xj700 muffler swap (video inside)

Well my dad wanted some louder exhaust on his 85 XJ700. After looking for some different mufflers - he decided to go with some shorties. They are made by EMGO. It took a little bit of work to get them to fit properly and seal up but they're on there and sound pretty good. I didn't get any pictures of the steps we took to install them but will try to walk through it as best I can.

1) Remove stock mufflers

2) If you plan on reusing the clamps off the stock mufflers - you must drill out the spot weld holding the clamp to the muffler. Otherwise just buy some new clamps.

3) The shorty muffler has 2 size inlets (1.5" and 1.75"). The 1.5" inlet is just a little too large to clamp down tight so we got some new OEM exhaust gaskets (p/n - 31A-14714-00-00). The gaskets are the same OD (outer diameter) as the muffler inlet so we had to modify the inlet. EMGO also makes some muffler reducers that may have worked better than the following procedure, but we didn't want to order more parts.

4) To modify the muffler inlet I held it up to the stock muffler inlet and marked where the reliefs were cut in the stock inlet. I marked 1" down from the 4 marks and drilled a hole (approx 3/16") at the end of each mark.

5) Using a 4" cutoff wheel mounted on a grinder I cut down each mark to the hole I drilled. This will allow the inlet to be spread out a little.

6) Once all the reliefs were cut, I used an old fork tube I had laying around and clamped it in a vise. Once secure, I slid the newly relief cut muffler inlet over it and pryed the muffler side to side, front to back to enlarge the diameter of the inlet. You could probably take these to a muffler shop and have them expand them for you.

7) After the inlet was enlarged - the gasket was still a tight fit. I got the gasket started by hand, then using a block of wood and a hammer - I beat the gasket into place.

8 ) Once gaskets were installed into both mufflers and clamps placed over the inlet, I slid the mufflers onto the stock head pipe/collector. You may have to use your handy block of wood and hammer to persuade the mufflers to slide onto the pipes.

9) Tighten both clamps, start the bike and check for exhaust leaks.

The first video below is the stock mufflers, the second video is the new shorties. Quite a difference. I think he'll be happy with it.

Video 1

Video 2

And a few pics

 

Yup, those are the same exact ones I had on mine. It was nice...for a couple months. But it got too annoying after awhile and I decided to make it less raspy by swapping them for a pair of stock Harley tapered mufflers. Now it's got a low rumble and not loud anymore and I don't need to turn the radio up so loud anymore.
A V-twin sounds nice with louder exhaust but not a 4 banger in my opinion. It's like the kids putting loud mufflers on their four cylinder cars now. That's just wrong. They sound like a low flying airplane!!

 

Well, my dad is in his 50's and just started riding last year. He is still fairly nervous about other people not seeing or hearing him (silly cagers) so he wanted something that would make his precense more noticeable. I ride a Kawi 636 with a chopped muffler so I'm kinda partial to the louder 4 cylinder sound.

 

Point well taken. The shorties will get you noticed for sure!

 

Thanks for the posting on this. I recently bought new mufflers for mine, not knowing what others might fit and be cheaper.

Very nice looking bike, but the look of the shorty mufflers takes a little getting used to.

 

earz_cd - where did you get the seat! Looks crazy comfy and I would love to have something like that saddle under my near-senior backside than the stocker. Any help appreciated....

 

that's the stock seat

 

Nice and good to see Yamaha addressed that issue on the 700. Looks like my world stopped in 1982. Maybe it's time for a newer XJ.

 

I personally don't like the seat much, but then again I'm 6'6" tall. I like to be able to scoot back a little.

 

I have taken off my standard MEGAPHONE style mufflers that were 24" long and replaced them with sportster mufflers that are 29 " long
putting the exhaust out of ear shot.