Craigslist Find: Brand-New in Box 83-85 200X Cobra Aluminum Exhaust

[Jack G]

Recently, I came across what was listed as a brand-new cobra exhaust for a 200X on Craigslist and thought I'd do a little show and tell.

There were no photos and I was skeptical that there could be a brand-new Cobra exhaust out there, especially listed for $100. It sparked my interest nonetheless, so I decided to message the seller and ask for photos. Sure enough, it was a brand new, in box, Cobra exhaust (model number 1033AL) for the 83-85 200X. It even has the protective film over the logo. The seller had apparently purchased the wrong exhaust and instead of returning it, they decided to sell it on Craigslist to get some of their money back. A "my loss is your gain" scenario.

Well, after some talking and $80 later, the exhaust was mine. I am stoked about it and immediately thought others on here might enjoy gazing at it just as I have. What do you all think?

Here are the goods:

[ironchop]

Nice score. I like a quieter pipe on my 200X, personally, but that's a fantastic deal for $80

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[Jack G]

Nice score. I like a quieter pipe on my 200X, personally, but that's a fantastic deal for $80

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Yeah I'll definitely be putting the SuperTrapp on when I get it in the mail since I need a sparky where I ride. I definitely wasn't able to get that at such a low price. I just couldn't pass up the Cobra deal.

[Rob Canadian]

Great deal for a brand new unit!!!!

I like the sound of them. I have one on my dirtybike. Running a stock exhaust on my '83 200X.

[lndy650]

I love the cobra exhaust but this style is loud. i like the other rcm pipe they have they sound awesome. ive never had the aluminum one. i wonder if this quieter baffle would fit in it because i like the quieter sound but the brushed aluminum looks better
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[3wheellifer]

I love the cobra exhaust but this style is loud. i like the other rcm pipe they have they sound awesome. RCM is DG. Jack G, did you know your front end is not stock?

[Jack G]

Great deal for a brand new unit!!!!

I like the sound of them. I have one on my dirtybike. Running a stock exhaust on my '83 200X.

Yeah I thought so too! Did you notice much of a performance boost on the bike?


I love the cobra exhaust but this style is loud. i like the other rcm pipe they have they sound awesome. ive never had the aluminum one. i wonder if this quieter baffle would fit in it because i like the quieter sound but the brushed aluminum looks better
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I'm not certain but I wouldn't be surprised if it would work. The cores seem to be of the same design. I am also a fan of the quieter mufflers, but I'll sacrifice some quiet for some more performance if it's noticeable.


RCM is DG. Jack G, did you know your front end is not stock?

Yes, the front fender/fork boots are not OEM. Everything else certainly is from what I can tell.

As shown in my signature, I'm not really sure what fender it actually is. I like the looks of it better than the 200X fender anyhow so I doubt I'll change it. Nice catch.

[lndy650]

RCM is DG. Jack G, did you know your front end is not stock?

rcm stands for reverse cone megaphone its the design of the muffler. dg just decided to use it as a name

[3wheellifer]

Yeah I thought so too! Did you notice much of a performance boost on the bike?



I'm not certain but I wouldn't be surprised if it would work. The cores seem to be of the same design. I am also a fan of the quieter mufflers, but I'll sacrifice some quiet for some more performance if it's noticeable.



Yes, the front fender/fork boots are not OEM. Everything else certainly is from what I can tell.

As shown in my signature, I'm not really sure what fender it actually is. I like the looks of it better than the 200X fender anyhow so I doubt I'll change it. Nice catch.

The forks are longer than stock. They must be 86-87 200x forks. If the fender bolts up as stock it is a 250r fender, if its been modded it's 350x.

[Jack G]

The forks are longer than stock. They must be 86-87 200x forks. If the fender bolts up as stock it is a 250r fender, if its been modded it's 350x.

The fender bolts right up so it must be a 250R fender. I don't think it's an OEM 250R fender though.

