Exhaust Mod On The Cheap
My 2002 Meanie was a bit quiet, living in Daytona "biker Capitol of World" loud pipes everywhere. I decided to de-baffle the exhaust pipes... and WOW! The bike has the sound of a hot motorcycle which the Meanie is supposed to be, not oppressive like aftermarket pipes VH/cobra. If you ever have ridden behind loud pipes, it's an ear killer! I have many times but the stock pipes were very quite, SO... time to debaffle. After doing some net research I tried it and very pleased. It gives you a low rumble and at 70mph you are not blowing out everyone. Note that debaffling does not affect the EFI because the goat belly does the back pressure and most of the muffling.
Here's how I started:
- 1 3/4" whole saw-make sure it's for bi-metal
- 1-1/4" wood dowel
- cutting oil
- A variable speed electric drill
On the wood dowel, I used 1-1/4" maybe 1-1/8" might work. This is to center the drill bit, you need to cut down to fit, use a belt sander.
Now lube the bit with oil
Start to drill slow, You will have to cut through 2 welds, 1st one is easy 2nd one just keep drilling until it breaks free.
Once the welds are cut through, take vice grips and pull out the baffle. The bottom one came out easily but the top one needed some help. I twisted it with vice grips and eventually use a hammer to pull it out. Reason: rust on the the Baffle, There are no more welds. It took less than 1hr.
Since I found that the inner pipe was chrome I just cleaned it up And sprayed the inner baffle with high heat paint. Note that took longer than the debaffle!
Have fun!!!
Tag: exhaust
