There's a hole in my header, dear Liza, dear Liza

After having my front coil, ECU & dash replaced recently, and circumventing the labour cost for fitting them by having my Desmo service done a thousand miles early, I received another wonderful piece of news; my rear header is cracked.

I haven't had time to check properly but I think from what the tech described to me that it's under the heatshield. He said you can see licks of flame from it if you look carefully when running.

So we chatted about upgrading to the Akra header, and he said that I'd really need to go with a fuel controller of some sort too if I go down that path. I mentioned the fact that a few of you guys have had good things to say about the Rexxer unit and he agreed that it was great and would be well worth it.

So they can source the Rexxer + fit it for £200, and the header would be about £900. As I'm saving to move to Australia, I need this expense like I need a hole in the head.

So my question to you guys is how long do you think I can get away with running with this crack? Do you think it's worth leaving it as long as possible as is, waiting until I have funds to spare, or should I just whack this on a card for the bikes sake? I don't wanna risk any other damage due to this.

I know when the crack appeared now I come to think of it - about a month before I got disco dash there was a definite period when I can remember the exhaust started popping a lot more on deceleration - obviously cause more oxygen was entering the exhaust up near the head...

Thanks for the advice guys, you're right about bad luck alright dragon, seems like I've not only had all the common issues to be found on these bikes, I've had some decidedly uncommon ones too.

Anyway, thanks to your advice kuksul, I've managed to locate a used stock piece for about £50 - only one I could find. I'm holding off buying it until I verify exactly where the crack is, which I'll try and do when I get home in a few hours - appreciate the link which contained a video, hopefully it's in the same place.

So next question - has anyone had any experience removing the rear header?

When the tech was describing the removal procedure, he said that there is very little room to work with, and that Ducati supply them a special tool to get the stud nuts/bolts (can't quite remember).

Time is a bit of a premium for me these days, so I might just call up the shop and see if they'll fit it for me for a reasonable price. Unless someone here has done the job before and can tell me it's not a total SOB/PITA job anyways!!

So went to the dealer, they reckon 3 hours labour to replace the header with a 2nd hand stock piece. It does look like a ****** job after getting up close. So £250. Great.

I managed to cut a deal if they add the Rexxer map at the same time for £375, and also asked if it might be worth adding some plate to strengthen what is obviously a weak point. The tech reckoned it was a bad idea as an additional weld would attract corrosion - which is very much a problem in this country.

Booked in for Jan when I get back from Australia. I ****** wish I could afford the Akra headers, but this Brexit **** has ****** the value of the pound - they were ~£700 when I looked months ago, but ~£900 now.

At a time I'm looking to emigrate, I just can't justify that cost.

On the subject of exhausts, what do you guys reckon is a reasonable price for a 2nd hand, <1000miles use SC Project CR-T exhaust? It's up on ebay, have relisted a couple of times, but no takers. I'm asking half what I paid for it and its in great condition.

Here's a pic for those that asked:



Looking at the job, I have to admit, I find it pretty intimidating. Perhaps if I had a day to spare...

Do you think any paint could stand up to the heat? I've seen the header glow red before...

I wanted to go full ******, but ******* Brexit has weakened the value of the pound so much that where the header used to cost £700, it now costs £900. *****. I just can't afford to part with that much cash.

So far, I've got a 2nd hand piece that I located for the princely sum of £50, now I just need to decide whether to have the shop fit it for £250 labour alone, £375 with a Rexxer tune (this comes highly recommended I hear), or whether to just tough it out on the driveway to get it fitted (which, considering my serious lack of spare time and ****** British weather, is looking pretty unrealistic right now..)

No symptoms, although to be fair I didn't know this hole (which has now become a crack) was there, although there was definitely a point when the exhaust started to pop more on deceleration. I just thought it was my Akra bedding in...

Does anyone think it would be worth us contacting Ducati as a group over this?