KDX 220 Exhaust

[k-dog]

Hello all. What a great place this is for KDXers.
I bought a 97 220R, everything is stock as far as I know. I've been reading here that the best mod to start with is a rev pipe and jetting to get some more high end. I see FMF makes the desert pipe and the woods pipe for the 220. Is the desert pipe the rev pipe? Thanks.

 

[flapwick]

You chose a great bike!I have a 97 220 as well.Great question too,I was wondering the same thing.

 

[julien_d]

Yes, the desert pipe will focus more on top end, while the woods pipe will give more grunt down low. Choose the one that fits your terrain and riding style best. Because of where and how I ride, I would go with a woods pipe. Your situation may be different though. I've read that using the carb from a 200 will give you better top end on the 220 as well. The 220 uses a smaller diameter carb...

I agree, excellent choice on the bike. I think my next ride will be a 220.

J.

 

[k-dog]

Thanks, I'm in PA, plenty of tight muddy 1 line valleys as well as monster hills. I ride some more open areas too. It's a tough call to make cause I ain't buying 2. I think the bike has plenty of low end and think the desert pipe would help in the faster terrain. I've been looking around a little and have found 220 carbs for sale, but not the bigger 200 carb, at least not used. I don't know if they are available new but I'm sure they're not cheap. The bike is fine for what I do the way it is, but I just can't resist doing something during long long winter.

 

[dansavage]

I can shed a little light on this for you, might help you make a decision.

I have an '02 220 (just got done, literally, doing a top end / KIPS cleaning) with the following:
-Desert/rev pipe & aftermarket silencer
-35mm Carb (same size as the 200's), jetted to my liking
-Boyeson power reeds
-Modified the air box lid using the suggested method on this site

When I bought the bike about 10 months ago, it had the rev pipe, I added the other items as listed above. Most of the riding I do is tight, sometimes rocky terrain in the mountains. The rev pipe takes a little away at the bottom, but the combination of the reeds and larger bore carb (the 220's come with a 33mm carb) brings a little of that back. I really like my setup, it runs well in the woods and mountains, and then when I'm in south georgia with family/friends, I can really let it rip on the flatter/more open terrain.

Has the piston been replaced in your 220? There is a lot of chatter on the web (could just be from 1 person) regarding the 220's having suspect pistons - supposedly the skirt cracks/breaks and a fragment will fall down into the crankshaft area and cause big problems. The reality of it is, skirts break on all pistons/bikes, 2 stroke machines are just more prone to such.

I'm a sucker, I bought a piston set a few months ago and took mine down last weekend. I figured that for 135 big ones and some time, it would be a nice little insurance policy if the piston problem is indeed real.

On to the bike, I ride with guys that have 2 strokers, 4 stroke 250MX bikes, and bigger bore KTM enduros. I've never had an issue 'keeping' up with the crowd and find the handling/woods-worthiness of my KDX to rank up there.

Good luck with your decision, sorry to ramble on too long...

 

[dansavage]

One more thing...

When I was growing up in the early '80's I lived in the McKeesport/White Oak area of Pittsuburg and learned to run my 1979 Yamaha MX100 in the woods of the area. I dearly miss the 'mountain' hills up there.... I guess WV would be the closest place for an adrenaline rush of that magnitude.

 

[k-dog]

Thanks for the info Dan. Yes there are some big honkers up this way and when my bones were a little softer, I tried all of them. White Oak is about 30 miles from here, so you know the terrain well I'm sure. I think I'll take your advice and go with the desert pipe. I can always sprocket my way to more low end. Where do you come up with a 35mm carb? This seems like a popular set up for the 220 and I'd like to do this as well.

 

[glad2ride]

Don't forget suspension properly set up as being a great help in going faster.

If you just want more power, then the standard pipe swap is in order.

The swap to the KDX200 carb is common.

The switch to an aftermarket piston on the KDX220R is even mentioned by Jeff Fredette on his site, www.frpoffroad.com.

 

[dansavage]

Before I knew about RB, I bought my 35mm Keihen carb off of the web, it was a new one - I believe that I paid about $210 for it. After I bought it and installed it, I learned about RB, so regretted not sending my 33mm to them for the standard KDX mod, which includes boring it to 36mm, jetting, and some other tweaks. I believe RB's cost to do this is $165 or so, which isn't too bad. I've not seen any used 35mm carbs out there, and wouldn't buy a used one unless I was very certain it was OK.

In terms of my jetting, I ended up with the set-up as follows:
35 pilot
150 main
CEL jet needle in the 2nd from top clip position

I have tremendous power from 1/4 throttle to 3/4 throttle, the front tire stays off of the ground. If you get the pipe and can get your hands on a larger carb, this site has tons of good info on jetting procedures and recommendations. I like toying around with stuff, so have had much fun with fine tuning my bike. If you go with the RB, then they jet it for you given your altitude, you just drop it in and go. I would check it out.

 

[eagles22793]

i have a 97 kdx220r and i have a fmf gold series fatty and fmf turbine power core 2 silencer and a 160 main jet and it comes off the groung with no problem

 

[eagles22793]

what year car is that off of on a kdx200

 

[sr5bidder]

1972 toyota corona :)

if you ment carburator 95-06 kdx200==35mm :cool: