That was a pain in the butt to do with my  6 year old harborfreight drill but I got it done!  8: 1/4" holes around the center hole.  It made a world of difference, thanks again Bob and others.  It's like I loosened my grip on her mouth and she can breathe freely through my fingers now.

Next Q should I mess with the fuel air mixture in the mean time until I can get some bigger jets in it?  Any reccomended screw setting?

Well I rode to work and back today and I would say there is definitely still some power loss, not a huge significant amount but I would say noticeable.  I could only get it to 80 going up this "hill" (slight grade) to work that I thik I have gone faster up.  

It also pops a bit more than before so I think I will head out this evening when it starts to cool down and try to adjust that mixture screw.

Funny story, My friend came out to see my exhaust at work and I
gave the throttle a nice thwack to make some noise and the pipe had apparently come loose and shot off, doh.            

Glad that happened there and not on the road.  Thank goodness I have a decent little tool set just for things like that.

Yeah I need to perfect that connection especially after todays experience.  I am thinking about adding a second u-clamp.


My can was pretty well shredded and really not on there well when it all came apart today.  I got so hot in the garage yesterday I crammed it together to fast because I wanted to be done.



Also it is pushing on the brake line a bit.  I am going to stop in the local steel/welding business down town and see if they can bend it 7deg out so it will clear that.

MrBrownTX wrote on 08/08/11 at 13:51:25:



I admire your adventuresome spirit, but that way of hooking up the pipe puts new meaning in the term ugly.  Those automotive u-clamps are not only obscene, they don’t clamp very well.

Here’s something you might try that might work okay, last a while, and appear to be a little more motorcyclish.

 -- Start over.  
 -- Get a new pipe that has an ID the same as the OD of the existing exhaust.  If you can’t find a pipe that has the exact ID to match the existing OD, get a pipe the next size larger and go to a muffler shop to have them swage (reduce) the diameter such that it just barely fits over the existing Suzuki pipe.  While you are there, have him put a slight bend in the swaged end of the pipe (5 degrees?) so it’ll stick out a little and not burn up the brake linkage.
 -- Saw one lengthwise slit in one wall at the end that exactly fits over the Suzuki pipe.  The slit should be about 1” long.
 -- Get three washers that just fit inside the pipe.  
 -- Open up the hole in each washer to 1” diameter.
 -- Insert the washers in the pipes such that one is real close to the input end, one is about 6” further down the pipe, and one is 8” from that second washer
 -- You’ll have to find some way to hold the washers in place.  Maybe the welder at the muffler shop can help.  They’ll only need to be tacked in place at maybe six places for each washer.
 -- Get a couple of real motorcycle exhaust clamps.  Here are some examples (borrowed from EJID’s post in another thread):
         Thin but strong for the weight: http://i.ebayimg.com/01/!B95D(-wEGk~$(KGrHqYOKi!Ey77ySJBsBM7D6ct82w~~_12.JPG
         Heavier duty, maybe better for a thumper: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqN,!jkE3LlE-htKBOB!pt5(f!~~0_12.JPG
 -- Whichever type you choose, use two clamps right beside each other, clamping over the slit you cut earlier.  If you have fit everything well, and you have the clamps directly over the slit, the leakage will be minimal, and the joint will be tight.

How are you going to coat the surface of this thing?  You’ll have to do something fairly soon because it’ll rust a lot.

Good luck.

I took a few minutes today to stop and got the pipe bent at a muffler shop.  Going to try and stop at tractor supply company tomorrow and pick up some better clamps and reattatch it.  I could definitely feel the leaks at the pipe and the header.

MrBrownTX wrote on 08/08/11 at 13:51:25:

A lot of junkyard mufflers, or HD takeoff mufflers in a shop, will have the clamp still on them.  With any luck you should be able to score one for free or less than 5 bucks (?)  The main cost being a ride into Dallas  

Finally got a real motorcycle exhaust clamp today.  It only cost me $3 from Hunt County Choppers, they took it off an old set of pipes in their barn.  I definitely have a much better seal now with the slit cut and the correct clamp however I do still feel a tiny leak on one side, where the uclamp bent the pipe up.  I need to 1 get a new piece of pipe and 2 maybe have my friend weld it on there to get this perfect.

Today I also http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1221818822 drilled out the cap on the idle mixture screw so I could adjust that.  I was sweating nervous the whole time but eventually after some very slow going careful drilling that cap popped right out stuck on the end of the drill bit.  It was no where near as bad as I thought it would be.

So as I play with the idle mixture screw I read http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1222119600/3 that I am looking for the idle to drop as I turn it out CCW.  That never happened out to heck about 4 turns where the screw stopped.  So I turned it back in to 3 turns out for now to not risk losing that thing. It never backfires at idle but backfires when I let off the throttle didn't seem to change at any setting (probably leak and jet related).

So I know it is the "idle" screw so I think I know the answer but I have to ask to make sure I understand whats happening.
Which brings me to my questions...
Is this adjustment only to effect backfiring at idle?  Will it have any effect on performance on the road?

Ah that makes sense. Thank you.