On modifying your stock mufflers

[Dirty Dan]

I recently bought a used Street Glide. The first time I rode it I thought it sounded really crappy. It ran well, but sounded bad...real, real bad. So bad in fact, that I was too embarrassed to ride it to work.

It turns out the previous owner cut out the baffles. Now, I have read posts in forums suggesting this as a method of making your bike sound better without the expense of buying after market pipes.

I can't stress enough how bad my bike sounded and I do not recommend doing this. If I had chopped up my pipes and make my bike sound this way, I would have been real disappointed with myself.

Has anybody else had experience with this?

[Kfengler]

Nope! :whistling:


But the SE mufflers I had didn't sound that great either. :huh:


Love the Rinehart True Duals... :cheers:

[Dirty Dan]

Those look great and that's what I'm considering. But I want to hear them first.

[dwarthog]

One of the people I ride with has the baffles removed from their stock pipes.

Sounds like crap to be honest.

[Q-Dog]

I just took a set of V&H StraightShots of the Fatty.
Those baffles were removed, and the exhaust note was fairily off-putting.

[Jams]

Dan,

Buying a used bike with the baffles punched out may not be the only problem the previous owner created with the shade tree muffler alterations. Sounds like something someone from the shallow end of the gene pool would do to modify the bike.....

If he couldn't afford new slip ons -- were else did he cut corners?

How many miles were on the bike when you bought it?

I wouldn't doubt if there is some pre-ignition damage done if the exhaust was altered. That could explain why it runs so bad. :(

[route66paul]

Dan,

Buying a used bike with the baffles punched out may not be the only problem the previous owner created with the shade tree muffler alterations. Sounds like something someone from the shallow end of the gene pool would do to modify the bike.....

If he couldn't afford new slip ons -- were else did he cut corners?

How many miles were on the bike when you bought it?

I wouldn't doubt if there is some pre-ignition damage done if the exhaust was altered. That could explain why it runs so bad. :(

Go to Fulsac.com. Steve recores muffs with a stepped baffle. These are tested and do perform, they sound pretty good, too.

[Jams]

That a good example and a good link that I will see if he wants to buy my stock mufflers off my old wide glide that I still have.
But re-cored stockers is a whole lot different than knocking the plugs out of stock mufflers to give it that open pipe sound and then not adjusting the fuel settings on a injected bike.

I would still pull a spark plug and see if there is any evidence of pre-ignition going on.

[duhast]

One of my first mods, except I bought a set of stocks on ebay and punched those, leaving mine alone.

Yeah, didn't sound very good...a bit chirpy.

[trmn8r]

Bought a set of recored mufflers off ebay from seller bobvic, similar to the ones Fullsac does I think. Some say one is better than the other... I dont know only seen the bobvic ones up close. They sounded fine to me when I got them. Kept reading on different forums that they sounded tinny to some people but sounded fine to me. Next added the truedual conversion from Fullsac, made the recored mufflers to loud to me for the quality of sound... if that makes sense to anyone. Put on a set of reverse slash cut stock mufflers off a early '90's RK that friend had drilled out. Actaully sounded pretty good I thought... deep not to loud... guess it can all depend on how much they are drilled out etc... maybe I got lucky? Then I bought a used set of Hooker Tuned Flow mufflers... I absofreakinlutely LOVE the sound from them. LOUD you bet. To loud? maybe but I dont care they sound to good. So long as I can here the stereo over them I'm gonna stick with them. On long runs I do put in earplugs so for a touring bike maybe they are to loud, but I spend so much time in/around town where they sound so good to me that I dont care, I'm keeping them!

[y2k king]

just slap on a set of wild pigs.:beer:

[Rock]

Depends on the sound you want. For deep and throaty I'd recommend a set of ThunderHeaders. They allowed me to beat Gray in the "blip" contest we had. :roflback:

[Xkvator]

Depends on the sound you want. For deep and throaty I'd recommend a set of ThunderHeaders. They allowed me to be Gray in the "blip" contest we had. :roflback:

no wonder they're so expensive...

how did it feel to be Gray...?

[Rock]

no wonder they're so expensive...

how did it feel to be Gray...?

Who's side are you on? Gray is from Ohio for crying out loud. :nope:

[Jams]

Hey you two -:thunder:- are we going to have to seperate you?
:rant2:
One more word about this and you'll be sorry :thwak:

[Rock]

..but..but..X started it! :rant:

[Xkvator]

good thing you didn't leave out the r...:roflback:

[Dirty Dan]

Hey Jams, that's a good idea. Thanks.

Rock - I want to hear a good set of 2:1s before I buy anything. But I am kind of partial to the Rinehart look.

I didn't post the whole story...well I did, but I posted it piecemeal in various places.

As Paul Harvey used to say - and now, the rest of the story. I took the bike back and the dealer installed a set of take-off Street Glide mufflers - gratis! They were from a bike purchased new with aftermarket mufflers installed at purchase. Now it sounds...well, stock.

