I'm sure this has been covered (time and time again) but I'm ordering a Mac exhaust for my old IOM bike (now Atl. bike) and I would like to hear comments from others who have used these pipes. Also, what else do I need when I take these off? Any gaskets, clamps, bolts that tend to break off after 30 years of use, spacers, etc. that aren't supplied with the pipes?
I'd like to hear other's experiences before I start the project so I can gather everything I need beforehand.
art
Start the headpipe bolts straight. Macs leave no room for error, & some have had to adjust the mounting flanges slightly. replace all the gaskets now. coat every bolt in anti-sieze, replace the chrome thick rings if there is any sign of flame cutting & be sure the Y pipe (which will get reused) is in good shape. retighten everything after the first ride & probably a few rides afterwards.
I've had mine on for a long time , but it seems like they gave a bit more mid range. There a bit louder , but then the stockers sound like ( wait for it!) a Hoover with a head cold) I removed the rear wheel , to install them. This gave much improved access and visibility.
:) I've done a few of these and they are, for the most part, a pretty easy fit.
I would buy:
1 x set (4) of exhaust manifold gaskets.
8 x M6x1.0 x 25mm Soc' head cap screws.
2 x M6x1.0 x 45mm Soc' head cap screws
Anti-seize
Strip out all of the old exhaust unit...
The front exhaust gaskets are there for you to see, once you have removed the front pipes of your old exhaust. (They go between the front pipe flange and the cylinder head). You need to remove these and clean the area of old gasket material, etc. The rear ones are a PITA!!!...as you have to remove the two chrome manifolds that the 'Y' pipe goes in to...This is made easier by removing the battery/battery box & the TCI/over flow bottle....unless you have reeeeeeal tiny hands!!! Again, remove the two gaskets and any gunk. To hold the new gaskets in place I use a smear of red RTV on each one.
I never reuse old nuts/bolts/washers, etc, as the local OnROV will tell you!! I use S.S. replacements and anti-seize. I think the four front and four rear manifold screws are M6 x 25mm Soc' head cap screws and the two exhaust clamps are M6 x 40/45mm Soc' head cap screws. ( 1.0 coarse pitch)
To install, start at the front and work back. (A jack will help hold the rear pipe/'Y' pipe in place). Put it all together 'not quite finger tight'...this will allow you to adjust as you go. Once you are happy with it, start at the front and nip it all up...and again... from the front back, tighten everything up tight...Start her up and check for any leaks...VOILA!!!
8) ....... TIGER ....... 8)
Thanks guys. This will make the job go much easier I'm sure.
The IOM bike is an '82 with the flapper valve airbox. It's always had the "Vision Stumble" but I've always just lived with it. I've never rejetted the carbs at all.
Will I need to rejet with the Mac pipes or will that make the mixture leaner and the stumble worse? And if I need to rejet, which jets, (there's what, 4 different jets you can change?) what sizes, etc? I should mention that I'm using a non stock aircleaner. It's some sort of foam but the base looks like the stock one. I don't know if it leans out the engine or not.
nope, no rejetting required.
for the stumble, double check your synq, pilot settings & you can also slightly adjust the nounting on the flapper door (the holes are slotted)
I cant speak to the MACS, but removing my exhaust was rather tricky. It had most likely had been on the bike since new and the bolts were seized up.
I got them off with a lot of Pblaster ( a penetrating lube ) and an impact wrench.
The hex bolts had stripped out. So i took the impact hammer, and a Torx bit and used that to get them out.
Quote from: Lucky on February 16, 2012, 12:34:40 PM
nope, no rejetting required.
for the stumble, double check your synq, pilot settings & you can also slightly adjust the nounting on the flapper door (the holes are slotted)
What am I supposed to adjust about the flapper door? Just make sure it's all the way closed, or is there a way to change when it opens. I always assumed it opened when the manifold pressure dropped (when the carb butterflys open.) Is that true or not?
