Help!!need For Speed

[camoman54]

I am new to the forums and looking for some advice that i am sure i can find here. Last year i purchased a 2002 vlx 600 off a friend for a smoking deal. Now it is time to step up the performance a little bit but i need help. I am wondering how to get the best sound, and overall performance out of the bike without breaking the bank. i have been looking into various pipes but am not sure to buy new, or to drill out my baffels. I am also looking to get better speed out of the bike all he way through. Is it really worth the money in this bike, can i really get that much more preformance out of her?

[mcvierh]

tuned pipes sound better than drilled pipes, yes. now you know what to do Noob.....

[anderpipe]

You don't have to spend much in order to get better sound and performance but you got to be able to do it yourself. My exhaust cost me about 6 bucks for the bent tubing for the tips and 40 for the wrap the rest was cut from the stock pipes. the jet kit was 45. cone filter 12 moving the pickups free. My bike sounds great and runs geat at least I think so and thats all that matters. But if you want a super fast bike the 600 probably isn't for you. Mine gets up faster than the cars around me and tops at 95 which is all I need to kill myself. Good Luck.

[camoman54]

thanks, however would drilling my baffles out not be a good choice. I have seen some videos and it didnt sound to bad, atleast through my speakers. Also would doing this hurt the bikes performance

[mcvierh]

You don't want to "just drill the pipes out"....you want to use a hole saw and completely remove the baffles...no this will not hurt your bike, and it will def improve the sound, but you will have to adjust the mixture screws to enrich the mixture to compensate for the lack of back pressure.....that is a must., altho you don't have to adjust the screws and still tool down the road but you bike won't run like it should and when you decel it'll pop....a lot....

[camoman54]

About how far do i turn the mixture, and in which direction?

[mcvierh]

depending on if you have a single carb or dual carbs....it;s a little more diffucult with dual carbs but not bad....ok for a single carb turn the mixture screw slowly counter clockwise and count...this is important...count the # of turns, do it gently until it lightly seats....this is closed...now turn the same # of turns clockwise, this is basically your zero point for how it was before the holesaw mod, now turn it a quarter turn clockwise and ride it around the block getting some speed and decel hard...if it pops turn another quarter turn, repeat the block thing, quarter turn thing till no more decel popping....if dual carbs do the same thing to both carbs...find your zero and start from there doing both cylinders at once/..that is to say do both sides at the same time....until no popping listen close to which cylinder pops and if both then do both carbs...if just one just do that...with dual carbs the one on your right as your sitting on the bike is the front cylinder....you figure out what the one on the left is for....read 2 posts down ....the one titled "getting a lot of popping"....

[camoman54]

Thanks a lot brother, will try this mod tomorow, is there any other things i should know or be aware of before this?

[anderpipe]

Another choice you have is to just cut off the mufflers instead of drilling out the baffles if you like the shorty look. you would also be removing the supports but after the cut they are light enough to hold up on their own. heres a pic of what mine looked like with just the mufflers cut off.

[camoman54]

Thanks for the pic, looks nice but i think i want to keep the mufflers.Need to know what size holesaw for a 02' shadow vlx 600 to drill them out. I bought a 1 7/8" bit but it fits pretty snug inside the opening. Do i want it to be right on the inner wall of the muffler or inside the weld?

[mcvierh]

if the holesaw slips into the pipe without having to wiggle it in with a bit of force then your all right.....use at least a 1/2" chucked drill with at least 3-500 rpm as the hole saw is bi-metal and works best at those RPM's....a lot of 1/2"drills are rated at 4-500 RPMs and also if you can swing it use a drill with a handle on it as when the holesaw goes on a skew it'll feel like your wrists gonna snap of...just take it slow and steady ,don't force the bit and it won't hurt you....

[anderpipe]

Since I havn't done this I'm not exactly sure but you want to cut the weld so that the baffle is free to come out. hope that helps. Good Luck

[camoman54]

Seems to fit perfect, but it looks like i have to take the top pipe off i dont think i can fit the drill under it

[Ghost_Rider]

Seems to fit perfect, but it looks like i have to take the top pipe off i dont think i can fit the drill under it

The correct holesaw size is 1 3/4". You will need arbor extension to drill the front pipe. Both pipe is connected, you can't separate them. What I did was bought a long 'T' wrench that can fit the holesaw bit perfectly, then cut off the 'T' handle.

After removing the rear baffle, the bike will run leaner at the iddle circuit, which will give you pops during deceleration. You have to turn the Air/Fuel mixture screw COUNTER CLOCKWISE to richen it, not clockwise (closing). 1/4 turn at a time then do a test ride until it stop popping. Occasional pops is fine.

[camoman54]

GreaT THANKS FOR THE INFO, IM GOING TO ATTEMPT THIS TOMORROW. YOU GUYS ARE A HUGE HELP!

