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Pictures of my Bafflectomy

124K views 114 replies 88 participants last post by  AlphaTera  
#1 ·
The other day I did the baffle removal mod using advice from this forum. I’ve seen the instructions many times, but never pictures so I’m posting some hoping it might help someone else.

Step 1 is to drill through the flange at the end of the baffle (Figure 1a and 1b). I used a 1 1/4" hole saw in my variable speed, reversible drill. I originally bought the hole saw from Ace hardware to drill a hole in a stainless steel sink. Just chuck it up, stick in the end of the pipe, and drill until you get through the flange. Took me < 30 seconds per pipe.

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Step 2 is to break the two welds holding the inside of the baffle. As others suggested, I held a socket with channel locks against the flange I just finished drilling through, then I hit the socket with a hammer a few times (see Figure 2).

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(That’s chrome-plated channel locks holding a chrome-plated socket in the end of chrome-plated pipe in front of a chrome-plated wheel. Too bad my driveway isn’t chrome-plated.)

I didn’t feel the welds snap when hitting with the hammer. Rather I could just see the socket slowly going into the end of the silencer with each hit. I used a 15/16” socket because that’s the first one I grabbed that fit over the end of the baffle's pipe. I think I should have used a slightly smaller socket because the 15/16" socket just fit over the flange I just cut with the hole saw and the socket got stuck on one of the pipes.

Step 3 is to remove the baffles. Most of the other instructions I've read said to use needle-nose pliers or something to remove the insulation, then drill more holes for the broken welds to come through. But I read one post that suggested using a 13/16” EZ-out and the whole thing would come out in one piece. I don’t have that big of an EZ-out but this technique sounded much easier than drilling more holes. I figured I could find something that would fit in my dill that I could wedge into the end of the baffle pipe. I found that a 3/4" spade bit fit right in there. To give the spade bit something to grab onto, I used needle-nose vice grips to de-round the end of the pipe (see blurry Figure 3a).

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I stuck the spade bit in the de-rounded pipe, held on tight to the drill, and pulled the trigger. After a few spins forward and backward, I started to pull and the baffle pipe, with the insulation and the wire wrap, came out pretty much in one piece. It seemed to come out easier with the drill running forward (see Figure 3b).

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Figure 3c shows the baffle after I was able to pull everything out.

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Figure 4 shows the two inner welds that had to be busted in step 2.

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Here’s before and after recordings of the sound the pipes make:

Stock T100 silencers with the rear baffle

Stock T100 silencers without the rear baffle

I recorded these lo-fi sound files using my PDA about five feet behind my T100 with the PDA on the ground.

The sound difference isn't huge, but they seem more "growly" without the baffle and at least you can hear the pipes over the engine noise now. I'm happy with the results and this was teh easiest mod I've done except for removing the reflectors off the rear fender.
 
#6 ·
#7 ·
Thats one great post mate, well done, answers a lot of questions.
 
#10 ·
Great job and great pictures. By the way, how did you post the pictures in your note? For future posts it would be helpful for all of us to learn how to do that. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Thanks again.
 
#13 ·
O post of my dreams! I've been waiting for this one for weeks! Words cannot describe.

Pics, sound files, step by step instructions with work-around for the flange breaking. Its all good.

Can I also ask the question about the sound difference while riding - does the growl now drown out the knitting needles?

P
 
#16 ·
kdlutes,

Excellent post; very well done! Did you try to drill through the remaining baffles? You should put this in the Downloads section of the forum. Thanks for a great contribution to the forum.

EL84,

The stock Bonnie out of the crate is set up by the factory to run lean; this is done to meet EPA emission standards. Some folks have rejetted to 112 mains without doing any muffler modifications. Remember, the leaner an engine runs, the hotter (temperature wise) it runs.

To answer your question, no, you would not have to rejet after this mod. Removing the rear baffle does not greatly increase the exhaust flow. Personally, I would rejet to 112's without doing any muffler mods. I am at sea level. That's just my opinion.

If you were to drill out the remaining baffles, you should rejet to, at least, 115's (115's are the size of the jets that come with TORs). I found 118s to be ideal in this scenario as verified by a dyno run exhaust analysis.
 
#19 ·
EL84,

You are certainly welcome.

If you are considering rejetting, purchase a carb screw replacement kit. The stock screws are soft aluminum and you will mess up the head on at least one when removing them. The replacement screws are stainless steel allen heads screws. Rejetting is easy and once you have the replacement screws installed, you can rejet in 10 - 15 minutes.
 
#21 ·
After doing this mod a week or so ago I felt the need to richen things up just a bit for my own peace of mind. On a hunch I went to my local MC shop. Not a Triumph dealer. Mostly used bikes and Royal Enfield. But, they do road race. I asked if they had any Keihin jets and they had a whole selection of them. Mostly aftermarket stuff, but the price was right at $3.00 each. I selected a pair marked "112.5". Put 'em in and installed the stainless screw set at the same time.

Now my Bonnie pops less on deceleration, and has slightly better throttle response, though I doubt it is any faster.


I'm happy.


Great post and pics BTW.
 
#22 ·
Answers to the many questions since my original post…

Did you have to rejet after doing this mod?
I didn't re-jet and it still seems to run fine. Many have posted before that re-jetting isn't necessary with this mod. If it had been necessary, I wouldn't have done it. I'm still scared of carburetors. All that talk of shims, jets, needles, mixture screws… I'm afraid I'd really screw it up. What we need is some "how to re-jet" posts complete with pictures. If someone will show me how to do it, I'll write it up and post here.

How do they sound inside your helmet when you're on the freeway?
Haven't had a chance to run on the freeway yet, but my guess is you won't hear them much. I mostly hear engine noise just sitting on the bike in the driveway at high revs, unless the exhausts are pointed at something to bounce the sound back (like the side of the house).

Someone buy this guy a drink or make him President.
I'd rather have the drink.

By the way, how did you post the pictures in your note? For future posts it would be helpful for all of us to learn how to do that.
The trick with posting pictures to this forum is that you first must have the pictures on the web somewhere. Then when you type up a new post, you click this button:

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and a little form will pop up and ask you to type the URL for that image. Then some text will get inserted into your post that contains the URL of the image you just typed into the box (or you could just type the text yourself).

I'm an information technology professional by trade (i.e. computer geek) and have my own web server so getting pictures on the web is easy for me. I don't know what other people do. I've read a suggestion that you can uploading your images to the members photo album here on this site, and then use the URL for those in your post.

It sure would be a lot easier if you could just upload your image files for a post, while you are composing the post.

If you really get desperate, email me your photos and I'll put them on my web server and give you the text to place in your post for them to show up.

Did you try to drill through the remaining baffles?
No. I've read that would require re-jetting.

does the growl now drown out the knitting needles?
Only at idle, or maybe if you are behind the bike. At high revs, I only hear engine noise. I don't know anyone who'll drive my bike besides me, so I don't know what it sounds like from anywhere except being the rider.

Why is their a hamster in our exhausts?
Apparently they were hiding from the knitting needles.
 
#23 ·
KD,just one more note.When you drill thru the end of the pipe,you are removing the core only.Right inside the end of the pipe there is still a short piece of baffle that is under the rolled chrome lip of the pipe.After a while,mine started to rattle a bit.I drifted them forward and got a punch under the little rings of metal,deformed them and removed them with pliers.They make the pipes opening look even bigger.You can see the rusty pipe in fig.2 surrounding your socket. Good improv on my EZ-out too. :cool: