[beastman487]

I'm planning to drill out the main restrictor on my stock legend silencers. I'f I'm going to do 7/8" like that write up says, do I have to worry about losing compression?

 

[2 wheels good 3 better]

Loud=fast?

My very humble but nevertheless well-informed opinion is that if bunging a 3/4" drill down your stock pipes did any good, all manner of racers would do the same.
You will end up with more flat spots than Cheshire.
Your ears will tell you that you are fast, but a dyno will tell you that you are dreaming.
If you want a set of pipes that perform better than stock, pay out some hard earned on some properly engineered kit.
Remember, loud does not equal fast.
Been trying to tell all my Harley peers this for years, but heigh ho, like casting pearls to swine. Ho ho.

 

[cafetbird]

I'd hardly call the Triumph off roads "properly engineered". Just open pipes - much the same as you'd do with a hole saw. Hardlys over do it to the extreme. You've got a 1 7/8" exhaust - opening up a 7/8" hole is not going to effect it significantly, but will give it a more pleasant sound on the cheap.

I would open up the air screws a bit, that is all you will need to do. Expect some pop on decel.

 

[beastman487]

My very humble but nevertheless well-informed opinion is that if bunging a 3/4" drill down your stock pipes did any good, all manner of racers would do the same.
You will end up with more flat spots than Cheshire.
Your ears will tell you that you are fast, but a dyno will tell you that you are dreaming.
If you want a set of pipes that perform better than stock, pay out some hard earned on some properly engineered kit.
Remember, loud does not equal fast.
Been trying to tell all my Harley peers this for years, but heigh ho, like casting pearls to swine. Ho ho.

What do you mean by flat spots, like on a dyno chart? I'm not doing it for performance gain. I just want the exhaust to have a bit more growl and less whine. I also want to make sure there's no negative impact on my bike. I think cafetbird knows what I'm getting at.

 

[MickMaguire]

My very humble but nevertheless well-informed opinion is that if bunging a 3/4" drill down your stock pipes did any good, all manner of racers would do the same.
You will end up with more flat spots than Cheshire.
Your ears will tell you that you are fast, but a dyno will tell you that you are dreaming.
If you want a set of pipes that perform better than stock, pay out some hard earned on some properly engineered kit.
Remember, loud does not equal fast.
Been trying to tell all my Harley peers this for years, but heigh ho, like casting pearls to swine. Ho ho.

The Triumph "Off road" pipes are the stock pipes without the baffles fitted - if you drill them right out the bike will perform just fine - the baffles are there for noise abatement not performance.

 

[BigAl8295]

I drilled out the baffles in my stock mufflers when I first got my bike.

I was just looking for a little more sound than the "Jetson's Spaceship" sound of stock.

It was a cheap, quick mod and worth doing.

Of course the more time I spend here the more I tinker.

 

[jwolf]

There is apparently another option to obtain a more pleasant, meaty sound from stock silencers.
I picked up my Legend from the shop today, and the mechanic I had sought out was showing me his Legend and comparing it to mine.
They sounded the same but when he opened up the throttle (bikes were parked), his machine had a deeper sound.
Are those stock exhausts, I asked. Yes, completely. But if I understand him correctly (and I am hardly even a novice mechanic), he said it was a removal of the secondary airbox that made the difference.
I immediately put this on my wish list for next year, and please don't ask me about details of what this entails, but the man knows what he is talking about, even if I may not.
His Legend was the first one to come into the USA in 99, and he has done a fair amount of customizing and tinkering with it.
The appearance is basically stock, but slighty more appealing.
So, someone on this site may be able to elaborate, but this novice liked what he heard.

 

[Beemie]

I would suggest you find some spare mufflers to alter.
I'm glad I did because it was not a sound I could live with, let alone like.

 

[ssevy]

Beemie's advice is excellent. I certainly wouldn't purchase a set of new pipes that I had not heard, and essentially by drilling you are indeed creating a set of "new" pipes. Leave them alone until you have a chance to hear a few others, and then drill with abandon if you like what you hear. Just my 3 cents..(the extra penny is to help jump start the economy)

 

[beastman487]

I've never heard anyone say they didn't like the sound of the stock baffles drilled. Now I'm skeptical about drilling them.

