Blaster bolts backing out Riva Red Pipe

Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
I went out today for a ride and the ski ran great for about 15 minutes, then she slowed to just above idle.

I thought she overheated, but I came to discover one of the bolts on the Riva pipe where the two halves join was missing and laying on the bottom of the ski. This is the second time this has happened. I always use blue loctite on all of my bolts, but this is getting annoying. I also noticed the flange has two holes for bolts and the third is notched and open on the outside edge so it resembles an open end box wrench. Not sure if this is normal.

Is this common for a RRP and is there anyway to make it more secure. I usually have to pull the motor to get to the bolts.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
Further inspection revealed one bolt fully backed out and another with the head snapped off. Getting ready to remove motor. Here is a pic of what I can currently see.

May have to take it to a welder to fix that "C" cut in the flange. Not sure.
 

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Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
ryan said:
thats about normal for a red pipe.
Click to expand...

Is the flange supposed to be notched like it is? This seems to be the cause of some of the issues. I am thinking of sleeving them and making them all round instead of "C" shaped.

I also noticed the bracket that mounts to the head is cracked in half. Im sure this helped lead to the problem as well. Where can I get another? Is RIVA the only option?

Also the gasket is blown out. Can the auto parts store "make your own gasket" material work to replace this or do I need an original? See pics.
 

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havatitan

Location
Lake Havasu
I had a riva pipe on my 1st B1. After you get everything fixed, mount the pipe on the motor, with the head bracket installed on the pipe only (not screwed to the head). With everything but the head bolts mounted and tight, you MUST shim even the smallest gap between the head and the pipe bracket (I used the thin motor mount shims), there should be just a little resistence (not too much) when sliding the shims in. Now you can bolt the bracket to the the head. I never had an issue with the red pipe after doing this.
 
ryan

ryan

Location
baldwin ny
nothing like making the pipe correct in the 1st place . just about every person a know that has a red pipe and rides surf they all fall off at some point. now if your are on a lake and ride in cricles it may say on. i know you are looking for help with this pipe and i am not really giving you any but your best bet is to lose that pipe. i know all the red pipe experts will post all kinds of ways to fix it. but why should you have to? i ride my stuff 100,s of hours i do have time for :):):):)ty pipes.
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
This is all good advice, but no one has answered my question about the "C" shaped bolt holes on the flange. To me, this doesnt seem like the stock design. I definitely think this is causing too much movement in the pipe and is not allowing for equal clamping all the way around the flange.

I really like this pipe, but will definitely move to a factory B pipe once I found one. They seem like less trouble than the RRP.

Being that the head mount is broke too, I am not finding them anywhere either, I may just have one fabbed up if I can't locate one shortly. Ski is down right now and I would like to ride it not wrench on it all summer.
 
mayhem321

mayhem321

Location
arizona
i have the same pipe, with no problems at all. this is my 2nd blaster with the riva red. i'll go look at my pipe today and let you know about the "notch" in question.
 
Tyler Zane

Tyler Zane

Open Your Eyes
Location
Panama City Beach, FL
the flange is normal. you see this on other flanges and manifolds. it just makes it to where you can put one bolt in and slide the pipe on it. this is not why your bolt is coming lose. that bracket looks like a oem bracket...
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
tzane said:
the flange is normal. you see this on other flanges and manifolds. it just makes it to where you can put one bolt in and slide the pipe on it. this is not why your bolt is coming lose. that bracket looks like a oem bracket...
Click to expand...

Good to know. Where can I get a more appropriate bracket? I don't think RIVA makes them anymore, so is there any one else who makes a bracket for this pipe?
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
wright2383 said:
let me know if they make and sell a bracket. i have a red pipe, came on the ski when i got it, and its mounted using the stock exhaust bracket.
Click to expand...

Just got off the phone with Pete from RIVA. They no longer make the bracket. he says he would need orders for several doqzn before they would make them again. He gave me a few suggestions for the pipe. One was to install studs at the flange and the other was to simply wled the pipe at the flange. If I ever needed to remove the pipe I would have to remove it from the cylinder.

My buddy has a CNC machine and a lathe. We will try to make an exhaust bracket later in the week. If it works, I'll post some pics. I may be able to convince him to make more depending on how hard it is to do.

Found a guy locally who has an original RIVA exhaust bracket. He said he would let me borrow it to make a duplicate. I'll let you know how it goes. If I can get more than one made, I'll do it if the price is reasonable.
 
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ryan

ryan

Location
baldwin ny
like i said lot of work for what man? weld it pull the cylinder!! come on........... sell it to one of the lake/surf (thats funny in itself) guys and go get a factory pipe and ride it. more power and it dont fall off and you can work on the ski with out pulling the motor.
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
ryan said:
like i said lot of work for what man? weld it pull the cylinder!! come on........... sell it to one of the lake/surf (thats funny in itself) guys and go get a factory pipe and ride it. more power and it dont fall off and you can work on the ski with out pulling the motor.
Click to expand...

It's not a lot of work. You don't have to pull the cylinder to remove the exhaust if I welded the two halves. You only have to remove the pipe from the head (8 bolts I think). A stud kit and a new factory exhaust bracket would set me back $100. A factory B-Pipe is well north of $500. One sold on eBay yesterday for $675. Big difference in price.

Pulling the motor takes me around a half hour and makes it much easier to work on outside the ski. I've done it plenty of times for various reasons.
 
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havatitan

Location
Lake Havasu
ryan said:
like i said lot of work for what man? weld it pull the cylinder!! come on........... sell it to one of the lake/surf (thats funny in itself) guys and go get a factory pipe and ride it. more power and it dont fall off and you can work on the ski with out pulling the motor.
Click to expand...

Whats so funny about riding "lake and surf"? I've had both pipes, (have a fpp B pipe now) and can tell you for a fact the B pipe does not make more power than the riva. My riding buddies convinced me I "had to try" the factory pipe, so I bought one. Pulled the riva pipe and installed the FPP, spent an afternoon jetting the carb and tuning it in, It's a good pipe, just not any better than the riva I had. Don't let guys like this tell you "you have to have the factory pipe", you don't. I've seen way more rubber coupler failers on factory pipes than riva pipes coming lose, both have issues. Just need to shim the riva properly and you'll be good to go.
 
Jpass

Jpass

Location
Orlando
I'm very happy with the power of the RRP. It rips in the surf just fine for me. I think my problems with this pipe have been in the works since I bought the ski used a while back, they just went unnoticed until now. I am going to fix this once and for all and be done with it. I enjoy wrenching on my ski, especially if I can make improvements while I am in there and right any wrongs that previous owners have done. I'll post pics once she's done.

At least I have my old skool 650sx for a back-up ski.
 
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