I was wondering who makes the best pipe for my bike and best headers thanks for the input

Read the new Dirt Wheels. They have a pipe shoot out for the Z-400. I've been told the Yoshi is good as well as the White Bros pipes. I hope this helps.

Yoshi= Big $$$, less HP,less lbs.
CT= More lbs, more HP, less $$$
Yoshi takes the looks, but when you smokin, who cares. If I remember correctly it (CT) made almost 2 ponies more than the comp. :dozey:

I'm running the Alba set up and have no complaints. A pipe and filter really wake it up nicely. But a 13 tooth front sprocket is a must for the dunes. Probably the cheapest upgrade that makes the biggest difference.

I see that your from Poway. Just drive over to Alba and get their stage three kit. It comes with Pipe, Silencer, K&N filter, Outer Wear, Adapter plate (filter mounting plate), Needle and Jet. Be sure to specify that you need the 150 main jet. DO NOT let anyone talk you into changing your pilot jet. You do not need that. This kit will give you the best bang for your buck.

Yea, Dirt Wheels did a pipe shootout. But they would not even rank the Alba pipe, and one or two others, because it is too loud and does not have a USFS approved spark arrester. Just my opinion, if Dirt Wheels can't do a straight forward evaluation on all the pipes and truely rank all of them, then they need to find something else to write about. After all, if a person is looking for an after market pipe, they want more power. Otherwise you may as well just leave the stock pipe on it.

After that, change your sprokets. Check out Alba's web site. Look at the sprokets. They have a great expanation of how gearing changes your top speed and acceleration. I changed mine to a 13 tooth in front and a 41 tooth in the back.

The last thing you'll want to do is get a Plasma Booster. When you compare the cost to the horsepower gain you'll understand why. Anything beyond this and you'll have to start tearing into the engine.

This is probably more information then you wanted, but, if you really want to wake up you Z or KFX, thats what you'll need to do. Email me if you want to know more.

Jerod

Hey J Hanes The sound issue is a great thing because if no ever worried about the sound then more places would be shut down for the noise. Even Cali has a new law about sound issues. I ride at the Oregon dunes where the sound limit is at 93 dbls or you'll get a nice ticket for every time they check you and your over. Then every ticket gets a little bit bigger not fun for a weekend.I think that they should be sound aware in most if not all riding areas. So you might as well just take a deep breath and face the fact that from now on sound is going to play a role in every riding area. It might suck but it seems to be the craze these days. Just my 2 cents

You have a good point SANDSPANKER. Yes, people should be aware of noise levels and buy an appropriate pipe if they do ride in designated riding areas that have noise level limits. I, on the other hand, do not ride in those areas. I live in Arizona. I have thousands of square miles of open desert available to me. No sound limits and no restrictions.

I stand firm in my original post. If a magazine is going to do a performance pipe comparison, then they should rate each pipe according to their performance. (I'm reffering to H.P. output here) Not throw one or two out because they are loud or do not have spark arresters. Let the consumer pick which pipe is best for their needs after that.

Well thats true about letting US pick the pipe. I only wish that they would do a quite pipe shootout for us here in the Northwest. I bet that within the year they have sound checks at GLAMIS I know its out in the desert but its in Cali. and they have a new sound ordinece.