As for the forks, I have three sets of 83-85 200X forks and they are all the same length. I have also rebuilt them, and can confirm that the springs and other components measured were within the specifications provided in the shop manual. It may appear to sit a little higher because I have added a 1" spacer to stiffen up the front a bit.

I am 99.99% sure they're 83-85 forks but I am not afraid of being proven wrong. Are there any dead giveaways to tell the difference between the 1st and 2nd generation forks?

[3wheellifer]

Ah, makes sense now. It's the preload spacer affecting the sag then. I can easily notice any difference in ride height because i have owned around a dozen of them. The 86-87 forks are only slightly longer but judging your response you probably knew that already. Good man.

[Rob Canadian]

Yeah I thought so too! Did you notice much of a performance boost on the bike?


I did not. I think most aftermarket 4 stroke exhausts are just as good as the stock units as far as Honda goes. No real power gains on a stock engine.

[lndy650]

it depends but i agree exhausts usually arent much of a power gain. with the 200x there is some gain though because the cobra head pipe is quite a bit bigger. the new 4 stroke bikes and atvs though your lucky to gain a few hp with a full system. that doesnt stop the companies from putting out crazy dyno results though.

[Rob Canadian]

There was a thread years ago about gains on the 200X. Can't remember who did the test(?) Mickey(?)

Dyno runs with a bunch of different exhaust on the 200X. Some had lower HP than stock...

I have heard people putting on a DG pipe and makes tons of power.:rolleyes:

[3wheellifer]

If you want your 200x to go significantly faster the easiest way to do so reliably is to shed weight on the bike and on yourself. Any more than a cam pipe and piston and you're splitting hairs for big $ on a bike that will never be that fast.

[lndy650]

There was a thread years ago about gains on the 200X. Can't remember who did the test(?) Mickey(?)

Dyno runs with a bunch of different exhaust on the 200X. Some had lower HP than stock...

I have heard people putting on a DG pipe and makes tons of power.:rolleyes:

ya that doesnt surprise me. as for DG Ive never bought one for an atv because my experience with them on sleds is horrible. just an example the polaris xlt 580 makes about 95 hp stock and has a really bad stock pipe they call it the banana pipe it was how polaris de-tuned their sleds. just about any aftermarket set of triple pipes was a huge gain easily 110-115 hp. the DG triple pipes produced 89 hp! i mean i have no idea how they lost power from the stock single but they did. the dyno was done by dynotech research so its legit. i know its only one dyno but it really turned me off of DG. I mean they must have done no math and just threw together a set of triple pipes.
Old polaris triples were awesome with aftermarket exhaust. the biggest gain was the ultra 680. stock was around 110 i think and decker triples bring it up over 130.

[lndy650]

almost all of the aftermarket silencers for sleds that claim 2-5hp or more actually lose hp. the only snowmobile silencer i would ever buy is Dyno-Port. Rich is about the only honest manufacturer there is. he says its really hard just to maintain the stock hp as far as silencers go.

[Jack G]

There was a thread years ago about gains on the 200X. Can't remember who did the test(?) Mickey(?)

Dyno runs with a bunch of different exhaust on the 200X. Some had lower HP than stock...

I have heard people putting on a DG pipe and makes tons of power.:rolleyes:

Rob, I don't know if this is the thread you were referring to, but it contains an article from 1985 where 28 different exhaust systems were dynoed on a stock '85 200X:
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php/125196-3-Wheeling-June-1985-200x-Pipe-Test-Magazine-Scan

The images don't show up well in the original post so I will just include them here. It looks to me like the SuperTrapp performed the best overall. Cool information for sure, I had no idea there were so many manufacturers making exhausts for the 200X back then. Too bad our options are not this extensive anymore.
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[Rob Canadian]

Rob, I don't know if this is the thread you were referring to, but it contains an article from 1985 where 28 different exhaust systems were dynoed on a stock '85 200X:
http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthread.php/125196-3-Wheeling-June-1985-200x-Pipe-Test-Magazine-Scan

The images don't show up well in the original post so I will just include them here. It looks to me like the SuperTrapp performed the best overall. Cool information for sure, I had no idea there were so many manufacturers making exhausts for the 200X back then. Too bad our options are not this extensive anymore.
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Nice find. I remembered a different dyno test. I have a '83. List was not that long. Going of my memory. 6-8 pipes. There was not much gain in HP via the stock. The pics provided showed a much advantage in pipes. Mostly down low but a good gain in HP.

