| Author | Message | ||
     Victory |
What will happen in this case? Race ECM and K & N air filter remains installed. Will the plugs be alright? Will there be a big drop in power. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Never used a race exhaust, but switching from the V&H to the stock exhaust on my S1 is a noticeable drop in HP. I initially went to smaller jets but ended working my way back up pretty much to where they were with the V&H, same intake(forcewinder). It rides fine, plenty of power for normal riding. It's a bit less spunky though. It used to wheelie with a handful of gas in 1st, now I've gotta get the RPMs higher, gas it, chop the throttle and give it another handful of gas to get the same effect. | ||
| Ratbuell |
If you have a true race muffler, you can't put a stock muffler on without changing the header. If you put the stock muffler AND header back on, you may notice a drop in top end power but you should feel a bump in midrange torque. And, your ears won't ring after every ride. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
That ear ringing part isnt a joke. I already have some problems with my one ear separate from the Buell. But stock exhaust vs V&H is the difference between it behaving pretty much normally, vs constant ringing, some hearing loss, a little dizziness, and headaches. I've had plenty of other loud bikes, but something about the rumble of the buell gets to me. It's a shame because I typically prefer quiet bikes, and this was the one bike I liked to make a little noise. | ||
| Falloutnl |
I hardly ever ride without ear plugs anymore. Think I already suffer from a mild form of tinnitus and definitely don't want it to get any worse. The good news is that even with ear plugs, there's still plenty of enjoyment to be had from a louder pipe. It comes through, just more cleaned up, which might be called a plus even. | ||
| General_ulysses |
I had a '97 S1 with a Mikuni HSR42 and K&N filter and V&H exhaust. I couldn't take the noise (due to hearing loss) so I swapped it out for the stock pipe. I felt an immediate increase in low-mid range torque. High end power to me felt the same. It pulled hard right up to redline just like it did before. And when I say it was torquey I actually sheared the input splines clean off of my countersprocket (pulley). So, other than. Losing a few cool points in the looks and sound dept, I liked the stock muffler. Also I remember Buellistic (RIP) had a cool mod for the stock pipe where you add a second smaller outlet pipe, which apparently increased perf a little and made it a bit more throaty sounding without going overboard. I'd consider that mod too. | ||
| Falloutnl |
Losing a few cool points in the looks and sound dept Wouldn't say so. That stock S1 pipe is so odd looking these days that I think it's actually really special. And while I love-love-love a great exhaust note personally, the added consideration factor of a quieter bike is probably the cooler choice in the end. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
"the added consideration factor of a quieter bike is probably the cooler choice in the end." I immediately have respect for anyone that passes me on a Harley with the stock exhaust. That practically never happens, and it's amazing how quiet those bikes can be in stock form. Riding is definitely easier with the stock exhaust. It's very nice to ride past someone walking a dog or small kids, and not have to pull in the clutch and coast past them just for the sake of not being a jerk. You also don't learn until you're a new parent with a baby/babies that hate the car, how amazingly irritating it is to have some goon revving his Harley next to you at a redlight when by some miracle your kid actually fell asleep in their car seat and you can drive somewhere without a crying baby in the back seat for once, only to have them wake up thanks to someone's midlife cries for attention. Loud sportbikes don't bother me as much because the noise just doesn't really hit you as hard, but I can say I've never understood the appeal of guys that buy expensive and crazy fast sportbikes, and are speeding around and doing wheelies with a straight pipe announcing their presence 2 miles away. If I'm gonna be out goofing around, the last thing I want to do is give cops a 2 minute warning that I'm coming. That's like being a museum jewel thief but you walk around all day in a striped shirt, ski mask, and carry bags with money signs on them. Nothing is going to be better for the publics perception of motorcyclists than electric bikes going mainstream, especially people who ride dirtbikes. | ||
| Falloutnl |
You also don't learn until you're a new parent with a baby/babies that hate the car, how amazingly irritating it is to have some goon revving his Harley next to you at a redlight when by some miracle your kid actually fell asleep in their car seat and you can drive somewhere without a crying baby in the back seat for once, only to have them wake up thanks to someone's midlife cries for attention. I hear that. Same goes for people blasting through residential areas in the middle of the night. | ||
| Jayvee |
