Reinstall Factory Pipes- Good As New?

[yazzoo7]

Hello-

I own a '99 Spirit Shadow 1100. Approximately 5 years ago, I had an area dealer install a set of Vance and Hines pipes. When I had the install done, I was warned I "might see" a decrease in my gas mileage. That turned out to be the understatement of the year. Not only did I start seeing about 40 miles to the tank less, but the bike developed a significant backfiring problem as well. Over the years, I've had 3 different Honda dealers in the Orange County CA area take a crack at repairing the backfiring problem (Orange County Honda, LeBard and Underwood, and Huntington Beach Honda). The bike was rejetted but no attempts to repair the backfiring were completely successful. The one time I did see, or rather hear an improvement, the fix was short lived and the bike is now backfiring worse than ever (typically when decelerating from speeds of 40mph or less). I'm at my wits end. I still have the original pipes and my question is, is it possible to have those reinstalled and will the bike be back to normal or is the process irreversible?

Thanks in advance,

Joe

[Eldorado]

Don't know if you have adjusted your A/F Mixture Screws or not, but you might just want to lightly screw them in then back out 3.0 turns and see what that does, you can back out 1/4 more and try or another 1/4 but don't go over 3.50 turns, also, have you had your carbs sync'd..........

[Cbjr]

Another problem could be a faulty seal where the exhaust meets the head. If the person who installed the pipes didn't know enough to dig out the old gasket (or reused them) you may just have enough of a leak to cause the decel popping. All that you had done I would attach that next.

My '98 shadow has samson pipes and previously vance and hines classic II's and I did the rejetting and change over from stock - never once did I have to touch the idle mix screws, from how they were set (someone had taken caps out so they were adjusted at some point).

My fuel mileage is about as good as can be expected (mid/upper 40's) better than when it was stock. Absoulty no decel popping.

[yazzoo7]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. Thing is, I am "just" a rider and I leave all the maintenance-related issues to the professionals. I will pass on all of your suggestions to the next mechanic I take the bike to. One question, though, are the possible fixes mentioned time consuming and possibly what could be seen as a "pain in the ass" to a Dealer mechanic? The reason I ask is, each time I have taken the bike in to have the problem repaired, I got the feeling I was being blown off and that this was a problem the service department didn't want to get involved with. Twice I heard words to the effect, "I could charge you $400 and try and fix the backfiring but I can't guarantee you'd see any significant change and, if it were me, I would leave things as is". Easy for them to say, they don't have to deal with the problem every time they ride.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Joe

[ShadowMonster]

Originally Posted by yazzoo7

Thank you for all of the suggestions. Thing is, I am "just" a rider and I leave all the maintenance-related issues to the professionals. I will pass on all of your suggestions to the next mechanic I take the bike to. One question, though, are the possible fixes mentioned time consuming and possibly what could be seen as a "pain in the ass" to a Dealer mechanic? The reason I ask is, each time I have taken the bike in to have the problem repaired, I got the feeling I was being blown off and that this was a problem the service department didn't want to get involved with. Twice I heard words to the effect, "I could charge you $400 and try and fix the backfiring but I can't guarantee you'd see any significant change and, if it were me, I would leave things as is". Easy for them to say, they don't have to deal with the problem every time they ride.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Joe

Unfortunately as you have found "the professionals" have been of little help and seem to have no interest in helping you with aftermarket pipes, as in some rare cases it's a very illusive answer and some mechanics would rather not go on the hunt only to end up with a bad rep & POed customer if they can't find the answer.... for the sake of 6-7 bolts/nuts you can take the pipes off yourself and check for vacuum leak or even put your own stock pipes back on within an hour, it's extremely simple ... perhaps it's time to make the attempt to become semi mechanically inclined, you may be pleasantly surprised