Where to start?

[xvcycoe]

First of all I don't own a V-Max, but love them. I own a Roadstar.
A friend owns a max and would like to get more out of it. I told him, 1st pipes, then air, then go electrical.
Would I be right?
He likes the Cobra 4 into 4's but is hesitant on buying any pipe. He wants to start with air, rejetting, seperate filters for every carb , new wires coils ignition. I told him start with new pipes, ditch the stock, too constrictive. Reason's I don't know, too loud, price, likes the look of the stock.
You guys are the experts, what should I tell him?

:rocket bike:

 

[maleko89]

Greetings.

Stock pipes are better than most aftermarket pipes as they are specifically tuned for the Vmax with stock airbox. The only real disadvantage is the weight of the mufflers.

You can't really change either the air intake and exhaust separately. If you put an exhaust in like a 4 into 2 system....you go rich so need to adjust airbox side. If you get a 4 into 1 system you go lean and need to make air adjustments on the carbs.

If he adds only slip-ons which keep the stock headers, you'll probably gain 1-2 horsepower and little to no torque. Stay away from Cobra 4 into 4's, they sound and look good but you do lose hp/torque compared to even stock.

If he gets a full exhaust system and tunes it, expect 5-10 horsepower with 2-4 ft/lbs of torque. If he goes with separate filters, he'll need a full exhaust system and will need the DJ stage 7 kit. Even with the stage 7 setup you'll gain 5-10 horse power. The Vmax likes the stock airbox best unless you make velocity stacks for the individual filters. I wouldn't have him go with the individual filters with stock exhaust or slip-ons. You actually need the DJ stage 7 kit otherwise the bike will run like crap. You can tune a separate filter setup with stock or slip ons but why go through the trouble? In the end you don't gain a thing except a lot of tuning trouble and $250 less in your wallet.

Electrical, the only thing you can do to gain here is to run an ignition advance of 3-5 degrees. You can change to different plugs, wires, coils....whatever....you won't gain a thing. If you do, then the old ignition system had problems. You can get a separate advance circuit made or you can get a Dyna3000 ignition box which has several different advance curves you can use. The stock ignition is fixed advance but does have a supplemental advance at certain intake vacuum levels.

You can gain a lot by porting/polishing heads. But I know next to nothing on this.

I guess he needs to do research on the different exhaust options. Go with what he likes for sound, look...and then tune the airbox/carbs to fit the exhaust.

 

[maleko89]

If you're buddy has any question or would like to learn more about exhaust systems, tell him to email me at [email protected].

Good luck.

 

[xvcycoe]

Thanks Mark for the quick reply. I'll pass this on to him.
In your opinion what pipe would be good? Something to keep the stock look.
Would he gain anything by doing a re-jet, K&N filter and leaving the stock exhaust, drill them out?
Anyone else have an opinion?

 

[maleko89]

For 4 into 2 systems, I'd say either Mark's Performance (www.markspipe.com) or HMF (www.hmfengineering.com). Here's what the HMF sounds like.
http://home.comcast.net/~ljfrantz/HMF1.mp3

There's a couple of sound clips for Mark's exhaust too. I have Mark's and am very happy with them. A picture of my bike is on the site, it's the red/black '89.

With a K&N filter, nothing is gained since the restriction is the airbox. You can remove the "y" part of the top of the airbox and then you get more air but you loose air velocity and the midrange suffers a tad. Drilling stock exhaust you gain next to nothing...but you do get a different sound. I didn't like the sound of drilled exhaust.

 

[maleko89]

Man, just listened those links. If you like the sound of these, wait until you hear 'em in person. Much better! Once this 13 inches of snow melts, I'm riding!

XVC, for more info on exhaust just click on the Exhaust section tab. Lots of info there.

 

[shawn kloker]

The HMF sound clip sounds really good but do not have the same effect as hearing them in person.

 

[Buster Hymen]

Where in Canada do you live? There may be some local guys with after market pipes you can listen to in person.

 

[xvcycoe]

Southern, Ontario
PT Dover area

 

[Buster Hymen]

Southern, Ontario
PT Dover area

I'm east of Toronto, in Ajax. I'll be down your way in April (Friday the 13th ride) and Robbarrie lives in Barrie. I have a 4-1 Kerker on mine, not sure about Rob. there are other Southern Ontario riders on the forum also.

 

[shawn kloker]

Kerkers sound every bit as good as anything else out there.I just prefer 2 cans.

 

[Robbarrie]

Mine is still stock, but some time ago I was looking at a Max with the cobra slashcuts. They sounded really f'ckn loud I tell ya...too loud for me ( at least for now ). I'll have this bike for a very long time so I'm in no rush right now to do too much. I've been putting off my RRSP contributions so I can't justify the costs of aftermarket pipes. Max goes pretty dam good stock so I'm not too bored yet.