[ekozy1]

I did the holesaw mod on my bike before I got rid of my stockers and never had to adjust anything. It ran perfectly fine.

If you want a pipe that makes your bike sound badass, go to scootworks.com and get the Viper exhaust for your bike. I put that on mine, took the endcap and baffles out, and it sounds identical to my dad's VTX. It's loud as shit, makes it sound like a small block V8, and DEFINITELY doesn't sound like a little 600 anymore.

[camoman54]

Not a douche bag after all ( Sorry abut that bro, just not what i wanted to hear). Thats awsome though, didnt have to make any adjustments!!!! How did you get under your top pipe? Did you do what Ghost said?

[ekozy1]

I had an extension long enough to reach into the pipe, and I just kept working at it. I never had to remove anything. If you've got the right extension and a hammer drill, you'll be fine. It's a tight fit, and it will seem lots harder than the other pipe, but you'll get it. It's a nice mod to make your bike louder for next to nothing....until you can get new pipes.

I've been meaning to get a video of my bike with the new exhaust, but the video camera I have won't let me transfer video from the disc to the computer.....P.O.S.

[anderpipe]

Just take the pipes off already. It takes like 5 minutes. Work smarter not harder. Good luck.

[ekozy1]

Just take the pipes off already. It takes like 5 minutes. Work smarter not harder. Good luck.

I'm lazy.....what can I say.

[Palmviewrider]

Just take the pipes off already. It takes like 5 minutes. Work smarter not harder. Good luck.

not that your bike doesnt look badass, but the long shiny ass chrome pipes, cut them off.......it'd be like cutting off 2 of my fingers.......

to each their own

I just got my 2007 600 a month ago. I want to make my bike louder also, one of these days, to me the drilling out method sounds like the way to go for people who want to keep the long cool ass pipes on, you need like a drill, holesaw, extension, sweatrags, cold beer and thats it.......you guys are good teachers

hey anderpipe, I got some pictures of my bike, and since I'm a dumbass noob, I have no idea how to get my pictures down to the specs to not recieve the "Your picture is too damn big, try again" message......how you do it with the whats it called the photo, man its too early......let me drink some more coffee.....my 600 is maroon, or thats what I call the color. I put some saddle bags, with some embroidered red flames, and the backrest and windshield that goes with the 600......I love my bike haahaaa

oh, and one guy says turn the mixture screw clockwise, and another says turn it counter clockwise
Its because one lives south of the equator, and the other lives north of the equator, damn old school veteran bikers a noob would have never messed up on mixture screw instructions!!

[anderpipe]

not that your bike doesnt look badass, but the long shiny ass chrome pipes, cut them off.......it'd be like cutting off 2 of my fingers.......
to each their own

I wasn't telling him to cut his off just to take them off to do the holesaw mod. But I do say the less chrome the better a bikes for ride'n and with chrome the more you ride the more your clean. I'd rather just use some stainless steal and shine it up anyways.

To me chrome is like flames and crosses everyone's got'em but like you said to each is own.

As far as the pics go just open the pics in paint or whatever editing program you got and resize it till its small enough then save it under a differant name so you don't fuck up the original (unless you don't want to keep it) then use that pic to download. It took some playin around for me to figure it out. Good luck.

[Palmviewrider]

I do get a little tired of cleaning the chrome all the time, but I dont have a mirror in my house, so I use the air filter cover to see myself

I'd probably do some radical stuff to my bike to if I knew how, and wasnt afraid :no: to mess something up. I wish I could hear what your bike sounds like with all the work you did to your pipes (what about youtube, we could hear them pipes on there right). Honestly, I had never seen some pipes like that, when they were black and wrapped up and stuff, looked like they had just got back from Iraq or somethin
The drilling just seems easier, I'm just speaking for myself of course, but you seem to have some rare McGyver skills
600's rule

Oh the pics I finally got one up in my gallery, but unfortunately it doesnt enlarge when you click on the part that says click here to enlarge, maybe some Viagra would help

[anderpipe]

Yea the guys at work call it my mad max bike. There are plenty of good how to's on here that anybody could follow plus anything that you can screw up someone can fix so I say fuck it just do it and it will work out. I still don't know much about motorcycles I'm just learnin as I go. I'm glad there are getting to be more 600's on here its a great base bike for mods. I'll try and see if I can get some video of the pipes poppin but I like doin the work more than showin it so it might be a while for that.

Well just pic a mod and do it and you'll be hooked. It's all downhill from there.

[shadowchaser]

That's fucking ballsy...buying a new bike and cutting the cigars of a $700 exhaust system! You could have sold the things to me for $400 and bought some Cobras. My wife just high-sided her 2001 VLX and needs new pipes. Good luck with the rest of that project, and post some pics of finished exhausts.