TOPIC:

what a nice muffler.
where did you get it

The Gringo wrote:

I just love seeing threads like this one on this site. There are a lot of old bikes out there that qualify as "borderline", by that I mean too nice to be a parts bike, but not nice enough to warrant spending huge amounts of cash to restore to original condition. It is tips like this one that can possibly convince someone to turn a junk KZ into a viable daily rider without spending a fortune.

I bought an 81 550 Ltd this spring, needed the usual, carb clean, new battery etc. Being that it was 25 yrs old, the boots from the carbs to the airbox were hardened and therefore junk, so my choices were either new boots cost= $40 or pods also $40 or get creative. I chose to get creative and for a cost of about $3.00 came up with the following fix.

What I did was cut up a Scotchbrite pad and used the stock springs to hold them on the carbs. Not real pretty, but cheap and effective. Rode it all summer like this, still not convinced that pods would work any better.

Gringo: Did you have to rejet or carbs worked fine? BTW, those are the most minimal pods of the world, period. You just gave me a great idea till I get the right pods, thanks a lot!

=

Toge, I bought it at a farm and home supply called appropriately enough, "Farm & Home". I don't have the number of the muffler handy, but it's one of those deals where you see something and a light goes on, then you carry the thing over to the tool department and look for a caliper to measure it. The inside of my header pipe measured 3 3/8". This muffler happened to measure a little over 3 5/16". Close enough for government work. Bear in mind that my header pipe is cylindrical, not tapered. It would be a lot harder to find a tapered muffler.

Gringo, I love them pods man. They keep the big stuff out, but I'd try to shy away from dusty roads though. Maybe spray 'em with that air filter spray stuff.
My bike is one of those bikes you're talking about. It has relatively low miles, doesn't look like the top end has ever been off or anything, it's pretty much all original, but it's been an outside dog all its life. Paint's bad, frame needs serious clean up and paint. I don't really wanto to spend a buttload on it. And right now the most important thing is, IT RUNS!! I don't want to take it apart!

riverroad, I sort of gathered from your sig line that your bike might fit the "borderline" description, which is why I so loved your tractor muffler fix, very clever and looks good too. I'm guessing but what was that about a $25 or $30 fix? As to my "pods" I live in the city so dusty roads are not much of a problem.

Kawadruida, the 550 LTD I used these on has those lousy TK carbs so re-jetting is a bit of a problem. I am going to try shimming the needles a bit with some small washers and I think that will be a bit of an improvement. This bike also has a Kerker 4 into 1 pipe so I'm sure it is still lean. 3M also makes a finer grade of Scotchbrite pad in white that I thought about trying but never got around to. This was a big improvement over open carbs as well as my initial fix, which was a piece of duct tape over part of the carb openings.

BTW I'm guessing you must have found some new exhaust gaskets huh?

riverroad, my bad I just looked at your original post and saw that the muffler was $17 now I'm even more impressed great job!

Post edited by: The Gringo, at: 2006/11/28 10:08

Gringo: I live in the city too, so I think that the Scotchbrite pods, er... pads (LOL) will be fine till I find the right pods.

And yes, I found fine brand new exhaust gaskets for the earlier Ninja 250s that fitted in so smoooooothly...

All I have to do now is fix my carb trouble and cross fingers! Summer´s about to begin, can´t wait to hit the road!!!!

Thanks a lot for your concern guys.

PS: Send the e-petition for the 30th Anniversary 2007 KZ1000. We WANT that bike!