My bike never ran bad, it just sounded - in my opinion - horrible. So, my caution is this.... try to listen to a set that have been modified this way before you do it.:)

[8-Ball]

Bought a set of recored mufflers off ebay from seller bobvic, similar to the ones Fullsac does I think. Some say one is better than the other... I dont know only seen the bobvic ones up close. They sounded fine to me when I got them. Kept reading on different forums that they sounded tinny to some people but sounded fine to me. Next added the truedual conversion from Fullsac, made the recored mufflers to loud to me for the quality of sound... if that makes sense to anyone. Put on a set of reverse slash cut stock mufflers off a early '90's RK that friend had drilled out. Actaully sounded pretty good I thought... deep not to loud... guess it can all depend on how much they are drilled out etc... maybe I got lucky? Then I bought a used set of Hooker Tuned Flow mufflers... I absofreakinlutely LOVE the sound from them. LOUD you bet. To loud? maybe but I dont care they sound to good. So long as I can here the stereo over them I'm gonna stick with them. On long runs I do put in earplugs so for a touring bike maybe they are to loud, but I spend so much time in/around town where they sound so good to me that I dont care, I'm keeping them!

My brother in law has a set of those... best sounding pipes I've ever heard... too loud for me... love my Rineharts. I think I get PayPal, though when I ride over 80 mph.... still testing...

[trmn8r]

well no wonder your using a MAC operatin' system, on a MOCO product... now wonder your getting paypal. I mean Mac's kinda like the Kia/Hyunda of 'puters jeesh. What release version of Rineharts ya running... I'll try and help you test it out as well. :whistling:

[route66paul]

Bought a set of recored mufflers off ebay from seller bobvic, similar to the ones Fullsac does I think. Some say one is better than the other... I dont know only seen the bobvic ones up close. They sounded fine to me when I got them. Kept reading on different forums that they sounded tinny to some people but sounded fine to me. Next added the truedual conversion from Fullsac, made the recored mufflers to loud to me for the quality of sound... if that makes sense to anyone. Put on a set of reverse slash cut stock mufflers off a early '90's RK that friend had drilled out. Actaully sounded pretty good I thought... deep not to loud... guess it can all depend on how much they are drilled out etc... maybe I got lucky? Then I bought a used set of Hooker Tuned Flow mufflers... I absofreakinlutely LOVE the sound from them. LOUD you bet. To loud? maybe but I dont care they sound to good. So long as I can here the stereo over them I'm gonna stick with them. On long runs I do put in earplugs so for a touring bike maybe they are to loud, but I spend so much time in/around town where they sound so good to me that I dont care, I'm keeping them!
They are not the same. the ones you got are either just punched out or ones with a smooth bore. Either way, they do not help your power. Fulsac recores do help your power.

[trmn8r]

the ones I had had a 1 1/2" baffle through the original baffles, it was drilled out and then the baffle welded in. They did help my power, never said they hurt it or what it did to my power... I could tell a huge decrease in power when I went from the recores back to the drilled out RK mufflers. I got no dog the fight as to if one is better than the other. The ones I had did help power and until I found out better by trying a better muffler I thought they sounded great.

[Jeffytune]

I was running a set of the BobVic recores on mine, i just went to a 2 into 1 and i like the better sound.
Little deeper, and more torque.
http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/500/medium/IMG_0507.jpg

If you would like those recores, they all yours for 75.00 and I will through in the shipping.

[Bofinn]

If I didn't have Doof Injection, I probably would have drilled out my pipes to try and do it the cheap way.

Glad I didn't... But still not happy...

[Chromer]

I recently bought a used Street Glide. The first time I rode it I thought it sounded really crappy. It ran well, but sounded bad...real, real bad. So bad in fact, that I was too embarrassed to ride it to work.

It turns out the previous owner cut out the baffles. Now, I have read posts in forums suggesting this as a method of making your bike sound better without the expense of buying after market pipes.

I can't stress enough how bad my bike sounded and I do not recommend doing this. If I had chopped up my pipes and make my bike sound this way, I would have been real disappointed with myself.

Has anybody else had experience with this?

I thought this thread was going to be about how good those surgically deviated stock slip on's sounded? What a relief...

YIP..I was at a local HD shop last Sunday and there was a guy there with a Road King and he was bragging about how much money he saved and how good his exhaust sounded. He fired that lame puppy up..and...my gosh...What a CRAPPY Sound!!! Something between a 1972 Kawasaki Mach IV and a 2003 6 HP Snapper Lawn Mower...

JMO :roflback:

[duhast]

I bought an ebay set specifically to punch. Sounded ...... poor.

S.E.'s weren't much better.

RB Racing 2-1 sounds like a NASCAR.

[route66paul]

S&S spos sound like a big block chevy with headers.

[Dirty Dan]

S&S spos sound like a big block chevy with headers.

Lovin' my SPO's here.

[Highmiles]

I have liked my SPO's enough to put them on two bikes. I remain very pleased with both their power, and sound.

[Big MAK]

I like the sound of my Rinehart TD's... but they have an EXTREMELY annoying rattle. The baffles are tight; I dunno where the noise is coming from but it's the pipes. Tempted to put my stock pipe back on. Can't afford new pipes atm.

[trmn8r]

loose muffler bearing?

[duhast]

loose muffler bearing?

Good point. Some relative bearing grease should fix that right up, huh?

[trmn8r]

Good point. Some relative bearing grease should fix that right up, huh?

I suggest relatively high temp bearing grease for muffler bearings.