I spent a few hours trying some different tactics like trying to use a pry bar and hammer to knock the welds loose, but to no avail. That's when I got smart and decided to take the pipes off the bike and remove the baffles from the front end. When I removed the pipes I noticed what looked like a metal cup wedged down into the pipe with a baffle in the middle. My 1 & 3/8" hole saw was a perfect fit to drill a hole right in the center. Once the metal cup was loose I used a screwdriver to pop it out of there. It looked like this when I was done:
I then took a 1 & 1/2" hole saw, cut it in half, and welded some pipe between the two pieces. This was the end result:
The tool was exactly the right size to slip over the baffle and still fit inside the small end of the pipe. I used slow RPMs and cutting oil to finally pop that baffle loose! The insides of the pipes were covered with a fiber fill that was taped to the inside of the pipes. I scraped the tape loose from the wall of the pipes using my pry bar, and pulled the stuffing out with a pair of plyers. Here's what it looked like with the baffles removed:
The pipes sound super awesome now. I still need to rejet and will be doing that very shortly. I ordered 130 mains and 45 pilots. I have the AI removed but the factory airbox is still in place. That will probably be one of the next things to go. For anyone interested here's what the baffles I pulled out look like:
Hope this was helpful and I'll post back to give an update on my rejetting efforts.