 

[ssevy]

I recognize myself in your enthusiasm over your new Legend, and wanting to do everything right now When I first began reading this forum, I would work myself into an awful state of sleeplessness thinking of all of the mods people had done that I just had to do, and as soon as possible! My 99 Legend came with stock mufflers and a set of TORs, and I have swapped them back and forth, and still cannot decide which I like better. My point is that you have plenty of time to tweak, and I agree with Beemie that you shouldn't jump into a modification that can't be undone, and can be expensive if you don't like the results. Other people's opinions can certainly be valuable when they are discussing something that is objective, but the nature of what our individual ears prefer falls more under the subjective heading.
If you really want to fantasize about louder pipes, search for Irlmike's video of his European trip - his Thunderbike pipes sound amazing on that video!

 

[IrlMike]

Here ya go

 

[cafetbird]

I've never heard anyone say they didn't like the sound of the stock baffles drilled. Now I'm skeptical about drilling them.

Yeah, there aren't many people that end up saying that. The only modified I have heard that sounded "bad" were ones that weren't done properly. If you drill too small a hole, or a series of small holes, they can not sound very good.

Of course, as has been pointed out, some folks don't like noise, so this is always a matter of personal preference. A lot of BMW riders I know prefer quiet bikes, for instance...

 

[GrvThang]

Brackets - TB Peashooters vs Legend Cones

Maybe I should start a new thread, but this is a related question that came up because I'm getting ready to drill out the baffles, and a search of existing threads doesn't answer my question):
I have a 99 Legend with the stock silencers. I bought a pair of peashooters on eBay yesterday that came off a 96 TBird with the intention of drilling them out and keeping the reverse cones stock.
The peashooters don't have the brackets on the them, so I ordered a pair from BikeBandit (yes, I'm aware of the 'loose captive nut issue' I've read about on other postings).
Without thinking, I ordered the brackets for a Legend, but today I realized that maybe I should have ordered the brackets for a TBird, because that's the bike that has the peashooters.
According to one of Mr. McGuire's previous posts (who seems to have a lot of knowledge on the subject), there are differences in the subframes between the two bikes.
Does anyone know how this is going to work out, or should I just go ahead and order the TBird brackets too?

 

[denny]

The brackets are different.

As long as you use the brackets meant for the mufflers of your choice they are interchangeable.

AFAIK

 

[IrlMike]

The muffler mounting location '98 Tbird to '99 Legend is identical. (I've swapped systems over.) IIRC the muffler brackets likewise. Bikebandit gives the same item number for the RH, I doubt the LH would be any different even tho' BB shows a different (BB) number.

Mike

 

[2 wheels good 3 better]

TOR's = engineered pipes? I think NOT!

The Triumph "Off road" pipes are the stock pipes without the baffles fitted - if you drill them right out the bike will perform just fine - the baffles are there for noise abatement not performance.

Whoa, slow down. I said engineered solutions, I NEVER did, and never would say that TOR's resemble an engineered solution to anything, except waking the neighbours.
I repeat, loud does not equal fast. Not often, anyway.

 

[KD5QOQ]

Mike, God Bless and thank you for the ride through the UK country side!!!

 

[cafetbird]

I repeat, loud does not equal fast. Not often, anyway.

Maybe not - but I have never heard a race bike that was not quite loud....

The system requires the proper balance. If you open up the restriction on the back end, you need to balance the flow through. If the holes aren't particularly large, the balance/adjustment required is minimal.

 

[Robroil]

Like most guys here I wanted a bit more of a roar from my 98 Legend pipes but money being tight went for the7/8th drillout at the motor end of my reverse cone silencers, worked a treat. Doing this has no effect on compression as that is only affected by piston/combustion chamber/valve mechanics. What it will do is increase slightly the speed of exhaust gas flow out the pipe due to a slight de-restriction of the exit route. Because the exhaust gas can exit quicker slight back pop can occur so richening up mixture is a good idea. Well, after that it seemed rude not to let alot more air and fuel in the other side. Airbox and jet mods really do waken up this motor, never regretted it, Rob.