Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Exhaust Hole saw location and availability?

I understand that there is a hole saw traveling around on the site that is capable of drilling out the baffles on stock America pipes. Anyone know where it is and how I might arrange for it's use? It's time for me to become more obnoxious to my neighbors when I start my bike at 4 am!

pm oldmike, he owns one that I have used.

BikerT

Randy, If you remove all 4 baffels (which sounds greeeat) make sure you leave the reducer, that is in the front of the pipes, in. You need that for backpressure.
4 baffels out is not rediculously loud either. It gets a good amount of volume when you W.O.T. But just casually using the throttle won't blow the neighbors out of bed. F.W.I.W.

I have not seen one for a while. I have made several in the past, but I'm not sure where the last location was. The bit does wear out, but if anyone has one that is still okay please post up. If no one answers, I'll make another. Pm me your address and I'll get it to you. Please send it along to the next user if anyone asks for it or return it to me.
Mike Sr.

It appears the guy that owned my bike just cut off the baffles and made inserts to mount turnout tips the the exhaust. A hack job at best. That was to be one of the first things I addressed but I have not had a chance to do much of anything to my sm since I lost my job a couple weeks after purchase. I like the sound but not the hack job.

somebody please email me if you have a holesaw i can borrow. im looking the get rid of the sewing machine sound!

bkrbkr19@gmail.com

I tried getting a loan of the hole saw as well but with no luck. What I did do was drill 1/4" holes around each of the baffles and then slid a small piece of pipe over each one of the baffle pipes and with some gentle twisting and bending I was able to get them to break away from their plates. Be sure to have a coat hanger (with a hook) fed through your slip on pipe and baffle pipe to keep the baffle from falling backward into the exhaust. I removed two baffles from either side and am very pleased wuth the sound.

I took a 24" piece of r-bar and ground down one end basically made a chisle out of it.

The welds are minimum at best, I did mine while the pipes were still on the bike. Using a flashlight you can easily see the three spot welds that hold the baffles in.

Just put the edge up against the weld and one wack it is gone. You will need a coat hanger to fish out the second set of baffles.

Took all but ten minutes for both sides. I then ran a towel up each pipe cleaned the area and used hi-temp flat black spray paint to cover the exposed areas (welds) and I was done.

I have a 3/4" long reach hole saw here I can send you, but doing the job 3/4s at a time takes more time & effort than Poppy's method. If I were to do it again, I'd do what Poppy posted. If you can't find a suitable length of rebar, some cold rolled round stock from the hardware store should be affordable.

Maybe take two baffles out at first, then ride it around for a while and see if that sound works for you. Two out does take it up quite a bit compared to stock, but it isn't "Here come the neighbors with torches and pitch forks" loud.

I took a long ride in November, and went back to a pair of stock pipes for the quiet they offer. I recently put my louder pipes back on, and I'm kind of missing those factory quiet pipes.

If I had it to do over again part II: I'd chop saw the ends off the factory pipes at an angle, so when you look at the bike from the side, it would look like \___________
I'd even leave a few inches worth of the pipe's factory taper on top, (if it's pre '06) and cut it steeper than 45, but thats just me. Just a thought. You can always cut more or pipe or square it to 90 degrees etc. later on if an angle doesn't look the way you want it.

Not answering the original question but rather following the thread... I started with D&Ds. Didn't like the look. Sold them and bought stock America pipes with the first two baffles drilled with three 1/4 holes. The performance loss was blatant. I did Poppy's method but with a long "T" post. My experience was much different. The chisel part must make a lot of difference. Anyway- I beat out the first two and there was little change if any, so I beat out all of the baffles. It was still quiet enough to sneak out of the neighborhood in the morning, but had a good thump when getting on it. The tone of the exhaust was perfect. It was deep and had a presence. I got lots of complements on the sound- even from Harley owners. But the performance was not that of the D&D's. Being an idiot, I opened the exhaust all the way. I took out the chokes at the coupling and the big corrugated metal converter-like diffusers. Now it runs like it did with the D&Ds, but there is no sneaking out of the neighborhood- it's loud- all the time. As a point of reference, one pardner of mine has a Heritage with open Hookers and another bud has a Roadstar with open 2" BUBs. Mine is comparable in volume db. The signature "blap" sound of a parallel twin is back, too. I liked the sound with all the baffles out and the diffusers in. The loss in performance was too much though. If I had a do-over, I'd take out all the baffles and the choked down section at the coupling and leave the diffusers in.

those things you called the diffusers are the catalytic converters. I thought about taking the chokes or restrictors but the dealer said I'd have problems.


mike

Mike57,
do you have a california emissions version? You should not have catalytic converters on your bike. What dealer told you this? Team or Sharer?

Hi Poppy
Were the baffles you are talking about the ones right at the tail end of the pipe.

Mitch,

I did this "mod" on a stock set of slash cut pipes that came with the bike 06 TBA.

The first set of baffles are about 10" in on both sides, once you have them out, ride it for a day or two and see if you like the sound.

The second set of baffles are about 20" in from the ends.

Everyone that has done this "Mod" ends up removing the first and second set of baffles as the sound with the second set out is pretty throatie.

Cheers mate i will let you know how i go