different cylinder temperatures? Should I worry?

Wow! Thanks for all the advice and thoughts. I'll recheck the valve clearances, though I just checked them before the run. There is actually a small crack in the pipe on one side, just where it joins the balancing pipe. I can't remember which side it's on, the blued or not, and I'm now travelling and away from the bike. Could that be the culprit?

1up3down said:

possible there is nothing at all "wrong", nothing to be concerned about

could well be that, as often happens, the application, the thickness, of chrome is just different from one header pipe to the other

this is frequently discussed on many MC forums

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Ding-ding... we have a winner.... my bike did it to new pipes, checked temps, etc., MikeG's bike did the same thing...

Nielsen said:

Wow! Thanks for all the advice and thoughts. I'll recheck the valve clearances, though I just checked them before the run. There is actually a small crack in the pipe on one side, just where it joins the balancing pipe. I can't remember which side it's on, the blued or not, and I'm now travelling and away from the bike. Could that be the culprit?

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If its letting air into the system downstream of the carbs = definitely could be a 'culprit'.
Not something you'd want to encourage, anyway...

john robert bould said:

You will have to excuss my old age...but i allways thought slightly rich was cooler? 50 years and had it wrong all this time

kerinorton said:

I asked the question why my 850 had blue pipes and my 750 had gold pipes. The answer was the 850 was running rich. I proved that when I got the 850 running better. Its on the lean side of perfect. the pips are slowly changing back to gold.
Go figure. [ I could not argue with the comment made to me, but now I can confirm it. ]
all the best. Dereck

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I CANT EXPLAIN IT CONFIDENTALLY EITHER. BUT MAYBE THE RICH GASES KEEP BURNING AFTER THEY HAVE LEFT THE ENGINE. I'm just a mere mechanic.
Regards, Dereck

Doh...... I should have made that clear: the crack is on the exhaust pipe, just at the joint of the balance pipe. It's maybe an inch long and is what I would consider a hairline--but a crack nonetheless.

A cracked pipe? well that should do nicely doctor. adding a bit of extra oxygen to the exhaust gas.

Nielsen said:

Doh...... I should have made that clear: the crack is on the exhaust pipe, just at the joint of the balance pipe. It's maybe an inch long and is what I would consider a hairline--but a crack nonetheless.

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Biscuit said:

I agree with bluto about actually checking the two pipes' running temperatures before going through a lot of questionable work to maybe solve a non -problem. The plugs looking the same is more of an indication that the mix is equal than one of the pipes being a little bluer indicating it is
the pipes themselves. The aftermarket what it is today does not always equal original standards no matter where the parts come from. The two pipes could very likely have been made and chromed at different times with especially the chrome plating being of different qualities = pipes of different shades with the same heat.

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Ding, Ding. That's what I said. Yes the crack needs to be addressed, I had a "Y" shaped crack on the sharp bend up by the cross-over on one of my header pipes mig welded by a real craftsman about a hundred years ago and still running the same pipe and crossover with no more issues. The chrome plating actually flowed a bit into the repair so no rust either. But back to the topic, Trying to tune your bike to the color differences of the exhaust headers is ass-backwards in my book if you don't know for sure if the exhaust temperatures are un-equal by quite a bit. If they are the same, there is no problem except curiously different colored pipes. If they are indeed different you can then chase the problem.

Pipe color "bluing" doesn't necessarily mean you have a problem. Some pipes"Blue" easily. In some situations if you don't get some bluing you're not running hot enough. My Norton has only a single 32 mm carb. Starts on 2nd kick from cold every time and restarts on first kick once hot. She gets better than 60mpg at cruise speed and is fast enough for my old ass. I run a #6 NGK plug fired by a Pazon ignition and Harley Dual Fire coil. Make sure your timing is good as this will influence performance and pipe color quite a bit....Skip

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