Ice Bear Trike Exhaust By ellpee (Read 1,436 times)

[ellpee]

Still putting my Magnum through its "maiden voyage" high in the New Mexico Mountains. Has about 750 miles on it, had noticed on the last couple runs that the exhaust connections had problems.

To elaborate: off the cylinder head of this "one=lunger" is an exhaust manifold of sorts, secured by two bolts. I found that these bolts were probably not as tight as they should have been, tightened one but had a real "wrench challenge" trying to tighten the other one. Frame members kept me from getting a good grip on it Still working on that.

Beyond that, the exhaust manifold ultimately divides and channels the exhaust to two mufflers. The end of the exhaust "manifold" is a pipe, maybe 1" - 1 1/4". Connected to that pipe (one left, one right) is a metal mesh tubing that terminates in a solid metal tube. That metal tube in turn slips inside a muffler on each side of the scoot. The manifold-to-metal-mesh has no clamp or other means of securing the connection. The other end of the metal mesh terminates in a solid metal tubing that slides into the muffler and there is a clamp of sorts that one would think would serve to hold that connection together. HOWEVER, that clamp is squeezing on the chrome-finish muffler, and although I;ve tightened it as much as seemed reasonable, I'm not very confident about the connection.

So, I post this for the edification of anyone who buys a Magnum or any of the other Ice Bear trikes. Something to watch during your PDI and afterward. Not a catastrophic issue, I was just a little louder on today's run than I would otherwise have been, but I have to wonder if dumping exhaust straight off the manifold rather than through the muffler system has any performance implications.

[w4wpa]

I have the same issue with the Zodiac with the exception, the left side flex came out of the exhaust. Since it was free, it was allowed to slip back into the muffler an inch or so until the flex was loose from the exhaust pipe completely and then with vibration, it slid forward out of the muffler along the road somewhere. You must have the same configuration as I have on my scoot and I've been trying to find out if they really are the same. I have been in contact with my dealer but it is taking several phone calls, emails and different people and I still have no answer. I will be ending the warrantee period the end of this month. I did notice a reduction in speed and some popping when I reach about 55 mph and never had that before and have had it up to 65 mph for a short time. Now it doesn't reach past 55 and pops like a miss fire. I have 800 miles on it.

Here is the photos of what mine looks like. Right side ok. Left side missing flex pipe.

[ellpee]

Sounds/looks exactly like mine; fortunately I didn't completely lose that mesh part before I noticed it. So far, pushing the mesh back into the manifold as far as it will go, and only into the muffler as little as necessary for the clamp to do its job, seems to be working. As rigid as the muffler appears to be, I'm surprised some Chinese engineer decided a clamp was the way to go. If I have a recurrence I'll be tempted to drill an unobtrusive hole through both muffler and pipe, and use some kind of bolt to keep everything together.

Read about your "popping" in another thread and threw in my 2 cents' worth about the mixture screw.

After I return to Tucson and can find the time, I plan to post a "Ice Bear Trikes: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" thread. For what I paid I'm not super-unhappy, but there appear to be some common issues about that product line that folks need to be aware of. If you want to collaborate on that with Zodiac tidbits, PM me.