You can have some effect on the flapper door by moving the vacuum actuator and linkage, the ones that I have all appear to be adjusted to where the flapper door just touches the rubber stop with no vacuum applied. Rubber stop keeps flapper from total closure by 3 mm. BDC
The door is vacume operated.
you can adjust a non vaccum flapper by adding weight to it... adding two nickles will slow it's opening
Artbone here is just a suggestion to check sometime. You might try two revolutions (complete turns on the threads) on your accelerator pump rod (shortening the rod and advancing the spray initialization) just to see if it helps with the hesitation. If no change then just put it back. Ideally you should just clear the throttle plate on actuation, but I had a set of carbs in which the rod was too long and changing the rod length in small amounts then road testing, actually cured the problem.
You can pop out the rod end and do it on the bike by holding the threaded portion with pliers and rotating the male end by hand. Ideally it should have some thread locking compound on it afterwards just to make sure it does not move.
The MACs don't require any changes to tuning. Personally I added a custom made baffle pack to mine to cut down on noise, but keep the pure sound prominent. I reduced the output opening to 3/4 inch, rather than the 1 inch stock. I found a bit more back pressure greatly improves gas mileage and mid-range.
The bike is at my friend's house in GA and I came up to work on it last weekend. When I arrived he had pulled the old pipes off but hadn't opened any boxes to see if the new pipes had arrived. Sure enough, no pipes. I called Mac and the pipes are backordered. PITA.
Anyone have a set of Macs they want to sell?
I've just spent 2 days working on the IOM Vision. My buddy David pulled the exhaust off before I got there so, with no pipes, I figured I would work on the stuff I had in hand and let David put the new pipes on when they arrived. I pulled the starter and replace the seal and brush plate, cleaned everything up and put it back together. It was much easier without the ex pipes in the way and up on a lift table.
Then I pulled the gas tank and refilled with new fuel, drained the float bowls, and made sure the petcock was working. Next I pulled the front brake apart and cleaned the grung off the piston, put a little new brake fluid in the bore and pressed the piston back in, drained the master cylinder, and bled the system. It works fine now, instead of the front brake dragging.
Then we pulled the right sidecover and replaced the clutch with a complete Barnett unit, springs, steel plates, friction plates, and all. Easy peasy except getting the chrome water lines apart. After that, it as no problem.
Then I put the petcock on prime a few minutes, put the choke on, and fired her up. It cranked and ran in about 10 seconds. With no pipes it sounded pretty wild. I let it run about 2 minutes and shut it down. No oil or water leaks so I'm pleased.
So, 2 days, about 12 hours for 2 guys and I'm about ready to ride. David is going to put the pipes on and install a fuel filter and I'm going to come over a day early before Barbers and ride this beast to find the bugs. I'm excited.
Old Bike Barn has the pipes listed but I ordered them and they don't have them in stock so I canceled the order. I'm sure they just drop ship them from Mac.
Not a Mac but cheap...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-YAMAHA-XZ550RJ-XZ550-XZ-550-RJ-550RJ-VISION-EXHAUST-PIPE-11H-AFTERMARKET-/280807832141?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4161737a4d&vxp=mtr (http://www.ebay.com/itm/1982-YAMAHA-XZ550RJ-XZ550-XZ-550-RJ-550RJ-VISION-EXHAUST-PIPE-11H-AFTERMARKET-/280807832141?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4161737a4d&vxp=mtr)
when you pull that right cover your supposed to replace the oil sel in the cover (good idea after 30 years anyway) did you replace yours? iirc, it feeds the main oil gallery...
I saw that exhaust system on ebay and would have bought it if the guy would have at least painted it. I think I would rather wait a few weeks and get a new part instead of bolting some rusty, bent-up, homemade POS on my bike. I mean, the bike looks pretty rough anyway; why make it worse.
And, no, I didn't change the oil seal. To tell the truth, I didn't even see the oil seal. I didn't have my manual with me so was just working blind, so to speak. I think the bike has an oil light and, when it cranked, all the lights went out except the neutral so I'll have to assume it is okay. I'll pick up a new seal before I head to Barbers. Now that I've taken the cover off it will be easy to do the next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time.)
Rikugun, did you get my message about the picture of the black Vision with the dual projector beam headlights? I want a better look at the seat. I have a seat with a torn cover that I want to make into a monoposto seat.
Are there any alternatives to the MAC exhaust system? I'm getting tired of waiting for them to get some made. Or does anyone have one they would like to sell?
