Pipes

[npntransistor]

I think it would be cool to have 4 into 4 (lol) pipes. 2 on each side. I know there are probably alot of preformance reasons not to, but can it be done without making the bike a pile of garbage?

[Rat44]

You would be adding a lot of weight.
Are you thinking straight pipes?

[Mark M]

I think it would be cool to have 4 into 4 (lol) pipes. 2 on each side. I know there are probably alot of preformance reasons not to, but can it be done without making the bike a pile of garbage?

Actually, there are sound performance reasons to DO it that way. It's easier to tune one individual cylinder without the pulses from the other cylinders causing issues. It is hard to package it all without ground clearance issues and there is a weight penalty of varying severity, depending on how good you are at the fabricating and the materials you use.

The original Honda 750-4 (1969?) used 4 individual pipes, if you wanted an example to follow. Also look for info on 50's and 60's GP bikes, they all ran individual pipes regardless how many cylinders they had. The Honda 250-6 had 6 pipes and was an amazing work of art.

Mark

[Old Colt]

I think he was asking about aesthetics, not performance for reason of change.
The early Honda and Kawie fours had individual pipes. I would look for some mufflers from these early bikes and mod them to fit yous.

[Rat44]

My '76 GT-380 had 3 cylinders into 4 pipes .
I replaced them with a Strader 4 into 1 .
I saved a lot of weight.

[80GS750]

i had 4 straight pipes on my 750 for about a week.
it was KILLER LOUD

it was great for tuning though as i could see exactly what was going on with each cylinder

[GQROD]

If you can get four individual small diameter mufflers to go on it the following are the only things you give up by going to 4 seperate pipes.

1-The reasons you see 4 into 2 or 4 into 1 is primarily due to what level of performance or federal regulations are trying to be achieved. ( ie: noise restrictions )

2-For ex: the pulses are utilized to scavenge the exhaust to improve flow in order to either provide better torque or higher horsepower on the mid-range or the top end. You may give up or increase some performance in each of these ranges by increasing the flow rate.

3-On tuned exhausts the pulses are utilized at a certain rpm range on 2 cycle engines to to keep a portion the air/fuel charge in the cylinder long enough for the piston to get past the exhaust port on the cylinder wall increasing it's efficiency and aiding in producing desired horsepower. By changing the shape of the muffler or exhaust teh speed of the pulses is slowed or made faster so it may change the amount of horsepower generated due to loss of efficiency.

4-Just make sure when you do this the backpressure matches the stock muffler as close as possible as well as flow at the same rate or you will have to change your jets like any other performance upgrade of this type.

Hope this helps.

[Mark M]

I think he was asking about aesthetics, not performance for reason of change.

I think so too, but I was just pointing out that there is certainly no performance reason to not use 4 individual pipes, aside from the packaging and weight issues.

Mark