Sooty tail pipes

Here's a question that has a MAYBE answer that baffle me (no pun meant). A kid that works at the yard where I drive out of bought a used Kawa v-twin that has carbs.. The original owner pulled the mufflers off and tossed em. We don't know if the jets or needles were touched. The pipes are very very sooty. The bike backfires like nothing I've ever heard before. Whenever he lets up on the throttle the popping is crazy. All the time. I figure that the carbs were screwed with also. Sooty means rich. A kawa tech told him its all the pipes fault. Could that be??? I realize free flowing exhaust cause inversion that will cause popping but extreme soot??? My opinion is that the carbs have been played with in order to TRY to get them jetted for the open pipes. The popping is probably from the inversion of the exhaust gases but the soot too???

My first thought is if he wants/needs to put the mufflers or new pipes on, then do that first and then worry about the carb. No point in trying to tune a carb for a temp situation. It does sound like it will need some carb attention, regardless: might as well wait till the pipe issue is addressed.

I agree but all the soot??? Definitely needs pipes replaced then the carbs checked. I am puzzled about the soot caused by the open pipes ;ike the tech claims

Sooty pipes ! sounds like shwetty balls.?

~He's ordering a set of V&H then he'll get the carbs tuned properly. Thanks all!

The carb or carbs need to be gone through and is most likely plugged pilot jets. I had this issue on my Suzuki and found one of the carbs pilot jet was the problem. Backfiring means lean, not rich. Does this bike have nasty bluing on the pipe(s) near the head? Soot can also mean that he has nasty blow by the rings.

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excessive fuel that doesn't burn in chamber will cause popping when it ignites with exhaust valve open as well as black soot in pipes as well as the black exhaust smoke. I will consider one cylinder too rich and the other to lean as possibly the cause

I can rub my finger along the inside of my drag pipes and it comes out black. My pipes are a light golden color near the heads, but not blue.

I always thought that soot was a normal thing for any exhaust system - how much is too much?

Hi Everyone I'm new to this site I'm interested in Kawasaki vaquero motorcycles


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Well, some of us have 'em, and other bikes, too. Any particular questions?

Well this old dog learned a new trick. The buddy added mufflers onto his ride and wa la ! No more popping and most amazing to me is no more black soot/smoke out of pipes. Seems problem solved. Well I'll be...

Heh, yeah a complete exhaust system does make a difference... With just the head pipes you'd have a whole lotta reversion goin' on... Intake charge would be pulled right through the exhaust valve and pop in the head pipe and you'd also have exhaust reversing and filling the combustion chamber too...The only time the bike might run right would be if you ran it WOT all the time. The mufflers help reduce the exhaust pulses from going back up the pipe and into combustion chamber.There is a formula for figuring out the correct length for drag pipes but other than WOT drag pipes suck too....

Oh, I've heard that, too, and I'm sure it's true. But there is one thing I think that is not taken into consideration, and that is weight. My bike weighs less than half of the Electra-Glide the motor was taken from. Plus I only weigh around 130 soaking wet. The correct length for drags on a stock 1200cc shovel is supposed to be 38". I cut mine to 32" mostly for looks and sound. The exhaust note is noticably deeper and I really can't detect a loss of horsepower or torque when I'm riding. I suppose that's one of the advantages of riding a lighter bike - but not everybody wants to ride a chopper.

I know that if my bike were tuned for optimum performance the drags would have to go and the ol' thang would probably scare the crap out of me LOL .

Drag pipes woud work better than head pipes with the mufflers pulled off
I thought you put lollipops in your pipes Josh...If you didn't you should try a set...They're tuneable too...lol

I experimented with a 12" set of baffles on my pipes. Didn't like 'em. Then I cut them in half for a while and then took them out completely. Only difference I noticed was that the pipes barked louder every time I shortened them ha-ha. I have a set of "lollipops" that I fabbed up years ago ( 1/4" bolt welded to a 3/4" washer) and never used - was not convinced they would make any difference . . .

And getting back to sooty pipes - Tattoo sometimes will use very high octane gas in his 103 c.i. shovel and claims that after several tankfuls his 38" homemade drag pipes look much cleaner, a sort of off-white color, and of course the bike runs like a naked ape. Disadvantage is that the gas costs around $8 a gallon .

Dang, I better get those lollipops installed quick!