Posted by Hackster on July 13, 2000 at 16:02:57:
The 'trapp was waiting for me when I got back in town Tuesday evening. Yesterday I set about installing it. I decided to do it without taking off the head pipe, since the new exhaust gasket hadn't come in at the local dealership yet (that damned place doesn't stock ANYTHING!). Lemme tell you, it was a royal b*tch getting the old muffler off-- I'd hoped to salvage it in case anyone wanted it to play around with, but I would up having to cut the stud bolts off and banged up the heat shield getting the thing off. But I finally managed to get it off.
Of course, first thing I found was what several folks here have complained about-- despite being "custom fit" for the Savage, the end bulge in the 'trapp is too short to accomodate the existing header pipe. So I bit the bullet, pulled the header, and took it to a local muffler shop where he cut off the end for me (and re-welded a bolt tab on the front heat shield, which had cracked when the previous owner had dropped the bike) for a grand total of ten bucks. Then went to the Suzuki dealership to check on my parts order, and voila-- the exhaust gasket had come in (but not the oil filter O-rings-- like I said, those clowns don't stock *anything*!).
Once the head pipe was cut, the 'trapp was a breeze to put on. I started with six discs and took it out for a scoot. Dang! The improved sound aside, I was amazed at the performance difference a simple exhaust change could make. So I figured if six discs were good, eight should be better. Holy cow! The "straining" feeling rolling on the throttle above 60 mph is *gone*. I hadn't honestly expected to be able to tell too much difference in power from just the exhaust change, but it's truly amazing. That was confirmed this morning when a buddy who had ridden it last week (before the swap) rode it with the new pipe-- he could hardly believe it.
I'm now gun-shy about messing with the carb. After I put the 'trapp on, I went to pull the lid off the carb to get at the spacer, and immediately stripped the head on the first of the four lid screws. They must have used loctite when they put it on. So I abandoned the spacer removal for awhile. I still want to drill out the plug for the pilot screw, but I'm afraid the screw itself might be thread-locked too and that the head will strip if I try to adjust it. Someone else here (Jim?) mentioned that had happened to him. Frankly, the bike's running so great now that I may just leave it as-is for awhile.
At any rate, as others have said, the 'trapp makes an *amazing* performance improvement on this bike (not the mention the testosterone-drenched rumble it adds!). Most definitely worth the two hundred bucks it cost. The highway bar (also from Dennis Kirk) ought to be in by tomorrow, and I'll post a report when it's installed.
Cheers, and KTRSD.
John