1980 GS850 with cut off exhaust. Damage?

[TGRBLL]

I just bought a GS850 and the previous owner had the exhaust cut off. Does that damage the bike? Not sure how long it was like this but he engine "sounds" good to me. Thought? I do want to replae it but should I drive it for a little while in the mean time?

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. TGRBLL,

The cut off exhaust allows more air to flow through the engine, leaning out the fuel/air mixture. If the bike still has stock jetting, chances are that it has been running lean. This can hole your pistons if the mixture is lean enough.

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Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Nessism]

Not only does that damage the engine, the noise is a detriment to motorcyclists everywhere since ill will is created in the general population.

[1_v8_merc]

You know what they say...If it's too loud, you're getting too old!


But running pipes THAT short on stock jetting will hurt the bike over time!
It will cause you to run lean, have more vibration, and lose A Lot of power.


The bike may sound good or fine.
But Once you get to mid or full throttle, you're hurting it!

The best cheapest option, is to grab a welder, run some pipe out a little further, then weld up a small muffler or baffled system.
(exhaust systems cost around $350 new, so that's why I'm mentioning to rig a home-made system up, if
you wanna save a little cash)

[Nessism]

You know what they say...If it's too loud, you're getting too old!

Don't get me started...

[TGRBLL]

To find out if it is stock jetting, would I have to crack the carbs open? I am looking into a use set of mufflers but I would like to drive the bike in the mean time.
Now let's assume that the jetting is not stock. If I added the muffler would I need to change the jetting to stock?

Thanks for all the replies.

[Steve]

ANY time you change the air flow possibilities of the engine, you will have to change the jetting.

.

[bwringer]

What a shame someone had to do that to a nice bike...


Remove one of the spark plugs and eyeball the deposits on the plug.

White and/or shiny is very, very bad (way too lean). Do not ride the bike until you get the pipes fixed and rejet to suit. (Seriously -- you WILL damage the engine quite badly.)

Light tannish-gray deposits are good, and would mean the idiot who hacked up the pipes at least did a decent job of rejetting.

A thin coating of flat black carbon deposits mean it's running a bit too rich, but it's fairly safe. You'd be getting crappy mileage though.

Fluffy or thick black deposits mean it's running WAY too rich.


If you poke around Google, you can find more advice and photos on reading plugs. If it's in the ballpark, get some new plugs and do some plug chops to make sure.

[TGRBLL]

Yes. I did some research last nite and found the whole plug reading aspect. Will have to pull them out and "read them".
I also managed to get a Vance and Hines 4 to 1 for free (got to love Google). I am crossing my fingers that it will fit. Is rejetting a pain in the arse or something relatively easy to do?
(Yes I will be googleing rejetting after I hit Submit Reply)