By: Jason Giacchino

Equipment Test: Having a Blast with the Toomey B1 Kit
Good Quads Never Die

Stinger. It isn't until one installs the Toomey can that he realizes how over-sized and corked up the stocker actually is.

Who knew that buying a Yamaha Blaster was like joining some secret society like something out of the Da Vinci Code?  I certainly didn’t realize it until after picking up a 1995 model and the tips, suggestions, and performance enhancing advisors began coming out of the woodwork.  Although Yamaha discontinued the model in 2006 due to ever increasing strictness of EPA regulations, the quad is far from dead in the eyes of legions of Blaster holdouts lurking everywhere.

Enter the Blaster B-1 kit from Toomey Racing USA. If ever there was a single product everyone insisted that I sample, this was the one.  I was reluctant at first, having delved into the pipe game in the past only to encounter jetting snags; but the B1 kit was different or so I was told time and again.  Toomey takes the guess work out of installing their hand-made pipe and silencer by including everything the tuner would need in a single package.  Intrigued, I figured perhaps this was the exact type of product an impatient mechanic (and I use the term loosely) such as myself had been waiting for.

After carefully studying their site, (www.toomey.com) I placed my order, and in a week a massive box showed up on my doorstep.  Inside was indeed everything I would need to get the job done. Aside from the beautiful chrome expansion chamber, pipe, and silencer, Toomey includes an air filter, head flange, the proper carburetor main jet, 12 air box vents, new springs and hardware, and full mounting instructions (they even throw in a decal kit that would easily set you back $15 on eBay).

The attention to detail that Toomey emphasizes in their products is immediate the moment you open the box.  The show-quality chrome pipe simply oozes with quality from its perfect hand welds to its heavy-duty mounting tabs.  I’ll admit that I was already pretty convinced that the B1 kit was a stellar investment; little did I know the best was yet to come.

50% weight reduction. The B1 weighs 6 pounds, the stocker 12. Ours weighed even more when you factor in the rust.

Installation:

Installing the kit is an afternoon affair for a fairly adept backyard tuner.  Thankfully, Toomey includes some pretty thorough instructions.  The hardest challenge of this ordeal, in my case, proved to be in getting the 12 year-old stock system off.  Time and moisture apparently haven’t been very good to the stock steel pipe, as mine was pretty well bonded to both the head and the silencer.  Once free though, the rest of the process was as simple as following the steps.  Here is where Toomey’s attention to detail is simply priceless!  The mounting tabs for these pipes line up to the frame as well as, if not better than OEM specifications.  This is without a doubt the best fitting full exhaust system on the market.

Once the pipe and silencer are bolted on, I turned my attention to the carburetor.  The kit includes a #310 Main jet and very thorough settings to get you going.  The directions involve changing the needle clip position and provide confirmation of every single carburetor setting.  They weren’t kidding when they said the B1 kit takes the guess work out of the installation.  Next, the kit advises drilling 12 holes into the air box lid into which the included foam-lined vents are inserted.  For those fearful of drilling out the unit, the system also allows for running the Blaster without the lid at all (which is the option I opted for).  Finally, I oiled the air filter included in the kit and attached it into the air box.  Total time of the installation was about three hours (much of which resulted from having to pry the old system off).

Once attached, the B1 pipe looks like a million bucks. Sounds like it too.

Initial Observations:

This simple modification improves the appearance of the Blaster tenfold!  In fact, the B1 pipe is so attractive that we soon began to regret Yamaha’s concealing pipe routing.  This is a system that absolutely gleams.  Not to mention the pipe’s mounting and routing is so precise that there are no rattles, and no frame, or plastic contact.

Stepping on the kick starter only confirms what the beautiful chrome system hints at while the machine is standing perfectly still: The little 195cc air-cooled mill has a lot of untapped potential in stock trim.  The exhaust note is much barkier without being obnoxious.  For those who have yet to experience that (should be) patented Toomey sound, I can only describe it as crisp and snappy from idle to however high your rev-limiter allows.  Blipping the throttle only further causes rider salivation like one of Pavlov’s dog experiments.  The entire machine sounded different. It sounded well, powerful!

Taking it Out:

After allowing the machine an opportunity to warm up, I slowly fathered the clutch, not exactly sure what to expect.  To my delight, the Toomey system does not hamper the usable low-end grunt of the Blaster whatsoever.  A lot of systems focus on over-rev at the cost of low-end ability but not this one.  The Blaster still inches forward at the moment of engagement only now the middle of each gear feels much more defined.  The power progression is very linear, building literally from idle on up.  The biggest surprise came once I powered out of the middle-range and into the upper reaches of the power band.  No longer does the little Blaster fall flat up top!  As any Blaster rider can attest, the quad requires a very strange riding style because of its lack of grunt up top.  In stock trim the only way to make the Blaster go is to ride the wheels off the middle of each gear then to shift quickly before the power drops off.  One learns quickly to short-shift the Yamaha if they want to hang with the pack.

The Toomey system turns the choked-up Yamaha into an entirely different animal in this regard. The quad absolutely barks up top, with a hit we typically associate with a full-on MXer.  The power of the B1 kit is not only stronger across the board; it is quite useable as well.  While there is no doubt that it delivers on its promise of increasing the horsepower by 25%, what impressed me most was that the increased power can be transferred to the ground very effectively.  Rather than abundant noise and wheel spin, the B1-equipped Blaster launches out of the hole like a rocket and continues to make epic stride until you’re good and ready to click it up a gear.  Then the process repeats itself until you find yourself ripping to the top of 6th.

There are no dead spots along the way, and somehow Toomey manages to open the Blaster up without giving up any of the traits that make the stock grunt so desirable.

Included is literally everything you need to take your Blaster from zero to hero.

Conclusions:

All of the hype and hoopla preceding my time with the B1 could not have prepared me for how impressive this system really is.  The fit and finish are in a class of their own.  It’s hard to convey the confidence that comes with knowing everything you’ll need to do the job right is included in the kit, and the detailed installation instructions are there to alleviate what little doubt that might remain.  At the end of the day, this is without question the most power-enhancing modification that can be performed to the machine this side of full engine reworking (and even then) . . . Toomey proudly claims that the B1 Racing Kit is the result of countless hours of research and development; and after using the product first hand, we believe them!  As convincing as their dyno chart appears when comparing the B1 system to the FMF and Pro Circuit pipes, the graph fails to accurately portray how impressive the delivery of the increased power really is.  Toomey manages to improve the power output across every single point of the spread whether you race motocross, XC, woods, trail, or play ride.

About the only negative to the entire affair is that Yamaha’s routing doesn’t allow for full view of the B1. A pipe this beautiful should be on display for all to see. Rest assured though, what the fenders cover will be more than made up for in both the factory tuned sound and performance this setup brings to the table.

Bottom line: $349 for the entire B1 Racing package is “chump change” when compared to the cost of the current 4-stroke pipes (which average $500 just for the exhaust). If you own a Blaster, plan to own one, or just know someone who’s got one, keep Toomey’s number handy (805-239-8870) or check them out online at http://www.toomey.com