Soot happens

[ldhthept]

Need some help. Decided that my loud pipes in addition to saving to my life needed some love and quieting down a bit. The original V&H packing has long been gone and replaced with stove rope several years ago. I bought some new packing and began the baffle removal procedure. This has always been a pain to do but this time it was even more difficult. After prevailing in getting one of the baffleS out it seemed to have more soot on it that I remember having before. I have done the big 3, changed oil and coolant regularly its an 06 Nomad. Bike runs good with almost 70k on it. My question is what is the cause of soot build up? The gas I use? The settings on my fuel processor being too rich? Having a heaving wrist? Or something internal. Iridium plugs changed a few months ago when I did my coolant, looked fine. Been having a tapping in the front upper cylinder that sounds like a sewing machine around 1500 rpms.
Thoughts...

[DragonLady58]

If your exhaust is slightly sooty, on the tan side, there is no problem. If the soot is blackish, you could thin out your mixture some with the efi controller, this should help with the soot. Its a exhaust system, your gonna have some residue, just like theres some residue on your plugs.

Wanna quieten your baffles down some, rewrap with baffle wrap, using SS wire....