[lndy650]

thats awesome i had no idea yoshimura was around back then. sadly they weren't very good back then from the looks of it. the stock pipe was decent especially mid range.


Just make sure you dont do what this guy did. i hate when people gut stock silencers249722

[3wheellifer]

Rich is about the only honest manufacturer there is. Rich gets lucky sometimes. Honest is a stretch, but why do you even mention that? Who are you? Yoshi destroyed dynoport as a brand and a manufacturer. The things you say seem to be intentionally persuasive. What comparison does a 2 stroke triple with 100hp have to a 4 stroke single with 15hp? None, is the first thing that comes to mind.

[lndy650]

i was talking about my experience with DG thats why i mentioned the sleds. how am i being persuasive? i was lucky enough to talk to Rich a few times because my former boss knows him and he helped me set up my dragon 800. he is very honest and tells it the way it is. as for yoshimura i love their product and im upset to see their 200x pipe didnt perform. im sorry if i upset you im not really sure what i did wrong. not looking to argue we all have our opinions.

[Jack G]

I had some free time so I went ahead and put the results into an Excel spreadsheet. I then created a rule to highlight the greatest (green) and lowest (red) HP values at each RPM range. It's an easy way to see which exhaust produced the highest/lowest numbers at each RPM range.

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I also added an "Average" column just for kicks. It doesn't really prove one exhaust is better than another, but it does represent overall performance across the entire power band.

Side note: I am able to produce dyno graphs of each exhaust. If someone would like to see the graphs for a better visual representation of the data, I'd be happy to post them.

[lndy650]

thats really cool. makes it alot easier to compare them.

[3wheellifer]

Jack G kicks ass he's going to a very valuable member here

[Arky-X]

Nice!

Can you do conditional formatting on each column?
Highlight the column >> Home >> Conditional Formatting >> Color Scales
Select a Green - Yellow - Red scale and that will highlight the higher numbers in green-ish and the lower in red-ish.
Then you can see how each compares across the RPM range.

Cool that you found that article.

[Shep1970]

The fender bolts right up so it must be a 250R fender. I don't think it's an OEM 250R fender though.

As for the forks, I have three sets of 83-85 200X forks and they are all the same length. I have also rebuilt them, and can confirm that the springs and other components measured were within the specifications provided in the shop manual. It may appear to sit a little higher because I have added a 1" spacer to stiffen up the front a bit.

I am 99.99% sure they're 83-85 forks but I am not afraid of being proven wrong. Are there any dead giveaways to tell the difference between the 1st and 2nd generation forks?

Just going back to your fork question for a second- 83-85 200x have steel fork caps
86-87 have aluminum caps, so yes there is an easy way to check. 249738 249739 i know your already past this but figured i’d tell you anyway.

Shep

[Bob Smith]

Hello Jack and thank you for the warm welcome. That looks like a really nice muffler you found there. I'm just trying to learn about these atc's but I take it parts may be difficult to find these days. I wonder if there is one like this for my atc 125m but I'm afraid to make it to fast.

[Jack G]

Jack G kicks ass he's going to a very valuable member here

Haha thanks, I've learned so much on here I am just trying to return the favor and offer some good info.


Nice!

Can you do conditional formatting on each column?
Highlight the column >> Home >> Conditional Formatting >> Color Scales
Select a Green - Yellow - Red scale and that will highlight the higher numbers in green-ish and the lower in red-ish.
Then you can see how each compares across the RPM range.

Cool that you found that article.

Yeah Arky I can do that. I used the conditional formatting as you described initially and I thought the color scale made it too messy and hard to interpret. I will play around with it and see if there isn't a better way I can reorganize the data to make the color scale easier to read.


