Pipes, Clutch, Problems on The 3rd degree.

[Bauer]

#1.
Put some pipes from mikesxs on the 3rd degree today, They are the slash cut megaphones w/ baffles. I put the pipes on and started the bike, not at ALL what I was expecting, perfect mufflers, could hardly even hear the bike running. SO I didnt like them. I had open turndowns on the bike before, I didnt like the small diameter pipes with turndowns because the sound was so much louder as it bounced off the ground. I was looking for something with a wider diameter and a little less noise, not completely silent. Long story short, I ended up knocking the baffles out and going with open pipes again. NOW heres the problem. I had open pipes before, as I do at the end of today, but somewhere in a matter of hours, I lost power. Question is, could the larger diameter pipes have taken away backpressure? Too much flow now, so no power???

#2.
Clutch slips in high power pulls, sometimes even completely out of gear. Would another clutch plate solve this? Or is it more so in the transmission? Mostly happens in the upper gears, 3-4-5. Ocassionaly it will slip out of gear when just crusing a city street in 3rd or 4th.

Whats your opinions on these matters?
Thanks for the help.

Oh!
Any body wanna buy some 19" long x 3.5" outlet slash cut megaphones with only about 2hrs of ride time on them. baffles can be replaced. WIth the baffles they are REALLY quiet for anybody looking for some quiet yet sporty looking pipes. Name me a resonable price if you are interested.
Part #07-0042 on www.mikesxs.com

[bandet01]

i would have to say the lost of the power is due to the backpressure lost i mean i did the same thing to my bike to my baffles and i could tell a differance but my problem was also the baffles were rusted out

for the clutch i would add another clutch steel and replace the frictions and the springs and you wont have any other problems

[TopCatGr58]

Bauer's Sour, no Power!

Hey Bauer,

You say it's lost power, but where, low end or top end? IF low end, that's common with aftermarket pipes period!! As for top end loss, could be a touch lean IF your new pipes flow even more than your older ones!?

As for the clutch slipping, can't remember what if anything you've done to that, so you could have worn springs, frictions, the basket and main pressure plates also worn? That's why when I put in my new frictions and springs I also opted for the extra steel plate, see the tech tip in MODS section for details!

Now, as for slipping totally out of gear, could be worn shift forks and or a worn shift drum.....OR....it's not talked about as much, but there is an alignment that it done to the shift pawl and shift drum, it's covered in the manual, and I've posted a few photos crudely showing what marks there are on the shift drum and shift pawl to align, IN SECOND GEAR!! Do a search for shift pawl alignment, you should find them! IF the shift drum is not aligned, it could be rotating too far, and then a slight bump, vibration, etc. could be making it rotate and pull the forks and gears out of engagement!? I've found false neutral between 4th and 5th several times! Others have reported finding it between 3rd and 4th!

BTW, you HAVE done the clutch slack adjustment at the engine per the tech tips haven't you?? Also verified that your clutch cable isn't sticking??
T.C.

[Bauer]

TC.
Power loss is wide range, bottom to top, just doesnt pull like it did with the old pipes. Was plenty snappy with the baffles, but nothing without. Im leaning towards lean running as well, but why so much more noticeable now. I had open pipes before, just smaller diameter. could the extra 1 1/2" diameter have made that much difference? I did notice it wants to pop (backfire would be a better word, yet not as noticeable or loud) Isnt this a characteristic of running lean as well?

I havent yet touched the clutch, waiting for the funds when I start work in June to start into that. Dont want to tear it all apart, only to find out I cant quite afford to fix it the right way. But first up is the new springs and plate. Thanks for the how to you posted, you kicked me into gear with it haha.

The false neutral between gears is intermittent between 3 and 5, sometimes its 3-4, mostly but not always 4-5

Clutch cable is up to spec, right amt of tension, as well as does not stick, did those adjustments when the new handlebars went on in January.

I guess ill just have to take er easy till June. Although I may do the shift pawl adjustment this week.

Thanks for the idears TC, as usual, ur the MAN!

[81xsproject]

Is the additional steel plate really needed? I mean, I just did the refurbish from the tech tips and added Versah heavy springs, and my previously slipping clutch is now solid as a rock.

[skids]

All of my xs11's have had "false neutrals." You just have to make sure you shift completely with a firm motion.

About the baffles. I would be very surprised if you could make baffleless pipes work at all. There is an exhaust interferrence thing that can happen with reverse-direction impulses (echos). The pressure wave can return to the exhaust valve at the time it should be expelling spent gases. This is one of the reasons that baffles are needed in the 4 cyl. bikes...to break up the return impulses. I had some muffs that were glasspacks that did not do a good enough job, and there was no carb compensation for it!

[Bauer]

Exhaust problem fixed...

Did some surgery on the baffles from the pipes from MikesXS yesterday, installed them late last night. Bike sounds better, but still needs a touch of work. Best way to describe it is it sounds like a muffled crotch rocket, has that deep whoooomp to it now, not the barking that these things make with unbaffled pipes. Im going to pull them back out and do just a bit more drilling and cutting, but im pretty happy with how its turned out. Got the power back that I lost, thank god for handlebars and the humped seats on the specials, or id slide right off the back as the bike drives out from under me haha.


Next up, the clutch. TC and I narrowed it down to it probably being in the shift pawl adjustment. It seems as though Im mostly only finding false neutrals between 3&4 and more ofthen than that 4&5. So I intend on tearing into that and readjusting it to spec.

Thanks for the help.