645 miles - baffle bashing
645 miles - Removing the Exhaust Baffle
Break-in is half over, and I can rev to 7,500 RPM. I have never been so patient in my whole life.
With the increase in revs has come a realization… My new bike sounds like a sewing machine. I can tell there’s a twin in there somewhere, but the whirring of the reciprocating bits seems to overshadow the character of the exhaust. I had heard that de-baffling the stock muffler was the cheap alternative to a new can, and I had to give ‘er a go.
I followed the process outlined on svrider.com except I didn’t end up having a sledgehammer, and I had to whang on the damned thing with a framing hammer for about 10 minutes. I am sore, but it worked like a charm.
Looks like I only had one spot weld, but it was a mutha. Check the pics - ripped some of the inside of the can clean off. Note the mashed-ness of the end of the pipe upon which I so steadfastly whanged, and the fact that that pipe is now forever joined in holy union with the baffle. (They are quite happy together. I wish them the best, though I did cheap out on a gift, and got a little too drunk at their wedding.)
I am VERY pleased with the results. I recorded at each step in the process. I used a stereo mic about 10 feet behind and slightly above the pipe - where a car driver’s head might be if we were stopped at a stoplight for example. The mic placement and gain (volume) was not changed at all between “takes,” so the volume differences are 100% true. (i.e. It got louder.) Listen to the snarly tone at the end. Mean.
Have a listen yo’ se’f:
Stock exhaust before anything.
After drilling a ring of holes around the perimeter of the baffle.
Baffle removed. Note my happy-ass whistling after I shut off the bike. I was clearly stoked.
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May 8th, 2006 07:37
Thanks for the sound clips!
September 6th, 2006 18:39
Hey there,
It seems the SVrider.com thread is no longer working, so I was curious how you removed the OUTER (shiny part) of the muffler and hides the baffle and “ugly” metal?
September 7th, 2006 10:53
The thread appears for me - but in case you can’t get to it, you don’t remove the outer muffler at all.
You drill holes in the flange on the back of the muffler (between the internal baffle and the muffler tip itself), use a chisel to break the metal between the holes you just drilled, then stick a pipe over the end of the baffle, and beat on the pipe with a sledge for a good long time to break the weld on the baffle free of the rest of the exhaust (inside the muffler).
One you do that, you just fish the baffle out of the muffler. You never take the can off the bike.
Hope that helps. If it doesn’t, this is a pretty common mod, and there are a lot of write-ups online.