KZ440 single muffler exhaust?

I recently got a good price on a dual into single exhaust off a parts bike, little rust on the exhaust. I am wondering why did Kawasaki put a single exhaust muffler on a two cylinder engine. Any benefits? What year bikes had this? Any problem with this type of exhaust? I am planning on putting it on my 1982 440 which has pods and shorties. the bike runs great, but I do notice some popping which I guess is from being too lean. I am hoping this exhaust will provide some back pressure and richen things up a bit and quiet it down for my early morning work departure. Thoughts?

I thought all the stock Kawi exhaust systems on their twin cylinder bikes were 2 into 2 style?

The 2-1 systems are aftermarket.

The stock systems have better low end power and torque than the 2-1, but the 2-1 can make a bit more power at higher revs. Also a lot louder than stock.

Bountyhunter is correct. Kawasaki did not put a single exhaust muffler your bike. Stock system would be 2 into 2. Ed

bountyhunter wrote: I thought all the stock Kawi exhaust systems on their twin cylinder bikes were 2 into 2 style?

The 2-1 systems are aftermarket.

The stock systems have better low end power and torque than the 2-1, but the 2-1 can make a bit more power at higher revs. Also a lot louder than stock.

bountyhunter,
Is there any way to compensate for the loss of torque and low end with adjusting something else like adding pod filters or something?

Also Tim,
Any help on what the 2-1 exhaust is on your bike? I'm looking for one myself!

Cheers!

A single muffler system will likely be much lighter than the factory system, too.

Going from a stock air box to pod filters will also aid the top end at the expense of low and mid range power. For best low and mid-range power, the stock setup is hard to beat.,to regain power there and to take advantage of the lower restriction intake and exhaust, engine mods will be needed.

ive got a 81 kz440 and it came with 2 into one from PO. it seams like the left side pipe doesn't get as hot as the right side

Richard, what do you mean by PO? I'm struggling to find much of a lead for any kz440 specific exhaust or header parts...

previous owner. And as far as I can tell they came stock. At least on the ltd. also what rejet kit did you use to run pods?

76 KZ400S (and maybe a 75 or 77 as well) came from the factory with a 2-into-1 exhaust. Since the motor is a 360 crank, 2-into-1 works well (not good on a 180 crank twin), and it is cheaper and lighter, and thus way faster. :laugh:

Actually, the factory one was purely for cost savings, and was not well designed (unless they discovered some secret about making the exhaust take a bunch of 90 degree turns) . The left side pipe made a right angle turn and then intersected the right side pipe at nearly 90 degrees. That can't be good.

However, we were successful at getting a good jetting with the 2-into-1 and running pod filters on that 400. The muffler was very restrictive, so we cut out one or two of the baffles (and left the other ones in). The Keihin piston-slide CV's are complicated but work well, and there's no $100 diaphragm to dry rot. It ran great, and had the characteristics TexasKZ mentioned. Started first kick even with a dead battery (we never had a good battery in it as the S model has no electric starter).

A well-designed aftermarket 2-into-1 would probably be better than the stock one.