Lost my exhaust, can a muffler shop help me?

The right side slip on muffler fell off my kz400 on the highway this morning.

Bike still runs without it although he seems to have lost some power at WOT and (obviously) it sounds different. These were some generic slipons that a previous owner had installed and while they sounded really nice, they were VERY open and I thought they were too loud for the tightly packed urban residential area I lived in so I was thinking about buying a set of stock sportster mufflers to quiet them down a pinch.

My problem is that the sportster mufflers are shorter than the slipons and my bike seem to have the stock headers chopped off right after the crossover tube. There wasn't even really enough room to firmly attach the old slip on which is probably why it fell off.

If I take my bike to some random muffler shop, will they be able to weld on a piece of pipe to give me a bit more extension from the crossover tube so I can securely attach the end of the sportster muffler (and slide it back far enough to meet the mounting bolt point)?

Any suggestion on a shop in the Chicago area that might do this?

any muffler shop should be able to weld on a pipe. Don't ride the bike without the muffler, it will be running way too lean.

Yea, I've frequently had muffler shops deal with hacked off piping like that, They'll probably do any kind of bracket adapter you need as well. I think the last thing I had was an old Ford where the PO had hacked off the pipes behind the cat so close there wasn't anything to connect to. Paid a guy $50 cash to weld on a chunk of pipe, weld on a muffler, and add a couple brackets. Shouldn't be a big deal.

bountyhunter wrote: any muffler shop should be able to weld on a pipe. Don't ride the bike without the muffler, it will be running way too lean.

Well, I've got to ride it home (and to the muffler shop apparently).

Anything I can do to lessen this? The muffler that was on there was super open and with the air mix screws out about 2 turns (maybe 2.5-3) I was still getting occasional popping on deceleration which makes me think it was rich.

well, if it was running rich before, you may have fixed the problem. Guess that really comes down to what kind of jetting the previous owner did when he started messing with the exhaust. Definitely be careful though, running lean can cause overheating and detonation issues. Personally, if it was within a couple miles, I probably wouldn't worry about riding it to the shop, but I certainly wouldn't go riding all over town under lean conditions.

ottothecow wrote:

bountyhunter wrote: any muffler shop should be able to weld on a pipe. Don't ride the bike without the muffler, it will be running way too lean.

Well, I've got to ride it home (and to the muffler shop apparently).

Anything I can do to lessen this? The muffler that was on there was super open and with the air mix screws out about 2 turns (maybe 2.5-3) I was still getting occasional popping on deceleration which makes me think it was rich.

Popping on decel is ALWAYS A LEAN CONDITION, although it seems like it should be the other way around. Probably OK for a short trip.

Can you explain why this is? It seems like it would be the other way (too much fuel to combust so it ends up igniting again in the exhaust where it finds more air) and I have had people tell me both.

Any idea what a shop would charge to extend my headers? If its too much, wouldn't it just make more sense to buy the MAC exhaust which should just bolt on rather than buying some mufflers and paying someone to extend the headers?

ottothecow wrote: Can you explain why this is? It seems like it would be the other way (too much fuel to combust so it ends up igniting again in the exhaust where it finds more air) and I have had people tell me both.

Any idea what a shop would charge to extend my headers? If its too much, wouldn't it just make more sense to buy the MAC exhaust which should just bolt on rather than buying some mufflers and paying someone to extend the headers?

I got a set of old but servicable MAC pipes on ebay for about $100. If you are keeping the bike to ride it would likely be worth the investment in a set of pipes.

ottothecow wrote: Can you explain why this is? It seems like it would be the other way (too much fuel to combust so it ends up igniting again in the exhaust where it finds more air) and I have had people tell me both.

www.ehow.com/facts_7980825_carburetor-popping.html

Fuel To Air Mixture Is Too Lean

Too much air and not enough fuel causes backfires to occur in the intake manifold. The exploding mixture then vents through the carburetor. Improper carburetor adjustments or vacuum leaks can cause this condition.

Well, I won some sportster mufflers on ebay and they should come tomorrow or friday.

We'll see how hard it is to get all these parts lined up.

Additional question:

Is there any reason I can't just ask the muffler shop to make new headers?

Is there something special about the stock headers that I should keep? Otherwise it doesn't seem like it should cost much more to put 2-3 bends in a longer piece of pipe (but maybe it will cost a lot).