Prima vs NCY vs Stock exhaust.

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k1dude
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Prima vs NCY vs Stock exhaust.

Post by k1dude »

I see Scooterworks has 10% off on exhaust pipes. Should I or shouldn't I?

Prima has bad welds and rides low, but supposedly it sounds nice.

NCY has better clearance and is good quality. But does it sound as nice as the Prima?

Both the NCY and Prima are supposedly MUCH louder than stock. I like the stock pipe when I start it up. It sounds nice and throaty on my 125. But once I get going, it sounds a little wimpy. I'm not a fan of real loud exhausts though. I just want a little deeper note while at speed.

Also, the Prima requires a re-jet. Does the NCY?
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PeteH
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Post by PeteH »

Some folks have rejetted with the Prima, but my mechanic said to leave it alone. He said that if the head pipe started turning blue, it's too lean/hot and we'd rejet, but otherwise leave it be. Mine is toasty gold.
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MYSCTR
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Post by MYSCTR »

Prima does not require a re-jet. It may be a preference of some depending where they live, yet we have ran Prima pipes on stock engines and never had an issue (something over 30,000 miles) at both 600 feet and 4200 feet elevations; gas and fuel injected.

Our three Prima pipes have never had any welds brake - something that may have been a problem when they were first released, definitely has been fixed years ago. We do remember the posts here when that happened, yet we have not had any problems.

We have seen posts where some riders think the Prima is loud to them, yet it has never bothered us, in fact my wife says it makes her scoot 'sound tough' with the Prima. It is noticeable when riding yet in traffic can be washed away. The whole idea with the Prima to us was to add safety by being heard.

Riding up against the side of a mountain on a clear chilly night north of Boulder, CO with my daughter the two Prima pipes hummed together and sounded like we were being followed by a crop duster flying right on top of us. Actually was pretty cool. Both scoots were 2014 Fi with Prima pipes. Never experienced that before.

I do like the idea of the satin black pipe - just have no experience with the NCY pipe.

Best suggestion would be to find someone that rides with one of the pipes and go ride with them. We have experienced the age of the pipe and the scooter engine may effect the actual sound. When I moved one pipe from an older scooter to the new Fi 2014, I got what I considered a great raspy deep sound I diid not have on a fairly new 150 carbed engine. Best of luck!
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Tocsik
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Post by Tocsik »

Here's a Prima on a Bud150. This pipe had ~31,000 miles on it when I made this clip in June of 2013.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xjYgZLnriA8?list= ... o2RUXwXsdS" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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skipper20
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Re: Prima vs NCY vs Stock exhaust.

Post by skipper20 »

k1dude wrote:I see Scooterworks has 10% off on exhaust pipes. Should I or shouldn't I?

Prima has bad welds and rides low, but supposedly it sounds nice.

NCY has better clearance and is good quality. But does it sound as nice as the Prima?

Both the NCY and Prima are supposedly MUCH louder than stock. I like the stock pipe when I start it up. It sounds nice and throaty on my 125. But once I get going, it sounds a little wimpy. I'm not a fan of real loud exhausts though. I just want a little deeper note while at speed.

Also, the Prima requires a re-jet. Does the NCY?
For those of you who have FI Buddys, such as a 170i, have any of you experienced an improvement in performance when switching from the stock exhaust to either the Prima or NCY exhaust?

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia
'08 250ie Aprilia Sport City
'09 300i Sym CityCom
MYSCTR
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Post by MYSCTR »

Nope - switched two 2014 170i's to the Prima - no re-jet - no change in performance at leaf that could be felt.

Spoke with the guys at Vespa Dallas and they said we would not get any change from the NCY pipe, just a lower throaty sound. They did say it was not quite as loud as the Prima as well.
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BuddyRaton
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Post by BuddyRaton »

When you learn how to rejet FI let me know! :mrgreen:

I've been running an NCY for quite a few years on a 161 BBK with carb upgrade and airbox mod and I have been very happy with it.

Personally ...and some may disagree, I just don't see how there will be much performance gain on a 4T with just a pipe swap. Yeah it will sound different but I don't really care what a scooter sounds like but how it performs.

If you're not getting more air and fuel into a larger combustion chamber you're not going to get any more out than you are right now
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'06 Cream Buddy 125, 11 Blur 220, 13 BMW C 650 GT, 68 Vespa SS180, 64 Vespa GS MK II, 65 Lambretta TV 175, 67 Vespa GT, 64 Vespa 150 VBB 64 Vespa GL
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CEZ2011
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Re: Prima vs NCY vs Stock exhaust.

