Looking for new exhaust suggestions

[Jaymerica]

Hey all,
Sorry for the rather newb sounding thread, but I've looked through the forum and haven't been able to find what I'm looking for.

I have a mint '81 650 Special II that I've only owned for a few months, but I love it. The only bone I have to pick is that I could use some more oomph out of the exhaust note. I ride with a lot of Harley owners, and although I am not looking for something that loud, it would be nice to have an exhaust that isn't completely drowned out by them.

I have the stock head pipe and muffler and am wondering what folks would suggest for something that's louder and better sounding. Should I be changing the head pipes and the muffler? Or could I get away with just replacing the muffler? I have looked at some of the systems on Mikes XS, but does anyone have any clips of nice sounding pipes?

Also, what am I going to have to do to the carbs if I do end up replacing all or part of the exhaust system?

Thanks!

 

[PickleSlice]

I just put some Pandemonium Ya Mama straight pipes on my build-in-progress and it sounds like heaven.

Here's how they look on the bike.

 

[Jaymerica]

Wow! That sounds mean! I like it!
However, because my bike is so mint and very stock, I'd rather not mess too much with the stock look. In addition, that sound might be a little too aggro for what I'm looking for. If that is a 10/10, I'm looking for something 7-8/10.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[CDNTX650]

Mikes commando system sounds great. Not super loud. But better Than stock and much deeper.

 

[PickleSlice]

You mentioned riding with Harleys, and that's what you need to compete with Harleys

That being said, if mine was mint, I wouldn't put those on either. Maybe some 2 into 2's with shorty mufflers would be more what your looking for?

 

[CDNTX650]

Or straight through cones like the cone engineering ones dime city sells. My triumph scrambler has an arrow that's barely baffled.....

 

[tonyc]

How about Cherry Bombs on stock pipes.

 

[jetmechmarty]

You'll probably find the stock pipes perform better than anything you replace them with. Store them carefully and go make noise. You'll want them back, or whoever you sell the bike to will want them. The Harley crowd is happy to trade torque and horsepower for obnoxious noise.

 

[CDNTX650]

Pretty much. They sound bad and perform the same on a street bike when straight through. But I do like good Ole glass packs and commando style pipes. Mikes ones a pretty baffled mechanically still. So I bet they perform quite well. In all honesty after having an oem set and my commandos I wouldn't go back to the oem.

 

[nj1639]

OEM on the '78 here and you know how they sound.
Commandos with aftermarket single wall headers on my '77 Standard Roadster and they sound good, a better rumble than the oem ......good all day long with a half helmet.
The loudest, but not raspy and annoying, are the Dunstall reverse cone 27" on my '83. They are the ones that let the deer know to get out of the way. Best to wear a full bucket on yer head for long rides......though on short rides I'll wear a half helmet and enjoy the sound.

 

[Royboy]

The loudest, but not raspy and annoying, are the Dunstall reverse cone 27" on my '83. They are the ones that let the deer know to get out of the way. Best to wear a full bucket on yer head for long rides......though on short rides I'll wear a half helmet and enjoy the sound.

Agreed, of the systems I've tried, the Dunstall Wide Mouth Replicas as sold by Mikes XS are the loudest that still sound good to my ear. And yes, if you care about your hearing, you'll want to wear hearing protection.

roy

 

[Bensonsdad]

Go to wrenchjohns post, then follow the link to the clip of my brothers XS2 with custom made copies of early 70s Dunstalls - arguably the best sounding twin I`ve ever heard

 

[fredintoon]

- - - I have a mint '81 650 Special II that I've only owned for a few months, but I love it. The only bone I have to pick is that I could use some more oomph out of the exhaust note. - - -

Hi Jay,
your bike's exhaust is all welded together, it only comes apart at the join in the crossover tube and it's kinda complicated inside.
Trying to saw off the mufflers and adding slip-ons will most likely wreck the stock system.
No expense spared option:-
Buy a complete aftermarket system and carefully save the stockers for resale or for when you change your mind.
Mr. Bodger's no-cost fix:-
Use a BFH to drive a length of pointy re-bar up the stock exhaust to punch out the baffle at the inner end of each muffler.
After my son heard how mine sounded he wanted his done, too.
Are you sure? I asked, because there's no backsies once you've done it.
Yes! I WANT it!
That was a while back and OK, perhaps you can get back from it.
Make a sheet metal 3-legged disk like a milking stool that'll just fit inside the muffler's central tube and tap it in there with a BFH and the blunt end of the pointy bar until it hangs up on the busted-off weld that held the original baffle in.
That should work but I ain't changing mine, I love the way it sounds now.

 

[lakeview]

You will never out noise the Harley crew so why not celebrate your bike's more civil aspect?

 

[650mark]

I've installed MikesXS "dunstall" mufflers #07-0774 on several of my otherwise all stock XS650's. used the original stock headpipes and the mufflers fit right on with no issues and sounded terrific. everywhere I rode those bikes the first thing I'd hear when I parked them was "man those pipes sound great"! I never had a single problem with any of them even after 4,000 miles on 2 of the bikes. plus they look really nice

 

[5twins]

On your stock exhaust, the muffler and headpipe are welded together. To replace just the muffler, you would have to saw off the old one, and there's no going back to the original set-up after that. If you have a mint stock exhaust, I wouldn't do that. Those are hard to come by and will be worth big bucks some day, if they're not already. Replace the whole system and save the complete mint original.

To answer your carb question, yes, some minor re-jetting will probably be needed. Your bike came with the BS34s which were set up rather lean from the factory, even for a totally stock machine. As long as your change is limited to just a not too radical exhaust, like I said, jetting changes should be minor. One size up on the mains may be all that's needed. That will cost less than $10 and can be done with the carbs still on the bike (just remove the float bowls).

 

[Jaymerica]

Hey guys. Thanks for all the info. I now realize I'll have to replace the entire system. For the record, I'm not trying to out-do the Harley owners, rather just give my bike a little more oomph. I love the sound of the parallel twin and don't want to be as obnoxious as the HD guys. Just a little more throat and volume is all I'm after. Thanks again!

 

[XSLeo]

Not all HD guys are stupid enough to just slap on drag pipes. I'm one of them. I have a set of Screaming Eagle baloney cut mufflers on mine. I run a home made air cleaner housing. It took some carb tuning but it runs much better than stock.
It's a bit louder than stock but can outperform most bikes that have drag pipes on them.
On the 75 XS650 I run a short Emgo megaphone muffler on homemade head pipes. It did sound a bit tinny with XS650 carbs, BS38's as well as BS34's. With the EX500 carbs the tininess went away and the tone deepened. Sound good.
I don't have sound bite to listen too.
Leo