to pipe or not to pipe

sxrsist

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Jun 25, 2003
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344
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sask. canada
just wondering on how many peaple think its wise to pipe a viper, i know 3 vipers in my area that ran pipes and broke pistons, all with the recomended setupthey suggested,id like my viper to be fast but it seems stupid having to go through all the trouble to be able to run with a stock cat,i know if i run pipes i want to run slp or cprs, i think the higher rpms might help the piston braking issues, how many peaple had good luck and how many had bad luck.I know the peaple that ran them out here dont have them any more but matybe the wrong brand of pipe for our wonderful canadian fuel. whats your thoughts,worth the trouble or not,/ After running a rx1 last year fuel consumption will be a facter also, are the piped vipers hard on fuel? thank you
 

Pipes

SXRIST, Pipes are great and will really wake a sled up! I have run them on many yammers and have seen them on all brands, most will require you to pay strick attention to Temps, elevation ETC....... They work best for drag racing! My history is not very reliable for standard trail riding. I had them on my last two sleds. 95 Vmax 600 and 97 sx 700. I gained quite a bit in performance but lost in the realibilty! Max engine repairs($$$$$$) and decreased riding time. I do alot of my own work but both sleds were set up by a good dealer and were also backed for the first burn downs. I ended up putting both back to stock and lost a couple drag races but never broke down after that. I will never pipe a sled again unless I just use it strickly for racing! I have had many other friends from Polaris, DOO and CAT have the same issues. I have been riding an SRX since, winning races and trouble free! I have done clutch work, track, ...etc and gained some performance and handling and sacrificed nothing in reliablilty!!!!!!! The bottom line is how much MONEY do you have and how FAST do you want to go? enjoy and good luck!
 
The pistons are not breaking due to the rpm. the jetting is all wrong. they may be lean in the middle, or lean on top. a cast piston will come apart. The real promblems with pips are the guys do not understand how to read spark plugs. take your time do half throttle shots, then check your plugs, same for high end.I have built many many sleds with pipes. its all in the tunning.. good luck
 
Just a thought, but if you really want pipes I would get a good triple egt gauge. Yes, you'll spend over $500 on a good setup, but it's alot less than rebuilding a motor. I agree with NOS2stage when he says it's all in the jetting. Reading the plugs are fine, but in order to get it perfect, the exhaust temp has to be known. If you bought a dial-a-jet, on really cold days you could compensate safely with no second guesses. I believe that in order to make the most out of your motor you need a tuned pipe for each cylinder, twin or triple. The trick is all in the fine tuning to do it safely.
I have also heard of a problem with the vipers carb vents being plumbed into the airbox, and that people are taking these out and letting them hang. Maybe someone more experienced with the viper has heard of this?
 
I think that most people will agree that running a stock setup will get you the best reliability.
Any time you do something to get more power out of an engine you are putting more strain on its components and thus you reduce its lifespan.
One other thing to remember about pipes is that while you gain on the a lot on the topend, you lose some on the bottom.
Lets compare an SX Viper and an SRX 700. If you run these sleds on twisty trails using riders of equal ability the Viper will leave the SRX in the dust. The only time that the SRX has the advantage is when this turn open and flat where the SRX can turn the rpms where it can fully utilize the added flow of its triple pipes.
I would say who cares if you cant beat a stock F7? You will get the last laugh when their sled is in the shop for 1/2 the winter ;)! :yam:
Hebi
 
talking to a few performance shops,detonayion can occure even with fatr jetting,ive had pipes on v max 4, s and my sxr, the 4 cylinder had 12000 km on it and not a problem,my sxr was fine also until i tried to clutch it harder, it turned 200 rpm less than it wanted and pop, detonation, piston broke.the viper runs alot of advance and that is what worries me about piping it
 
Pipes

I have CPR pipes on my Viper and they're great but don't expect SRX like reliability. I haven't had any issues whatsoever yet and I have 5100 miles on my sled but you don't have that gas and go confidence of an SRX. I have EGTs and would say that they have saved my butt about 6 times since I've owned the sled. In my opinion, if you pipe a Viper and go sans EGTs, you're crazy. I have no experience with the other brand pipes but Jeff designs his to run at 9100 rpm to reduce the chance of detonation from the very advanced timing of the Viper ignition. I believe the Viper's timing retards after 8800 rpm and he uses this to his advantage to make a more reliable setup. It costs a small amount of power but gains big in reliability. If you talk to Jeff, the other thing he'll recommend highly is doing his head mod which equalizes the compression of all 3 cylinders. Most piped Viper burndowns are not broken pistons but lean burndowns at 3/4 throttle (most often after coming down from WOT and then getting back into it). If you ride smart and have EGTs they're a blast and will easily handle most any sled out there. It took me about 1 season to get mine diaed in so I was getting good performance and decent mileage but I really love the sled now that it's spot on.
 
Anyone have any experience with DCS and triple piping the viper?
Is it bullet proof with DCS for lean jetting or poor Canadian gas?
Please provide your inputs based on real world DCS and triple piping experience and not theory.
 
Hmmm,I had power Incs on my 97 SX700 and never had a problem.I jetted accordingly and DID NOT go to lean maybe even a little fat to be safe.Sled ran well and was a delight to ride.
 
I'm still trying to find that person thats running Aaen pipes on there viper. I have seen the dyno sheets and they seems to be in the running as far as hp and torque. As far as pipes on a viper, run em! I had an 2002 that I had CPR's on and never had an issue in the trail or on the lake. You need to responsible with your jetting and setup. I ran the thicker head gasket, jetted safe and ran some water wetter in the coolant. I never saw a heat light and i rode the track off of that sled in the trails. Many long runs on the lake. You will need to know a little about how the motor works and know what to be careful of. I carried a can of Klotz with me for cheap gas ins.
 
I bought a set of pipes and chickend out myself,the performance would have been great but the way i ride it would have been a constant head ache!If I had it to do over again i would have bought and srx and dusted of the m-10 I have.Might not have been the fastest but would probaly would beat 90 to 95% and gave me the ride I was looking for!
 
well looks like cprs are on the way, im hoping someone can help me out with some clutching, cant afford heavy hitters what jeff is suggesting right know,i have every other weight yamaha builds along with the bendetr adjustables, must be something that wors other than heavy hitters
 
I think you can run heavy hitters and a new primary spring for 175.00 range, so why wouldn't you just do it. If you are changing the primary and secondary springs and a helix you will have that much rapped up in it. You will need some sort of adjustable weights if you want it dialed in. The jetting spec's you better start conservative with the needle's unless you have egt's, which I have and run much lower than Jeff's spec's.
 
8dn-20

Bolt these babies on and adjust the secondary if needed to get to 9100 and let er fly. I have 4.5 in outer, middle open and ??? inner. (2.5 maybe)

I think the motor creates "alot" more heat when you are running the pipes. I have SLP's and the target is 8,900. I immediately went with an Opti-Cool gasket, rear heat exchanger, and the CPR Head Mod. If you don't settle the heat issue, your jetting will be hard and almost always fatter than expected. 8-10 MPG's too. With the lower compression PTO and what is claimed to be a "too" high Center and Mag.compression, it is hard to jet the middle and mag.

Since then the motor has settled down and I can jet and be confident I have a predictable motor to jet with. No DCS, No EGT's just plain old "read the plugs" stuff. I think the Tempaflow is a big help too.

Good luck and SLP says the timing advance and the 9100 CPR says to get by that is hogwash, but I have seen he CPR's and they are nice.
 


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