High Zoot Pipe

A few years ago, GM introduced a special order Corvette, the Diablo or some such. It featured a skull emblem:



My buddy Kevan felt certain that Marvel Comics would sue General Motors for trademark infringement, since the emblem bears a resemblance to The Punisher's artwork:



I told him that the art was significantly different, that were was no case, and anyway, GM has bigger lawyers.

So we bet on it.

We'd give it a year, and if no suit had been brought in that time, he'd pay to get my Kerker ceramic coated by Jet Hot Coat (I'd recommended it for the exhaust manifolds in his SRT-10 Viper pickup truck, and he's been quite happy with the results).

If Marvel did sue GM, I agreed to rotate the wheels on said truck (we didn't work out how I'd get to Ohio to do the job).

A year passed, no lawsuit. He said he was ready to pay, I put him off.

"Nah, Kev, that's okay, I'm satisfied in the knowledge that I was right and you were wrong."

"No way, man, I don't back out on a bet. Take your exhaust off and take it to this address in Oklahoma City and they'll take care of it."

"No, Kevan, don't worry about it!"

This went on for a couple years.

Yesterday, I was perusing eBay, and ran across this .

I said, "Kevan, how about this? I called Jet Hot and it's $250 to coat my Kerker-"

"That's fine, let's do it."

"-OR... for less than $100, you could just get me this full stainless factory pipe, and we'll call it good."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

So right now, this thing is headed to my house.







Dig them crazy cross pipes! It's similar to what Yoshimura came up with for their KZ race bikes back in the early 80s, supposed to aid in scavenging. This exhaust system came from a 2002 Kawasaki ZR7, which represents the highest evolution of the KZ750 platform. There's about 40 years of factory development in the design of that pipe.

I'll post more when I get it, shouldn't take but a few minutes to install it...

In the meantime, here's a video of a guy with a ZR7 who gutted his stock muffler:



Those dyno pulls make me tingly!

Interesting looking pipe, GG. The pics after you get it installed are required, of course.

As for the logo, my guess is that GM's lawyers had this all worked with Marvel Comics long before it was ever approved for public presentation. Gotta keep that army of lawyers doing something...

Hmmm, where's the video clip?

GG, I've had that same pipe on one or two of my 650's for a couple of years now and I love it. It is SS so it won't rust and it performs very well. What I like about it is that it is whisper quiet until it hits about 6000 rpm and then it emits a kind of howl. I'm currently running it on an 80 KZ650 that is all stock (factory airbox and jetting) it is like having a stealth bike, just crack the throttle and it goes....very quietly! The response through out the power band is outstanding. I'm not sure what gutting it would do and I really have no desire to find out but then I kind of like quiet bikes.

As for mounting you can use your stock 750 clam shells and flanges but you will need to make a bracket for the rear mount. Here is a pic of that pipe mounted on my 77 650 C .

The Gringo wrote:

GG, I've had that same pipe on one or two of my 650's for a couple of years now and I love it.

I know! Yours is one of the bikes I looked at when researching this exhaust. :lol:

I don't plan to gut my muffler... at least not at first. I'll run it stock for a while, see how it compares to my Kerker, then I might knock out the first screen (a very common mod for these systems).

I gotta say, that sounds sweet!

We need a video when you get yours installed!

GG I'll be interested to hear what you think of this exhaust after you install it on your bike.

Comparing it to a Kerker is sort of like apples and oranges. The first thing that comes to mind is the weight, this system is my guess,3 times as heavy as the Kerker. Also I see you are running pods on your bike so jetting is going to be somewhat of an issue. For the setup I'm running this is an awesome system. For me the hardest thing was getting used to the difference in looks compared to a stock system but after a while it sort of grows on you.

I'd like to be able to buy a few more of these stock systems but they don't seem to pop up on ebay all that often, I don't think the ZR7 was a very big seller.

Sounds cool I dont get the cross tubes isn't that what the 4-1 is for.

Sorry, forgot about this thread!

The ZR-7 exhaust is insulated double-wall stainless. Heavier, but hard to get much higher quality, and check out those crazy cross pipes!





I ditched the enormous muffler and cut probably about a foot off of the end of the pipe. Between that, and leaving my center stand at home, this system is actually a little bit lighter than the Kerker.







I picked up a Supertrapp spark arrestor.















Maybe just slightly louder than the Kerker, but this pipe just sings when you wind it out! I've become a fan of parking garages, usually doing a few extra laps around the structure (ahem) looking for a good spot.

Most importantly, it's yielded some performance gains. My seat of pants dyno tells me it makes a couple more ponies, and it does so more smoothly. I actually have to keep a closer eye on my tach, this motor will happily rev way higher than I feel comfortable with 33 year old valve springs.

Nice score GG.
Looking good.