Hi Hub

well, room temperature is likely close to the same across an entire room, unless extenal factors like an open window or a localized heating or cooling duct are at play. I can't agree that air pressure remains the same over an entire moving motorcyle, there are areas of lower pressure and areas of higher pressure arising from the motion of the bike. For example, why the heck are most motorcycle engine radiators mounted down low in front of the motor, getting baked in exhaust heat? Much better to design to take advantage of areas of low pressure, put them up in the tail like John Britten did, or on the sides, like Honda did with the RC 51.

I don't know how well the Kawasaki ram air design works, or doesn't work. All I do know in that regard is that stuff that seems to work well in the artificial world of the dyno does not always translate well to the real world. I understand the fellow at Brock's will provide you a map that works really well on the dyno, while telling you he also has a much better map for drag or street riding, and that makes perfect sense to me.

My next question relates to the stock header and its catalytic convertor. I have another spare 08 header on my bench at the moment, and have been wondering about the best way to remove the catalytic convertor cartridge? The header material is strongly magnetic, but so is some types of stainless steel. I was thinking about using a band saw to cut the collector off the header to make it easy to get the cat out, then weld the collector back on. Has anyone figured out what material the header is made of? Has anyone taken the cat out of the stock header without cutting the header open? I was also thinking about just getting a hammer and pointy rod and start bashing the cat apart, but am not sure if I could then get it all out?

Paul

* Last updated by: laverda1200 on 8/15/2009 @ 5:35 PM *

Paul, if all else fails use a BFH!

I wanted to eliminate the cat from my '08, so I got an '06 headder assembly. I discovered that the only difference in the size is the two nipples where the mid pipes attach. The OD of the nipples on the '06 is about .25mm smaller than the ones on the '08. What's interesting is that the muffler can connections are the same on the '06 and '08, and the same size as my Muzzy slip ons. The gasket for the '06 is .125mm thicker than the one for the '08. I'm thinking that although the nipples are a little smaller it's not as much flow restriction as the cat inside the '08 headder. I'm wanting to get rid of the cat because of heat and exhaust gas restriction rather than just to get rid of the catalytic function. I had the '06 headder ceramic coated to contain heat too.
But I would like to know how difficult it is to remove the cat. I druther not have the restriction.

* Last updated by: Sharkey on 8/15/2009 @ 10:01 PM *

I found some threads on a couple of other ZX 14 forums about removing the cat from the 08 header. The theme seemed to be to shred it up and bash it out with long drills and/or screwdrivers, with people reporting it took a few hours to do.

I don't have an issue with the cats function, and I don't think it is even particularly restrictive, but the sucker hits over 800 degrees just to function, directly under the engines oil sump, and I would like to remove that source of heat.

on my various vintage racing bikes I have the headers and collector ceramic coated, then heat tape wrap them, to retain the exhaust heat and aid in exhaust flow. For that matter, I typically have the piston tops, valve faces, combustion chambers, and exhaust ports all ceramic coated when I build a motor, but I haven't pulled my ZX 14 apart yet.

Sometimes getting a bigger hammer is the way to go, but as I have to weld an O2 sensor mounting bung into the collector anyway, I am thinking if I have the TIG welder out for that, it might be easier to just band saw the collector open, remove the catalytic convertor cartridge in one piece, then re-weld the collector, once I figure out what material the collector is made from. Does anyone know for sure?

Paul

They say you can find anything you want on the internet. But I haven't found a truly technical source of specifications for motorcycles. You might try talking to someone at a custom exhaust shop.
I'm with you on 800 degrees being excessive.

I don't know if the cat serves any purpose other than eliminating the unburned gasses. I know that containing and keeping exhaust hot, aids engine effeciency. But I don't think that's what the cat is for. I'm all for EPA requirements and all, but the way I see it, I do my part every time I ride my bike instead of driving my 4WD van.