catalytic converter failure?

[Howard kelly]

so i left my house and the bike felt funny...wasnt sure what i felt.  its 7 blocks to the freeway from my driveway, hot the freeway and it felt ok.  cruising at 80, felt a need to pass someone and the bike chugged and didnt accelerat smoothly.  downshifted a few gears and it went fast--but not as fast as normal.  something is wrong.  got where i needed to go and talked to a friend.  he suggest a plug had gone bad and it made sense...like i was running on three cylinders and and running rough.  left to go home, the bike felt the same, rough.  i made a plan to replace the plugs. (22000 on the bike btw)

got home and smelled something funny, looked in the engine compartment, everything seemed ok, looked at the exhaust--actually in it--glowing orange.  grabbed my heat temp gun and saw 447 on the black muffler portion and 190 on the head pipe coming in. a close look and the black on the muffler is cracking and peeling--  makes me think the cat is clogged....thoughts?

[C1xRider]

Could still be a bad spark plug, or anything else that causes too much raw fuel in the exhaust

All that unburned fuel will ignite in the cat, and make it get really, really hot.

At 24K miles, the plugs in mine looked clean, but the gap was out of spec (too wide).

[Howard kelly]

agreed....changing plugs next weekend

[Conrad]

You know that the cats are not in the muffler can right? They're right after the header.

[Cuda]

They are in the collector the large area where the four pipes come together.
very restrictive, for a motor that moves a lot of air at high RPMs .
I removed mine and wrapped the header and  collector  so my gas tank never gets warm anymore.
 I was going to drill them out with a long drill but they are VERY hard , so I had a welding shop cut it open , remove and weld back up.

[ZG]

Is it the stock exhaust? If so, there could be a potato stuck in there... 

[Rhino]

Is it the stock exhaust? If so, there could be a potato stuck in there... 

  I mean literally 

[Rhino]

They are in the collector the large area where the four pipes come together.
very restrictive, for a motor that moves a lot of air at high RPMs .
I removed mine and wrapped the header and  collector  so my gas tank never gets warm anymore.
 I was going to drill them out with a long drill but they are VERY hard , so I had a welding shop cut it open , remove and weld back up.

Did you add a PCV or anything to change the fuel map? Just wondering if changing the exhaust flow changed how the engine runs.

[Cuda]

At first all I did was the ZX header and Two Brothers duals , I had to block off that grey tube from the intake  box  because it was really poping when down shifting,  I did not notice anything unusual . The only real difference was the front tire comming up higher in 1st to 2nd shifts

[Howard kelly]

You know that the cats are not in the muffler can right? They're right after the header.

Pretty sure there are two cats. One in the collector and a second in the muffler

[VirginiaJim]

According to my service manual, the cats are in the collector just before it goes into the muffler page 5-6. 

Manifold - Honeycomb type catalyst without o2 sensor P/No. 39178-0083 Mark:  KHI M 114

Muffler body - Non Catalyst P/No. 18091-0470 Mark:  KHI K 517 EPA Noise Emission Control Information

This is corroborated in the 2008 Design Factoid

http://www.kawasaki.com/Content/pdfs/products/concours_QandA.pdf

Which is also linked to in our C14 Interesting Facts part 1

http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=93.0

Which might not be a bad idea to review on occasion.

[Conrad]

Pretty sure there are two cats. One in the collector and a second in the muffler

Sorry but you're wrong Howard. Feel free to ask anyone who has shortened their bazooka or see Jim's post above.

[Son of Pappy]

Definately no cats in the 'zooka.  Theey are stacked in the collector.

[Jeremy Mitchell]

Pretty sure there are two cats. One in the collector and a second in the muffler

If your cat got into the muffler then that would explain the loss of performance.  Your wife probably won't be very happy with you either.

[VirginiaJim]

That darn cat!

[Conrad]

If your cat got into the muffler then that would explain the loss of performance.  Your wife probably won't be very happy with you either.

Cat in a hot tin pipe, that's not good for anyone, specially the cat.

[ZG]

If your cat got into the muffler then that would explain the loss of performance.  Your wife probably won't be very happy with you either.

Cat in a hot tin pipe, that's not good for anyone, specially the cat.

Pussy in a can? 

[VirginiaJim]

And so it begins....

[ZG]

And so it begins....

[gPink]

That looks like some smokin hot pussy.