Triumphrat

cowboycrustacea

I've read all about drilling out the baffles in my silencers to get a better sound and I'm convinced. The problem is that I can not find a bit extension that will fit the step bits available. Nobody local has one and I don't know how far I need to drive to get one. My Harley friends (is it ok to admit that I have friends who ride Harleys?) have told me to just pound something sharp (a sharpened tire iron) through the baffle. Is this an acceptable idea or will it somehow screw up flow? Thanks.

Chris
99 Legend TT

whoa

Of course, Harley's are fantastic bikes. I'm curious if this modification has any effect on leaning out the bike? Do you plan on doing any checks after the change to measure, or is it known to have little effect?

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05 Thruxton

cowboycrustacea

I wish I knew. That's the reason for the question.

Rincewind

That's what I did. Well, first I tried with a 1" holesaw and extension, which didn't work. So, I grabbed a hammer and my long-shank screwdriver and punched it out, using the 1" circle from my failed holesaw attempt as my guide. It's a rougher looking hole, but the it achieved the same effect as drilling.

If you've read the threads, you already know not to take the brackets off of the cans, but to instead detach the bracket from the rear passenger peg mount.

The sound is MUCH better now, but it burbles a lot (almost too much) on deceleration.

Good luck to ya!

[ This message was edited by: Rincewind on 2006-03-03 14:25 ]

cowboycrustacea

Did you have to adjust the carbs afterwards? Mine runs sooooo well now that I'm afraid of screwing it up. I can build anything with wood but if it has a gas motor I am hopeless...

Chris

Rincewind

Well, I'm no expert either, and didn't touch my carbs at the time.

About 4000 miles later I had the service guy doing my 12k adjust them to the prescribed 3-turns out setting. I didn't notice a big difference either way in performance or mileage.

Compared to stock, the punched pipes give a lot more 'feel' to the engine. It's quiet like stock at low RPM, but growls wildly in the high revs. And like I said, on the decel, it's not quiete as smooth as stock, and pops and burbles a lot more. You could start with a smaller hole and work your way up till you get the sound you want.

cowboycrustacea

Well I drilled a 1/2" hole in each one.
I wanted to be cautious and not overdo it. Ultimately I wish I had gone a little bigger initially. It's an easy process and well worth it. I'll probably take it up to 3/4" on each side at some point. I love the sound now and it was very easy. No changing of the carbs was required.

Chris

Tumbleweed

You can probably reduce some of the popping and farting (if it's annoying) by turning the mixture screws 2 - 3 turns out. If you want even more growl, you can drill eight holes (in a sircle) in the end of each silencer. I drilled through two or three "layers", and the sound became perfectly loud, a bit deeper and louder than the TORs. Start out with 4mm, then 6mm, then 8mm and finish it off with an arm-shaking 10mm.

T'Weed

edit: bad spellers of the world, unight!

[ This message was edited by: Tumbleweed on 2006-03-06 13:18 ]

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Rincewind

Glad to hear it worked out for you, cowboy.

Tumbleweed - my carb screws have been set to 3 turns out already. If I have the carbs off in the future, I'll try reducing it to 2 turns out. I assume the carbs have to come off to reach the pilot screws - I don't know how I'd reach them otherwise.

Tumbleweed

It's a royal, international pain of course, but it can be done (on a cold engine). I got myself a small angled geared screwdriver that just about reach the middle mixture screw. Another solution is to just use a bit and your fingers. You'll probably pop a vein or two, but it can be done.

T'Weed

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The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades