| Author | Message | ||
     Lovematt |
Hello, I purchased and tried out the race muffler but it was way too loud. I am wondering if anyone has pictures or drawings of how the stock muffler for the 2003 XB9R? I am trying to determine how to modify the stocker to open it up __A LITTLE__ but keep the same tone/sound of the exhaust (i.e. no excessive raspiness or harsh straightpipe type sound). If I had photos of a cut up one (maybe one cut up before being made into a drummer?) muffler or drawings of the structure/components inside I could figure this out better. I was told it is $300 for a new muffler so I want to go slow and make sure I don't make this thing completely unusable... | ||
| Kds1 |
lovematt, There's no need in opening the can cause there's really nothing to gain by the way your thinking, trust me i know whats inside the stock can. Its a tuned length drag pipe in a barrell...The best fix for what it sounds like you are trying to do is to drill a series of 1/4 inch holes around the tailpipe exit between it and the stainless cover and you should let some pressure from the inside of the can and get a bit more sound......KEVIN | ||
| Captainplanet |
Lovematt, Kevin is right on there. That is the easiest way to do what you are trying with a stock pipe. It you want to do it so that the holes don't show and get the same effect you can do the following. Drill through the back of the pipe near the center just above the centerline. Then, about an inch in the bit will hit the crossover pipe. Drill five or six holes here. Then you can have the holes on the outside welded, grinded and painted over. It will make the pipe sound way better. I have some pics of a stock pipe that I did a little autopsy on. I will try to post them here later today. | ||
| Oconnor |
Now I am just curious to see what it looks like too. How are the pics coming? | ||
| Ingemar |
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| Captainplanet |
Sorry, I forgot about the pics. I'll try to remember tonight. I have some that go in a bit deeper than the one above. In the one above though, you can see the crossover pipe I had mentioned above in the part of the pipe on the top of the pic. That is the one you can drill through to get some more sound. All it does is allow some exhaust to not go through all three sections. In the pic above, lower, the pipe on the left (the one sticking out) is coming straight from the header pipe, then the exhaust turns and goes through the middle pipe. Then it goes to the front to another chamber with some baffle in it and then back to the rear through the pipe on the right and out the outlet. Notice the double wall outer skin too. That makes it a pain to weld back up again if you cut through it like the pipe above. | ||
| 420at145mph |
ill sell u my stocker for 200 | ||
| Lovematt |
Those pictures are very helpful...I ended up drilling four 1/4" holes between the outer stainless outlet and the "actual" outlet inside. I have to tell you that really helped smooth out the highway vibrations and gives it a little bit of a bark too. I really like how it sounds and runs now...there is nothing more I think I need to do. I have the K&N Air Filter, XB12R Air Filter Cover, and these four holes in my exhaust...that really woke up the bike from 3500-6500. I don't think it is too lean at all...seems to run very nicely that way and no difference in operating temperature that I can tell. Thanks for all of the information guys...now if I could just sell the Race ECM and Muffler I ended up purchasing....available at a greatly reduced price to anyone that wants it. | ||
| Ingemar |
 The three holes is what I did, the arrow is what someone else suggested. Anyway, the three 3/8 holes I did sure changes the sound. Now, unless it's between my ears, the bike has gotten slower in the low and mid range. Advice? Don't do it 'cos it's not worth it IMO. It sounds 'amature' to say the least and I'm pretty sure the performance drop isn't in my head somewhere... | ||
| Lovematt |
Ingemar is correct in that it reduces power in the lower and midrange. However that hole drilled into the original outlet pipe will create an interuption in the airflow at lower RPM. From my experience with hotrods, the more restrictive the exhaust combined with the right Cam will give you better power at the bottom. If you take this same car and open up the exhaust, only some of the power will move up in the RPM but some will also be lost down low...permanently. However you take out the torque Cam and put in a higher RPM cam and the same vehicle will put out more power than before but now in the higher range since now the cam better matches the exhaust. The way I did it is put four 1/4" holes in the area where your three 3/8" holes were with none drilled in the original exhaust pipe. This creates the same flow on the "longer pipe" (original back/forth/back/out) to help with lower end. At the higher end there is a pressure buildup in the can which the 1/4" holes help with the airflow...at the lower RPMs these holes probably don't do much relative to the total airflow. However if I were to drill more holes, I think overall power would go down since the "leaks" will be too big and turbulence will be created at the lower RPMs which will drop the power...exhaust is funny sometimes when that is all you change. Most of my riding is between 3500 and 6500 so this works for me. Someone who does mostly launches or slow speed riding would not like this if they don't go much beyond 4000. | ||
| Nxtr |
Here is another idea, Instead of drilling holes. In the pic above, lower, the pipe on the left (the one sticking out) is coming straight from the header pipe, then the exhaust turns and goes through the middle pipe. Then it goes to the front to another chamber with some baffle in it and then back to the rear through the pipe on the right and out the outlet. Make a U bend pipe weld it to the left header pipe then to to the middle pipe (must be a tight enough U bend to put the rear cap back on). In the rear cap remove the pipe completly, and expand the outlet to the inner diameter if the tacked on oval stainless outlet tip. In theory you would keep the original tuned length (good for lowend TQ), and the increase in the outlet size should create a pleasing low tone with out be to overly loud. JMO. Any thoughts, or has someone tried this? Nick | ||
| Easyflier |
Nxtr, I'm in the process of trying something similar to what you describe. Hope to try it out by next week. I'm going across to the outlet pipe though and exiting through the return pipe after stepping up the diamater as much as possible. Will end up dumping the exhaust into the rear chamer and exiting through dual outlets, sized somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3", that will probably be determined more by visual than performance. Essentialy the goal is one lengthened clean collector with a very large outlet to let the gases out. If that fails to give me what I want I will probably buy a Drummer.  | ||
| Nxtr |
Easyflier, What you describe is what the cut-away for the XB12 muffler looks like. Now that I think about it that may make more sense when applied to the XB9 can as well. It would make the u-bend pipe alot easier as well as less of an extreme bend. I like your idea of the dual outlets, it seems as though you may be giving up too much, not allowing for the the right balance of backpressure to retain the low-end grunt. Let me know how it goes. Nick} | ||
| Easyflier |
I think the collector length will compensate. All I'm really doing is cleaning up the pathway, increasing a couple diameters and using that little bit of glass packing in the front chamber for sound reduction. I could be way off base but I'm hoping to get a nice low rumble when I'm done. I've hacked my current pipe, it runs well and is loud but it's a high pitched kinda loud, like a Sporty with real short drag pipes. I also run a PC III so I can compensate some for my errors in exhaust hacking. I'll let you know how it comes out. | ||
| Skeenix |
I'm interested in the pipe and ecm. Let me know what you want for them. | ||
| Lovematt |
I have had several people inquire but none so far have "bitten". For the ECM I would like to get $140 For the Muffler I would like to get $250 I paid around $600 for the muffler, ECM, and K&N Filter and everything is brand new. The ECM has never been installed in anything and the Muffler used for only 5 miles of riding to try it out and determine it was too loud. I am willing to pay shipping provided payment comes in first...send me an e-mail to the address in my profile if interested. | ||
| Lovematt |
Muffler and ECM are spoken for...already sold. | ||
| Oneway |
lovematt tried the 4 1/4" holes today did not notice much diff in the performance but a little in the smoothness, little louder, hate the sound at idle. it was worth a try,guys still say never heard you until you passed me | ||
| 420at145mph |
u guys talking about a stock muffler or the race pipe? | ||
| Darthane |
Stock. Look at the title. It was posited that a way to increase the volume of the stock muffler without harming performance or going ape on it was to drill some strategically placed holes. I still find it amusing that the race muffler was 'too loud'. Was that a complaint from neighbors/law enforcement, or personal? Get some earplugs - you should wear them when riding anyways! | ||
| Lovematt |
The complaint was from neighbors coming out into the yard when going by and looks from the police when before they weren't quite as interested. Plus my experience with hot rods is that a fast car does not have to be loud. I have a 1968 El Camino which is pretty quick and it is only loud when I get on'r...she idles pretty quiet and people are surprised when I give'r a little gas. You might be amused by the fact that I do wear hearing aids and felt it was a bit loud as a personal preference. Perhaps I am a bit overly considerate of others but I am also a pretty humble fellow... edited by lovematt on May 16, 2004 | ||
| Oneway |
I thought race pipe was to quite, for me its a safety issue, ever seen anyone run over with 12 inch drags and a Hawaiian shirt?  | ||
| Lovematt |
Hmm...interesting way of looking at it...letting others know you are there via sound. I guess being hard of hearing I tend to look a little harder than most people. | ||
| Signguyxb12 |
lovematt i drilled 2- 5/16 holes and one 1/4 hole I started with 2 -1/4 inch holes and took it for a ride.. moving to slightly larger drills and taking it for a short blast after every drill change....took 20 minutes.....nice sound and no loss in lower end riding it aFTER | ||
| Gonen60 |
Motorbike, or HotRod, No Big sound, No Fun. Both My car and bike, I like loud as possible. When ever I see a car, that looks like it might pull out in front of Me, or change lanes into me, I start working the throttle, so they can hear me, even if they don't see Me. I am a firm believer, that loud exhaust do help to save lives... | ||
| Oconnor |
Tried the 1/4 inch holes. It was louder but seemed to slow the bike down. Got bored today and took out the biggest bit I had and made the holes bigger. Well it turned into one big hole where Ingemar has the three. Lot louder, and a definite improvement on the butt dyno. Poor mans drummer until I can get it sent out to kevin. Or daves. Not gonna be for at least 10 weeks though. Gonna be busy in Quantico. So every body thats poor like me. Drill 3 big holes like above and tin snip the whole thing out. Then send cash and muffler to the drummer boys once you get it. |
