Jay's Hawk mods, including plug and play exhaust!

[OneLeggedRider]

True story, as I was welding/grinding the brake pedal I noticed Jay was holding my long hair out of the way, awwe that's so sweet (actually I was thinking Stranger Danger! ) 😅

After his 2nd test ride he came back grinning and said the tune was perfect. I wanted to raise the needle 1 notch but he said if it's not broke don't fix it 🤷 . And ofcourse I had him take my Hawk out for a short spin after so he could compare his to a "real" bike 😉.

Another funny bit, Jay and I are both so blind we couldn't read the pilot jet sizes, thank goodness I had the younger girlfriend here today. She had to carry them outside individually to read them and then we were able to place them in order.

[OneLeggedRider]

Wow, I had to empty my pic file because it was full, didn't realize it would take pics off of all of my posts.. guess I should have started at the back so my recent posts would still have pics.

[JerryHawk250]

I made that mistake once too. Didn't realize it removed it from the post.

[duck9191]

Originally Posted by emptypockets

This is interesting, I've thought about doing an exhaust upgrade. Does it have a USFS certified spark arrestor? I've been hassled about the non-certified stock one by the forest service a few times now. They've even shined their flashlight into it to make sure I haven't drilled it out.

Therein lies the issue with the cheap exhaust, if they have an arrestor its likely not certified. Im worried about this for trail riding because the MI DNR doesn't care if your trying to do things right, they will just ticket you. I got a arrestor from car customs for the exhaust they sell for the tt250, they claimed its certified but there is no stamps. It's a midwest arrestor for a dg can i believe, but the can must be stamped because the arrester is not.

[Weldangrind]

I welded a late model CRF250X muffler onto one of my bikes for that reason, then discovered it's not stamped either. Hopefully the USFS guys would accept it as a stock Honda muffler, since the name and part number are clearly stamped.

[OneLeggedRider]

Jay's buddy Kyle gave him a brand new JT chain still in the package. Spoiler alert, the size of the chain was not marked on the package.. and it all went downhill from there.

Jay pulls his chain off and lays it out on cardboard right next to the new chain with the hope of being able to cut the new chain to the proper length without putting it on the sprockets. I ofcourse strongly advised against this not once but twice, it's always better to mount the chain first so you can be sure you're removing the proper number of links. I'm very anal about things which no doubt gets on Jay's every last nerve, but that's also what makes me a good mechanic and welder.

Well one chain is 2 links longer than the other so he proceeds to shorten it. He then goes to install it and it's 2 links too short. He cut the wrong chain! So then he tries to mount the other chain knowing it's too short and guess what, it isn't wide enough to sit on the sprockets! Kyle had inadvertently ordered a 420 instead of a 428, I believe the pitch is the same but the 428 is considerably wider for thicker sprockets.

Well then here we are with 2 useless chains, both are now too short and one won't even go on the sprockets because it's too narrow. But Frank saved the day, I still had my stock Hawk 428 with 0 miles on it, glad I didn't toss it. 😎

Poor Jay, his bike is always in 2nd place even when they're parked.. 😅

[duck9191]

Nothing a few extra masters links can't fix lol.

[AresROC]

Very nice to hear it works on the Hawk as well ! I was worried the Bashan's headbolts were smaller than the Hawks and might break~~~


JFG Racing on Amazon

Pictures: http://chinariders.net/showthread.ph...765#post314765

[emptypockets]

Originally Posted by duck9191

Therein lies the issue with the cheap exhaust, if they have an arrestor its likely not certified. Im worried about this for trail riding because the MI DNR doesn't care if your trying to do things right, they will just ticket you. I got a arrestor from car customs for the exhaust they sell for the tt250, they claimed its certified but there is no stamps. It's a midwest arrestor for a dg can i believe, but the can must be stamped because the arrester is not.

I ride exclusively on forest service and BLM land in Colorado and Utah. Some of the OHV area parking lots are heavily patrolled on the weekends. They're mostly out checking for the annual permit sticker registration. They have not written me a ticket, thankfully.

My other question is: would still get the 4-5 HP performance increase with a spark arrestor on there? Or would that defeat the point of a larger exhaust? I've done all the other mods and have 1,500 trail miles on my '17 Hawk. It looks like you can just buy the header pipe without the muffler thing.

[OneLeggedRider]

Originally Posted by emptypockets

I ride exclusively on forest service and BLM land in Colorado and Utah. Some of the OHV area parking lots are heavily patrolled on the weekends. They're mostly out checking for the annual permit sticker registration. They have not written me a ticket, thankfully.

My other question is: would still get the 4-5 HP performance increase with a spark arrestor on there? Or would that defeat the point of a larger exhaust? I've done all the other mods and have 1,500 trail miles on my '17 Hawk. It looks like you can just buy the header pipe without the muffler thing.

4 to 5hp increase? More like 1 to 2 is more accurate. And yeah, you'd be better off to just buy the header pipe and keep your stock muffler if ya gotta worry about green police.

[duck9191]

It will reduce the air flow some, not as much as that stock cat.

[emptypockets]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

4 to 5hp increase? More like 1 to 2 is more accurate. And yeah, you'd be better off to just buy the header pipe and keep your stock muffler if ya gotta worry about green police.

I might try it, if I can get a little more power, it could be worth it.

[OneLeggedRider]

Jay did make a good call though. I wanted him to bring the bike inside for the carb tuning and he had the good sense to leave it outside and just bring the carb in. But I really didn't think we were gonna get it right on the first try.

Also we got to use JIS crosspoint screwdriver set. Big difference, I had forgotten how much better they work compared to US Phillips. And for $17 for a set of 4 on Amazon I highly recommend ordering them.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

Well then here we are with 2 useless chains, both are now too short and one won't even go on the sprockets because it's too narrow. But Frank saved the day, I still had my stock Hawk 428 with 0 miles on it, glad I didn't toss it. ��

Poor Jay, his bike is always in 2nd place even when they're parked.. ��

There is nothing wrong with the stock chain. It's like everything else on the bike. little to no lubrication. lol I took my chain off and put it to soak in synthetic gear oil while assembling the bike. I put over 2500 miles on the stock chain with very little stretching. I only replace it because someone had given me another stock chain. I think I put close to 2500 mile on it too until I threw the chain one day (because I got lazy and didn't adjust the chain) and damage one of the links.

[OneLeggedRider]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

There is nothing wrong with the stock chain. It's like everything else on the bike. little to no lubrication. lol I took my chain off and put it to soak in synthetic gear oil while assembling the bike. I put over 2500 miles on the stock chain with very little stretching. I only replace it because someone had given me another stock chain. I think I put close to 2500 mile on it too until I threw the chain one day (because I got lazy and didn't adjust the chain) and damage one of the links.

On that point Jerry we'll have to agree to disagree. I believe ya get what ya pay for when it comes to chains. And yes, in my early years I've made cheap chains last quite a while with constant maintenance and proper adjustment. But I'd rather not have to think about the chain and maintenance.

And Jay and I were discussing this while working on his. My Hawk has over 2000 on it now and you can walk out there today and it still has the proper slack we set it to after the initial break in adjustment. And when it does look like it needs some adjustment I'll just replace it, a good chain should never need more than 2 adjustments, initial and break in. I do that with all of my bikes and never have trouble with throwing a chain or wearing the sprockets.