Prima pipe. Is it running rich, lean or ok now?

DO3 · Post by **DO3** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:15 pm

I just put on the prima pipe for the 125 last night. I've got about 30 miles on it now and bewteen the head and halfway to the muffler the chrome is starting to discolor. Is this a sign of running rich and un-burnt gas is heating up the pipe? Or is it lean now and I've got too much heat in the cylinder? Or is this completely normal for aftermarket chrome pipes? I've seen this a lot on cruisers with aftermarket pipes and always thought it was due to not re-jetting the carb and some less than idea mixture. I'll pull the plug when I get back home, but was wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

Thanks

Kevin K · Post by **Kevin K** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:40 pm

It's not unusual for a stainless or chrome pipe to discolor. However, you really should be checking the spark plug to see if your mixture is off.
Here's a link to a page that shows different plug conditions:
http://www.verrill.com/moto/sellingguid ... rchart.htm
-K

rajron · Post by **rajron** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:14 pm

Its expected to discolor at the header to the muffler, at least that is what was explained to me by the dealer. As a matter of fact now with over 1000 miles on the new pipe the only thing not discolored is the muffler which is still chromed. My dealer said even the muffler will discolor from road grime if not taken care off – they suggested using a S/S polish for the muffler when it gets wet and dirty.

Wow!!! I just took a picture so you can see the color change. Found something else I didn’t want to see the dang pipe scrapes! I felt it and its dented big time and all scared up – that’s a bummer.

DO3 · Post by **DO3** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 11:28 pm

I just pulled the plug and after 45 hard miles it looks great. I'm not concerned about the mixture anymore.

I am hoping that the tank full of last years gas with stabil in it is the reason I'm not noticing any power gains. I took the Buddy out of storage last week and rode it once, it seemed slower than I remembered. Then I bolted the pipe on last night and rode it to work. After I get some fresh gas in there I'll borrow a co-workers G-tech and try some runs with the new pipe and the stock pipe to see if it can measure any difference.

Kurzer · Post by **Kurzer** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:43 pm

Anyone notice a drop in performance?

This may be premature, I'll wait until I've carboned up the can before passing judgment. After installing the pipe, I lost 5-8mph off my top end. It doesn't sound like much, but on a scoot it's a lot. Next weekend I'll check the plug and see if maybe a re-jet will fix it, or at least tune it up a bit more.
The exhaust doesn't smell lean or rich but I'll have my buddy sniff it before tearing into the plug assembly and see if it's off by just a little.

Anyhow, pipe looks and sounds great, just not happy with the power loss.

Cheers

vitaminC · Post by **vitaminC** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 8:47 pm

A common reason for the pipes changing color is that the bike is running lean. It comes from the factory this way as a means of dealing with emissions requirements, and probably isn't much to worry about.

There are products available which you can use to get rid of the discoloration if you're so inclined (and have some spare elbow grease).

rajron · Post by **rajron** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:19 am

Weird that you lost top end, in almost all other cases there were gains reported with the new pipe? – We don’t have much too loose and 5 – 8 mph is significant, do you think it’s something else causing the loss?

Kurzer · Post by **Kurzer** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 5:11 pm

rajron wrote:Weird that you lost top end, in almost all other cases there were gains reported with the new pipe? – We don’t have much too loose and 5 – 8 mph is significant, do you think it’s something else causing the loss?

I'm not sure, the 125 is pretty new, maybe a few weeks. I've dealt with a lot of exhausts in a lot of vehicles and they always run a little off when they're new. I'll wait until it gets a little carbon build up in there and hope it works itself out. I have a feeling that I may be running a little rich and need to rejet. I need to find out how the buddy handles heat, I'd like to run it lean to get a little more out of the engine but there are some preventive things I'll need to do to make that possible.

I'm having a friend sniff it next week so I'll know for sure how rich/lean it's running. I've also got a few parts laying around the garage that I may use to tweak the Buddy a little if the exhaust is off. We'll see, it's still early but I'm stacking up the miles to get it broke in asap.