Exhaust issue. Can't seem to find answers

I recently aquired my first bike, KZ550 LTD. It needs a little love but I'm into the idea so I can learn. Anyway... The jets need to drilled but first I need to get my exhaust figured out. The guy who had it before me cut the exhaust so there is no muffler and I hate how it sounds. I can't seem to find any info on if I can just buy a muffler and have it put in place, or if I need a whole new exhaust. Again... I'm pretty new to this whole thing so go easy on me haha

those look like the original exhaust/mufflers....u will need to find the back part only. they come apart from the middle.
or buy a complete header system and remove your existing exhaust.

cmsuter wrote: Anyway... The jets need to drilled but first I need to get my exhaust figured out.

...You definitely need to get the exhaust squared away first.

...But, why do you think you need to drill your jets? Number one, do not drill your jets. Replace them with new step calibrated jets. Does the bike still have the stock filter and air box? Seeing the exhaust, probably not. You need to decide if you're going to go back to stock parts, then you'd want the original stock jetting. If you decide to go header and pods, you'll definitely need to re-jet.

...Whichever way you decide to go, you'll get plenty of answers to your question from the good people here at KZR.

The po also cut the muffler stay. The stock mufflers were welded in place, so you're probably going to have to make another cut so that new can be clamped on --- probably behind the muffler cover.

Dunstall replica mufflers are available at various on-line places. JC Whitney, JP Cycles, etc.
Emgo & Helix Racing are a couple of brands.

HELIX RACING UNIVERSAL MEGAPHONE MUFFLER --- 20" L

HELIX RACING UNIVERSAL DUNSTALL TYPE EXHAUST MUFFLER ---26" L
Verner-650's bike w Dunstall Replica cone style --- I'm not sure exactly which ones he got.

As stated by KraZyRIDER - do NOT drill the jets. If you find they are not the correct size replace them with proper jets. Ed

TK jet availability & drilling info is provided at the motorcycle stuff page by loudhvx. TK-22 Jets

That pipe mod is all wrong, it needs some sort of tailipe after the collector. if you made it about a foot longer and maybe experiment with the lengths a bit it could work.

If you are keeping the airbox and have slide carbs then probably a needle height clip adjustment and maybe up one size on the main jets might be all you need to do..

correct me if I'm wrong but I have read that no one makes replacement jets for these bikes of different sizes, I have that TK-22 Carbs page actually bookmarked already because I was under the impression that they needed to be drilled.

The stock airbox is gone and I am running pods.

See:

home.comcast.net/~loudgpz/GPZweb/TK22mai...tKit/TK22jetKit.html

^that is awesome. I appreciate that. Why is it such a bad idea to redrill the jets? I have already bought the drill bits needed for it. Also the kit that is recommended say it's for an 80-82KZ550 LTD, mine is an '83. Does that matter?

It's pretty much impossible to drill jets with any real level of precision. According to the diagrams at www.dealercostparts.com the '82 and '83 carbs use the same jets. Ed

1983
www.dealercostparts.com/pages/oemparts#/...50-C4-1983/080122I-8

1982
www.dealercostparts.com/pages/oemparts#/...50-C3-1982/080122C-8

I just ordered a set of mini drill bits. Thanks Martin for pointing me in the right direction. In the day we were able to fine tune our jets by going 1/2 increments. If too big we could just solder the openings and start over. Back then the drill cards were very expensive and hard to find. Not now. I also found left handed drills but at $300, I think I'll just order a few locally. Jets can be drilled, you just need to know what you are doing and have extra jets to play with.
Steve