Sometimes seems like a bit of a sport to set off car alarms with the exhaust, but I may have done one or two myself. I tried the V&H, SuperTrapp, and Drummer, and now use the stock muffler. Part of it's the full-face helmet, it catches the sound from directly below more than the old style helmets, and that's where the exhaust outlet is on these bikes. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Of course, a properly packed race can isn't crackly-obnoxious. I pack my S1W with steel wool and it has a nice, relatively (key word there) mellow rumble, as opposed to a V&H crackle, or an all-around roar from something like a Force. Keep it properly packed and it'll live longer, too. You can also experiment with packing materials, density (how much you shove in there), and packing frequency to really tune your sound. I loved the old Buell/Supertrapp IDS (internal disc) muffler I had on an old M2. It was the factory performance muffler, and it attached to the stock header (didn't require the race header). Tuneable with discs inside an end-cap, super easy to tune the sound and torque curve of that muffler! | ||
| Hawgford |
This thread is hilarious and I fear endless like oil discussions...I build and recore ,even have my own design, great by the number with cone eng.com stainless wool and without.All of them made for H D and Buell and Triumph from NTO's stockers and "according to shop/dealer dumpster refugees. Don't be fooled. Just lets on type on this just to type,which its beginning to sound like..... For the northeasterners on here ,after what I heard about ya'lls weather,I figure over the last 4+- days ,that frame should be ready to go to powder coaters? | ||
| Led |
I tried mounting my stock muffler back onto the stock header. But since I ran a V&H muffler for so many years.....nothing for the mounting points, matched up anymore?? STILL have the V&H on.....but it has become a straight pipe. I tried repacking it once, but thought I would destroy it, trying to get the screws out of it. So.....STILL running it!! I don't ride it enough, to worry about my hearing, but when I DO ride it.......what a blast!!  | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Mine did the same exact thing. I bought my bike with the V&H on it, got a stock exhaust from someone on the forum. Nothing lined up. I had to make new rear mounts about an inch longer than stock, and had to really slow down pulling into my driveway or the exhaust would scrape on the curb, not to mention it looked a little bad. Eventually I loosened up the whole setup back to the cylinders and everything wiggled right into place. I assumed that could've been the case, but being a 22 year old bike, I was just afraid to touch those exhaust studs and cause myself another project I didn't have time to fix. Luckily, as bad as they looked, they loosened right up and everything fits well now. I still couldn't get the stock Z bracket to fit though. Nothing to do with the clearance between the exhaust and the engine, I just couldn't get the bolt holes to line up right. I ended up just cutting my homemade brackets down to stock length and putting it back together. Hassle to get wrenches in where they're needed, but some Rivnuts made things pretty simple. Someday I'll make some new brackets and actually weld some nuts onto the back of them, or at least weld the rivnuts into place, but they're working well as they are. | ||
| Captainkirk |
I've got the Buell race exhaust. It's far too loud to ride without earplugs under the helmet for more than a hop around the block. When repacked, it's better, but not enough so. By far the loudest exhaust I've ever heard is the Force exhaust. My brother had one on his M2 for a season then took it off. It would set off car alarms simply by riding past them, and when I would ride behind him I could literally feel the shock waves. | ||
| Sbaugz |
I am in the same dilemma here. I have an S1W with a complete race kit. I repacked the race canister last summer using packing from bristol core. Despite the repack, it is crazy loud. Even with earplugs and a full face helmet, I get this low pitched, vibration in my ears. I have a full stock S1W exhaust including headers in my basement and I am debating putting that on. Only question pertains to tuning- years ago my S1W was jetted on a dyno for the complete race setup. I wonder what will happen if I switch to the the stock S1W exhaust setup, but keep the intake and ECM from the race kit? (Message edited by sbaugz on April 27, 2020) | ||
| Upthemaiden |
"I wonder what will happen if I switch to the the stock S1W exhaust setup, but keep the intake and ECM from the race kit? " I don't get very into tuning bikes, but my thought process for leaving the forcewinder on when I switched to the stock exhaust is that air can't come into the system any faster than it's getting out the other end, so if I switch to the stock exhaust, there's not really a need to also switch to the stock airbox. You restrict the air at one end, it's gonna slow at both ends. I didn't see a point to switching the intake as well, when the forcewinder looks much better. I can't say much about the differences between the normal and race ECMs. | ||
| Sbaugz |
Thanks upthemaiden- but I was thinking more in terms of the carb jetting | ||
| Captainkirk |
It will make a difference. Race can is basically straight through, no back pressure. Plus, the stock can weighs 9 pounds. |