Quote from: artbone on April 10, 2012, 10:11:42 AM
Are there any alternatives to the MAC exhaust system? I'm getting tired of waiting for them to get some made. Or does anyone have one they would like to sell?
well you can do it the ghetto fab way, the way the p.o. did it on mine. they just cut the mac tailpipes of of a different bike, cut the stock tailpipes off the vision, then weld the mac pipes on in their place.....id rather wait though
Well, here it is 2 months since my last post and I still don't have pipes. I checked the Mac website yesterday and they don't list pipes for any Yamaha. I called and spoke to a woman who said they were working on the website and they were still planning to stock the pipes. Also that they would be in in "two or three week."
Hummmm, have I heard that before?
Art
There are less and less Visions out there , that will need pipes. I'm amazed that MAC will still make them . I'm sure there either waiting for a lull in production of more popular pipes , or for enough orders to come in , to justify a short production run.
I lucked out on ,y acquisition of MAC pipes. The first set I bought from Ron Ghetti in 1999. He considered them too loud and a bit crude. I considered them an improvement over stock and affordable. He ended up buying a set of Stainless steel pipes from England ( I forget the name) which cost more than I paid for my Vision.
I crashed the bike in OR and destroyed the frame ,fairing and the MAC pipes . I salvaged one baffle assy and one head pipe. A Visionary , whom I had ridden with in MN fabricated a neat exhaust system, using only the MAC right head pipe . He later sold the bike and offered me what was left of the MAC exhaust . Since I had the right head pipe , which was missing from his, I was the logical purchaser. I paid shipping cost for them.
I found a set on eBay in 2002, they were pretty rusty but usable. There my spares.
I guess the point of this dissertation is to put the stockers back on and keep looking. They will pop up. Or contact the fellow in MN and see if he has any pictures. Perhaps the seller on eBay has done his home work and knows the difficulty in finding aftermarket exhaust for the Vision.
I traded for a Vision racer and put the '83 front end on my bike ans sold most every thing else. The custom exhaust went to Blake Stoddard. He said it was louder than hell and went like stink! ( it was very rusty , but cleaned up OK) It had some tapered glass packs on it, which did little to silence it , but ran well. I might have pics some where , if there not in the archives.
When I googled the pipes I found several companies that still list them but, of course, they are all back ordered. Everyone I spoke to said that they had ordered them so there must still be a market. As you say, there are fewer and fewer Visions on the road but I would think, world-wide, still quite a few.
The noise won't bother me down here but could be a problem in the US. I guess I'll just have to start riding with Harley guys and no one will notice.
Art
A vision with MACS will drown out most Harleys!! ;D ;D ;D ;D I don't have a problem here in northern AZ.
I cool it in town (many streets have a 25 mph limit anyway) once I'm away from civilization , there's no one to hear me anyway.
i've got a set of Mac's that I had the front head pipe patched up and am gonna have to exhaust wrap them. apart from that they look just fine!
Art, I have a set of MAC's you may be interested in buddy 8) PM or email me (my email address is in 'my profile'... ;) )
8) ....... TIGER ....... 8)
im going to offer a different opinion here. i like my macs, so does Spectre. i dont think they are louder than harleys, but it depends, you can cuise semi quiet past the officer, buy if you get on it they will blap.
ss
if the cans are in good shape you can also pack/wrap them some, that helps bring them below the "harley zone" plus the need no rejetting.
As to fit? of course they will take some tweaking. none of the macs i have on Visions fit exactly the same (the 4th has a nearly stock exhaust) but that holds tru with most non manufacturer, aftermarket parts wheather it's headers on a V-8 engine or dorr skins & quarter panels. expect to have to make them fit some.
my .02
----Lucky
Art , lothepou has also just offered a set of MACS . I told you they would show up!!
I bought my NOS Macs from a reseller that I think was located in Florida. At the time he still had a few in stock. Also, about a year ago I talked to Kevin or Greg at MAC and asked about getting a replacement can for my original macs. At the time he didn't have any but they do limited runs of the from time to time and would call me when they ran another. A couple months later he called me back but I had already bought the new set. Of course, ther is ebay too and I have seen NOS macs pop up there from time to time.
David