exhaust removal

Good evening to you all.

I need to replace the swing arm on my naked 2001 SV650 but I've hit a snag. I can't get the exhaust off... I've got a Haynes manual and it states that you need to remove the front down pipe, slight problem there, someone (possibly of low intelligence) seemingly decided it would be a good idea to weld the nuts onto the studs of the front cylinder... So removing that down pipe is out of the question.

Does anyone know how to get around this problem? I have a donor bike so if I damage the middle section of the exhaust it won't be the end of the world but I'd rather keep it intact!

[Bibio]

thats not a problem as now the studs act like a bolt. unless that is they have welded the nuts to the flange then you have a problem.

I'm pretty sure they're welded to the flange...

I'll take some pictures when I get home

This is what the left nut (looking at the bike from the front) looks like. Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on this...

[Bibio]

dont look welded to me they just look rusted to fek. have fun getting them off

i thought it looked welded, that's a relief, kind of... I really don't want to take the risk but I have to.

[Jayneflakes]

They look rusted, not welded.

A mini grinder will cut through that nut and leave you a nice stud that you can put a stud extractor on and then replace with a nice shiny new one.

When I took my exhaust off, I found that it was the bolt under the engine that was the real problem. Luckily Aunty Grinder came out to play and I cut off the offending nut and replaced it with a shiny stainless one.

I feel silly now, I really thought that it looked welded... Oops! I suppose that's my only option really, I hate having to remove exhaust nuts and bolts cos I always seem to snap them then I end up in even more trouble

I had the same problem with an old bike too, I don't see why manufacturers don't see sense and use stainless as standard... Yeah it's more expensive but it's worth it.

is a stud extractor the same as a damaged bold extractor? (possibly a silly question but I want to get the right thing)

I think I'll probably try and bring the nuts down enough to get a spanner on then see if I can extract the studs that way and replace them with shiny ones