Joined
·
745 Posts
Quick Repacking Guide for Gen 1 Ninja 650R and Jardine GP-1 Exhaust. Also decided to add in some pictures of stripping the paint off the pipe because it was starting to wear itself away.
Tools Needed: Drill w/bits strong enough to drill through Stainless Steel rivets, 5mm Rivets, Rivet Gun, Exhaust Packing, Wire brush (if you want to clean the inside out a little), Gloves (for handling the fiberglass), Safety Glasses
Estimated Difficulty: 3 (Scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult)
Estimated Time Needed: ~1 hour (This will greatly vary depending on how easy your rivets are to drill out)
(Please note that from what I could tell it does not matter which end of the exhaust you take off in the case of the Jardine GP-1. I chose the end with the horn on it so that it would be a little easier for me to clean the more visible parts of the exhaust)
Step 1: Drill Out Rivets - I started with a drill bit that was the same size as the hole in the rivet. This allowed me to drill most of the way through the pin inside the rivet and in some cases all the way through. I then gradually moved up in size of drill bits until I was either able to pop the rest of the rivet out, or punch the rest of it inside the muffler with a screwdriver and hammer. THIS WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT STEP IN THIS ENTIRE PROCESS! So, if you think you can use a drill, then you will have no trouble with entire process. I had a very difficult time with this step because I did not have a good quality set of drill bits to work with and the stock stainless steel rivets were like no other rivet I had ever seen. They absolutely destroyed my drill bits and I ended up having to punch most of the rivets into the muffler with a screwdriver and hammer which resulted in some minor denting from the pressure of the rivets being pushed in. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a good quality set of drill bits for this step.
![]()
Step 2: Disassemble The Exhaust - With all of the rivets out of the exhaust you should now be able to slide that end off of the exhaust. Inside will be a metal core and fiberglass (aka packing). Remove the core and fiberglass, unwrapping the fiberglass from the core. Discard the fiberglass, but keep the core. At this time you should have the exhaust fully disassembled and I would suggest cleaning any parts of the exhaust at this point. I chose to use a wire grill brush to get most of the excess carbon off of the core and inside walls of the exhaust. I also attempted to use the wire brush to get rid of the carbon build up in the horn, however that was pretty baked on and I ended up barely getting any of it off.
![]()
![]()
Step 3: Reassemble The Exhaust - You will want to take your new sheet of packing material and wrap it around the core. If your sheet is longer than your core, you will want to trim it to size. I recommend trimming it just barely shorter than your core to make it a bit easier to put the core back into the exhaust. Once you have the fiberglass wrapped and trimmed secure it together using masking tape. This is to aid you in sliding the fiberglass/core combo back into the exhaust. With the core back inside, place the end back on and begin to rivet the exhaust back together. I decided to go with Aluminum rivets so that drilling them out will be easier next time I need to replace the packing. I have heard good things and bad things about Aluminum vs Stainless Steel rivets in an exhaust throughout the forum so I'm going to give Aluminum Rivets a go and see how they do. If I have issues I will be sure to comment on this thread informing everyone what issues they caused.
![]()
![]()
You're Done! - Throw that bad boy on your bike and get back to riding. Once I got past the difficult stock rivets, this maintenance procedure was easier than I imagined. Personally even easier than an oil change. I am not sure what the official repack miles are for the Jardine GP-1 but I can tell you that you'll be able to hear when it is time to repack. Before repacking the exhaust was insanely loud; I could hear the exhaust over heavy wind, and during acceleration it seemed to make an echoing sound making all of the tones sound very 'hollow'. After this repack, the sound is very sharp and crisp. The tones don't drone throughout the RPM range and it is overall a much more enjoyable ride now, while still keeping the aggressive sound that I feel suits this bike very well.
BONUS! - As you can see in the final photos, the bracket that helps hold the exhaust to the bike has worn away a lot of the black paint that comes on this exhaust from the factory. As some of you know I have admitted that I am a pretty terrible painter on a few occasions, so I decided that I would try my hand at stripping paint instead and see how the exhaust looked naked. Below is the SUPER simple process to strip some paint.
Tools Needed: Paint Stripper (I suggest the aerosol version), Rubber Gloves, Safety Glasses, Cleaning Supplies (Bucket fully of soapy water, sponge or cloth, and some clean water), Paint Scraper (optional)
Estimated Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult)
Estimated Time Needed: ~30 minutes
This is super simple so I'm not even going to waste your time with individually laid out steps. Basically the bottle of paint stripper will tell you exactly what to do, and each one may be slightly different, but I have never used this stuff before. I thought it was pretty cool stuff and wanted to share it with you guys in case anyone else has never used this stuff on metal before. So with your safety glasses and rubber gloves on (seriously, this stuff is potent and burns like crazy if it gets the chance to eat your skin. WEAR YOUR SAFETY GEAR), spray one side of the muffler with the paint stripper. Sit and wait for 15 minutes (check your can for specific times). I then peeled off almost all of the paint with my gloves, however there were a few parts that were stubborn and had to assist the paint stripper by scraping a bit with the paint scraper. Flip the exhaust over and repeat on the other side. With the exhaust free of all paint you now need to remove the paint stripper from the exhaust. Simple soapy water and a sponge will work, and I recommend still wearing your safety glasses and rubber gloves for this step.
