Any way I can quiet this exaughst down?

With low mileage like that and judging from the pics you posted, you got that bike for a song! :woohoo:

I paid $350 for my 650, and it wasn't even close to as nice of condition as yours.

RetroRiceRocketRider I was just wondering why do you think the head gasket is leaking?

In the first pic you posted of your bike I can see an oil leak (non-uniform looking dark area) in between the cylinders and cylinder head, which is usually indicative of an oil leak at the head gasket.
The cam plugs (the black half moon shaped rubber plugs on both side of the engine near the top) and valve cover area look nice and shiney. So that kind of rules out them leaking and the oil running down into that area, which is a common but easy to fix issue. Where the tach cable screws into the engine on these bikes are also a common leaking issue (worn seal and o-ring), which is also an easy fix. There are rebuild kits for this, and they can be found either at Z1 Ent (mentioned below) or on eBay.

If it runs fine (good idea to do a compression check just to be sure) and you're not to worried about the slight mess and appearance of oil on the engine, you should be more than fine to run it like that.
My head gasket has been leaking worse than that for quite some time now and it's still running just fine, but I'll hopefully be addressing that issue this winter.
Just be sure to keep an eye on the engine oil level until you can get to replacing the head gasket, as it's going to be using (leaking actually) more oil than it normally would.

I almost forgot! :pinch:
Most of use here buy our parts at Z1 Enterprises.com . The owner of Z1 Ent (Jeff) is also a member here, and his prices and service for replacement and performance parts IMHO are the best around!

Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2007/07/22 14:58

Thanks alot man. I really appreciate it. It doesnt seem to be leaking to bad for now. I'll eventually replace it most likely but for now I need to finish what I am working on.

your popping is likely caused by an air leak.
-exhaust gasket not sealing will make it pop like crazy on decel.
-sticking carb slide will have one cyl runing way rich on decel and cause pop
-have read that a leaky carb holder may cause pop. I've no direct exerience with this though.

You can pick up nice stock bullet muffler 'takeoff' for about $10 if you put an advert on local craigs list. If you're in Atlanta, I'll give you one.

I have an idea for you, and a story to go along with it. Most likely you will laugh as I did, but it really works.
My bike currently has a 4 into header, with a trumpet somewhat similar to what your bike has. At the end of the pipe though, was a plate with a big, threaded hole in the middle, surrounded by about 6 or 7 holes. I never thought much about it, except it looked goofy. I tried pulling the thing out after removing two screws in the side of it, but with no luck. I rode around with the screws out, hoping it would maybe blow out.... but it stayed in. One day I was at the gas station, when a guy walked up to me, saying how he had a kz750 and that he wanted a 1000. Then he saw the exhaust and said "Looks like someone stuck an oil filter in there, Ive done that before" After hearing that, I felt stupid riding around with an oil filter stuck in my exhaust. Last night I took the cutoff wheel and cut out the middle, and felt what I thought was a 2nd layer of exhaust pipe, but it was ultra thin. Turns out, they cut the end off of a PH13 Fram filter and shoved he rest of it in there.
After removing it, my bike was obnoxiously loud. My dad could hear me from 2 miles away just cruising. So guess what I did today? Robbed the oil filter off of a 350 Chevy Small block we've had in the garage for years, cut the sealed end off, shoved it in the pipe and stuck a self tapping screw in there. Man did it quiet the thing down. It may not be for you, but if you happen to have a used oil filter, or even a new one, that would be the cheapest way to go. I dont like the fact that I used an oil filter in my exhaust, but hey, it actually worked!

Hey Toadson, that oil filter idea is hilarious! But if it works, what the hell eh? But since you live right there in town, check out the link Gringo posted above. It's my old post about my four into one. The Farm and Home store has those tractor mufflers for 17 bucks. But lately I've just been running around with the open header. Sounds good against the bluffs along the river road.