for having to rework something that should be truly bolt-on. Jim and Todd, if you are reading this forum(I doubt it), please consider a product revision, as this is not up the what I have found previously to be Evo standards.

 

[GoTalon]

No you ditch the factory shields and order the Green to match, looks awesome.
Im putting my license on a bracket I had that slides into my 2” receiver.

Dave here’s a picture I just found