5 minutes after spraying:
![]()
10 minutes after spraying:
![]()
15 minutes after spraying (ready to remove):
![]()
Naked Exhaust!
![]()
![]()
Tools Needed: Drill w/bits strong enough to drill through Stainless Steel rivets, 5mm Rivets, Rivet Gun, Exhaust Packing, Wire brush (if you want to clean the inside out a little), Gloves (for handling the fiberglass), Safety Glasses
Estimated Difficulty: 3 (Scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult)
Estimated Time Needed: ~1 hour (This will greatly vary depending on how easy your rivets are to drill out)
(Please note that from what I could tell it does not matter which end of the exhaust you take off in the case of the Jardine GP-1. I chose the end with the horn on it so that it would be a little easier for me to clean the more visible parts of the exhaust)
Step 1: Drill Out Rivets - I started with a drill bit that was the same size as the hole in the rivet. This allowed me to drill most of the way through the pin inside the rivet and in some cases all the way through. I then gradually moved up in size of drill bits until I was either able to pop the rest of the rivet out, or punch the rest of it inside the muffler with a screwdriver and hammer. THIS WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT STEP IN THIS ENTIRE PROCESS! So, if you think you can use a drill, then you will have no trouble with entire process. I had a very difficult time with this step because I did not have a good quality set of drill bits to work with and the stock stainless steel rivets were like no other rivet I had ever seen. They absolutely destroyed my drill bits and I ended up having to punch most of the rivets into the muffler with a screwdriver and hammer which resulted in some minor denting from the pressure of the rivets being pushed in. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a good quality set of drill bits for this step.
Step 2: Disassemble The Exhaust - With all of the rivets out of the exhaust you should now be able to slide that end off of the exhaust. Inside will be a metal core and fiberglass (aka packing). Remove the core and fiberglass, unwrapping the fiberglass from the core. Discard the fiberglass, but keep the core. At this time you should have the exhaust fully disassembled and I would suggest cleaning any parts of the exhaust at this point. I chose to use a wire grill brush to get most of the excess carbon off of the core and inside walls of the exhaust. I also attempted to use the wire brush to get rid of the carbon build up in the horn, however that was pretty baked on and I ended up barely getting any of it off.
Step 3: Reassemble The Exhaust - You will want to take your new sheet of packing material and wrap it around the core. If your sheet is longer than your core, you will want to trim it to size. I recommend trimming it just barely shorter than your core to make it a bit easier to put the core back into the exhaust. Once you have the fiberglass wrapped and trimmed secure it together using masking tape. This is to aid you in sliding the fiberglass/core combo back into the exhaust. With the core back inside, place the end back on and begin to rivet the exhaust back together. I decided to go with Aluminum rivets so that drilling them out will be easier next time I need to replace the packing. I have heard good things and bad things about Aluminum vs Stainless Steel rivets in an exhaust throughout the forum so I'm going to give Aluminum Rivets a go and see how they do. If I have issues I will be sure to comment on this thread informing everyone what issues they caused.
You're Done! - Throw that bad boy on your bike and get back to riding. Once I got past the difficult stock rivets, this maintenance procedure was easier than I imagined. Personally even easier than an oil change. I am not sure what the official repack miles are for the Jardine GP-1 but I can tell you that you'll be able to hear when it is time to repack. Before repacking the exhaust was insanely loud; I could hear the exhaust over heavy wind, and during acceleration it seemed to make an echoing sound making all of the tones sound very 'hollow'. After this repack, the sound is very sharp and crisp. The tones don't drone throughout the RPM range and it is overall a much more enjoyable ride now, while still keeping the aggressive sound that I feel suits this bike very well.
BONUS! - As you can see in the final photos, the bracket that helps hold the exhaust to the bike has worn away a lot of the black paint that comes on this exhaust from the factory. As some of you know I have admitted that I am a pretty terrible painter on a few occasions, so I decided that I would try my hand at stripping paint instead and see how the exhaust looked naked. Below is the SUPER simple process to strip some paint.
Tools Needed: Paint Stripper (I suggest the aerosol version), Rubber Gloves, Safety Glasses, Cleaning Supplies (Bucket fully of soapy water, sponge or cloth, and some clean water), Paint Scraper (optional)
Estimated Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-10, 10 being most difficult)
Estimated Time Needed: ~30 minutes
This is super simple so I'm not even going to waste your time with individually laid out steps. Basically the bottle of paint stripper will tell you exactly what to do, and each one may be slightly different, but I have never used this stuff before. I thought it was pretty cool stuff and wanted to share it with you guys in case anyone else has never used this stuff on metal before. So with your safety glasses and rubber gloves on (seriously, this stuff is potent and burns like crazy if it gets the chance to eat your skin. WEAR YOUR SAFETY GEAR), spray one side of the muffler with the paint stripper. Sit and wait for 15 minutes (check your can for specific times). I then peeled off almost all of the paint with my gloves, however there were a few parts that were stubborn and had to assist the paint stripper by scraping a bit with the paint scraper. Flip the exhaust over and repeat on the other side. With the exhaust free of all paint you now need to remove the paint stripper from the exhaust. Simple soapy water and a sponge will work, and I recommend still wearing your safety glasses and rubber gloves for this step.
5 minutes after spraying:
10 minutes after spraying:
15 minutes after spraying (ready to remove):
Naked Exhaust!