Just going back to your fork question for a second- 83-85 200x have steel fork caps
86-87 have aluminum caps, so yes there is an easy way to check. i know your already past this but figured i’d tell you anyway.

Shep

Thanks for clarifying Shep! I have seen those aluminum caps around and wondered if they were the 86-87 caps.

Not to hijack my own thread but it's my first post in the new member discussion so what the heck. Here is a taste of my fork and fork cap after I did some polishing. Maybe I will do a 'build' thread of rebuilding and polishing forks/caps if there's enough interest.
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[ironchop]

Nice work!

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[Jack G]

Thanks Ironchop!

Per request, I have included more tables of the exhaust data with conditional formatting. This table shows the color gradient that makes it easier to determine how an exhaust compares to the others along the whole power band.
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Next, a table that is conditioned to highlight the cell GREEN if HP is greater than stock, YELLOW if HP is the same as stock, or RED if HP is less than stock exhaust.
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Lastly, since I will be putting a SuperTrapp exhaust on my 200X soon, I wanted to see what the dyno graphs looked like in comparison to the stock exhaust. I think I will end up using 10 discs to get an exhaust that doesn't drop off as much in the mid-range but still gives good low and top-end.
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I'd be happy to post the graphs of the other exhausts if anyone is curious, just let me know which ones you wanna see. If I have them all on one graph, it's too cluttered.

[ironchop]

This is the most useful 1st Gen ATC200X exhaust thread I've ever seen on here.

Again Jack, thanks.

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[Arky-X]

Interesting analysis.
Seems like the stock exhaust was best around the 6500-8500 RPM for the most part. Most all of them gave more in the lower RPM range.
Looks like Krause really hit the lower RPM range while CRF and Curtis Sparks shifted the band to about 5000-8000.

Thanks!

[Scootertrash]

Just found this thread. Interesting charts, I may have to mess with the disc count in my 200S. :wondering

[Shawn Powell]

I wonder if this account for jetting. Seems like .3 of a hp at peak is not a lot. I know there only 16 to begin with but still. I don’t own a machine that small but I will tell you I can feel a significant gain from my stock 350x to jetted and supertrapped one. Different engine I know just saying the old butt dyno doesn’t lie.


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[Jack G]

I wonder if this account for jetting. Seems like .3 of a hp at peak is not a lot. I know there only 16 to begin with but still. I don’t own a machine that small but I will tell you I can feel a significant gain from my stock 350x to jetted and supertrapped one. Different engine I know just saying the old butt dyno doesn’t lie.


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On the second page of the article (page 63) they state that the main jet was bumped up from the stock 108 to 110. They used that jetting for all of the tests. The airbox lid was also removed during testing.

Another good point they make is that the results only reflect the performance with a stock engine. With a built/modified engine, the exhausts would perform differently. Maybe the Yoshimura really shines when paired with other performance mods (i.e. cam, carb, air filter, larger bore, and/or hi-compression piston), and just not the stock engine.

TLDR: This data is not the be-all-end-all to declare which exhaust is best for every 200X, just the stock ones. My guess is this data does not apply once other performance mods are added to the equation.

[Shawn Powell]

On the second page of the article (page 63) they state that the main jet was bumped up from the stock 108 to 110. They used that jetting for all of the tests. The airbox lid was also removed during testing.

Another good point they make is that the results only reflect the performance with a stock engine. With a built/modified engine, the exhausts would perform differently. Maybe the Yoshimura really shines when paired with other performance mods (i.e. cam, carb, air filter, larger bore, and/or hi-compression piston), and just not the stock engine.

TLDR: This data is not the be-all-end-all to declare which exhaust is best for every 200X, just the stock ones. My guess is this data does not apply once other performance mods are added to the equation.

That makes a lot of sense. Also you have to jet for each exhaust, and again being unfamiliar with the 200x a 108 to 110 doesn’t even seem like enough , unless the OEM exhaust wasn’t very restrictive in the first place. Good read either way.


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