Post by CEZ2011 »

Bill,

You won't notice a performancd increase and will not need to rejet. Some after market exhaust systems actually decrease performance or may just shift the power curve to another part of the RPM range. What you get from the pipe is mainly a different sound or even looks. The CORSA exhaust on my car sounds great and is claimed to provide 15 extra horse power, but you can not feel the difference. If you do gain performance it would be minimal, you would need a dyno to determine the actual performancd change. If you like the way it sounds go for it!

Chris
skipper20 wrote:
k1dude wrote:I see Scooterworks has 10% off on exhaust pipes. Should I or shouldn't I?

Prima has bad welds and rides low, but supposedly it sounds nice.

NCY has better clearance and is good quality. But does it sound as nice as the Prima?

Both the NCY and Prima are supposedly MUCH louder than stock. I like the stock pipe when I start it up. It sounds nice and throaty on my 125. But once I get going, it sounds a little wimpy. I'm not a fan of real loud exhausts though. I just want a little deeper note while at speed.

Also, the Prima requires a re-jet. Does the NCY?
For those of you who have FI Buddys, such as a 170i, have any of you experienced an improvement in performance when switching from the stock exhaust to either the Prima or NCY exhaust?

Bill in Seattle
'09 150 Blackjack
'12 170i Italia
'08 250ie Aprilia Sport City
'09 300i Sym CityCom
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az_slynch
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Post by az_slynch »

BuddyRaton wrote:When you learn how to rejet FI let me know! :mrgreen:
Disconnect battery, wait a few for the ECU to clear, reconnect battery and let it work up a new fuel map? Beyond that, learn the flow rates/and spray patterns of various injectors and swap in one with a higher delivery rate ..and install a higher volume fuel pump. It's doable, but neither cheap nor easy.
BuddyRaton wrote:Personally ...and some may disagree, I just don't see how there will be much performance gain on a 4T with just a pipe swap. Yeah it will sound different but I don't really care what a scooter sounds like but how it performs.
It is possible, but there's some engineering involved and the pipe has to be tailored for the engine. PM Tuning's offerings for modern Vespas produce measurable gains; it's worth noting that the pipe length and diameter are tuned for the engine's displacement and flow characteristics. It would be cool if such a thing existed for the Buddy line too!
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BuddyRaton
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Post by BuddyRaton »

az_slynch wrote:
BuddyRaton wrote:When you learn how to rejet FI let me know! :mrgreen:
Disconnect battery, wait a few for the ECU to clear, reconnect battery and let it work up a new fuel map? Beyond that, learn the flow rates/and spray patterns of various injectors and swap in one with a higher delivery rate ..and install a higher volume fuel pump. It's doable, but neither cheap nor easy.
BuddyRaton wrote:Personally ...and some may disagree, I just don't see how there will be much performance gain on a 4T with just a pipe swap. Yeah it will sound different but I don't really care what a scooter sounds like but how it performs.
It is possible, but there's some engineering involved and the pipe has to be tailored for the engine. PM Tuning's offerings for modern Vespas produce measurable gains; it's worth noting that the pipe length and diameter are tuned for the engine's displacement and flow characteristics. It would be cool if such a thing existed for the Buddy line too!
I agree.. Akrapovi&#269; ..makes some nice model specific pipes but even then performance improvements are usually not overly impressive. I just think that too many people expect a new pipe alone to do some amazing things for their scooter.

In reality it seems that many care more about how the pipe sounds than how it performs. That's fine with me...personally I don't care how it sounds...just how it performs.

My PEP Pro series 3 looks stock sounds like a sito...and rocks! It is the ultimate stock exhaust!
"Things fall apart - it's scientific" - David Byrne
www.teamscootertrash.com

'06 Cream Buddy 125, 11 Blur 220, 13 BMW C 650 GT, 68 Vespa SS180, 64 Vespa GS MK II, 65 Lambretta TV 175, 67 Vespa GT, 64 Vespa 150 VBB 64 Vespa GL
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BuddyLicious
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Post by BuddyLicious »

BR,

Might you have a pic or 2 of your PEP PRO exhaust? I did google it and hit images but no pics that I seen.

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