| Author | Message | ||
     Gorodin |
Newbie poster / New BLAST owner Just bought a 2001 Blast that had a Vance & Hines exhaust installed. Runs and sounds great, but I have neighbors and plan to ride this bike daily all year. I am thinking of switching to a stock exhaust, but is there a way to turn down the volume on the V&H instead? Please keep in mind that my mechanical knowledge is rudimentary at best. This is only my 2nd bike. Thanks. | ||
| Woody1911a1 |
hi gorodin , recently bought the same bike , same exaust . it was sooooo loud , i found a used original exaust and tried it . hated the sound and it really took a big bite outa the power . took the v & h apart and there was no packing left (it needs re-packing regularly ) .went to the local jap bike shop and got some fresh packing 9.95 . made a big difference . it's a lil loud but quite tolerable now . once you get the exaust thing settled , start reading up on the Thumper section of this board , actually thats where this post belongs , you want to re-jet your carb if it hasn't been already . Happy Thumping  | ||
| Jayvee |
The V&H on my M2 was tooo loud (bought it used.) I changed back to stock exhaust, and found out the packing was mostly absent from the V&H. New packing available from American Sport Bike, although I'm not certain it fits the Blast. There should be plenty of cheap "take-off" standard exhausts to be found, the re-packing stuff is like $25-$30. Replacing the exhaust if pretty simple, as far as fixing things goes. | ||
| Gorodin |
Thanks! I guess I'll try re-packing before getting a stock exhaust, see if that's quiet enough for the neighbors. Does the stock exhaust need re-packign too, or is that a different tech? | ||
| Jayvee |
Stock is all steel baffles, no fiberglass-type of packing. That's one advantage of the stock system. The downsides, of course, are the performance, looks, and weight. It's all trade-offs, I guess. | ||
| Naustin |
Gorodin, I have a very nice stock exhaust with all the brackets and goodies you need to mount it up (minus a couple of bolts that were re-used when I mounted up my Bub). You should be able to reuse the bolts currently holding on your V&H. The exhaust is in very good shape overall. It came off the bike after 1 year and about 4,000 miles, and has been in my basement for 2 years. It may have a little rust on it, but that's normal for a blast exhaust and I can take some pics. I'd rather sell it here than ebay. $50 plus actual shipping. Send me a PM if you are interested. I have some other blast parts too. Black Flyscreen, rear turnsigals, basically everything I removed from my bike when I was customizing it. Taillight assembly.... All that said. If I were you, I'd repack the V&H. The stocker really does take a bite out of the Blast's grunt, and it is so heavy, it completely changes the way the bike handles. It is much more stable at highway speeds with the heavy stock exhaust, and much more flickable with a lighter aftermarket unit like the V&H. It's really quiet though. Nick | ||
| Newbuellertoo |
Can anyone give me some help regarding the V&H Pipe (Aluminum) on my 2000 S3T? I bought the bike used so I am not sure how long it has been on. I would think it has been on quite a while based on the amount of corrosion I had to polish off on the bend. The problem is that it is way too loud. I have read in a couple of posts how these mufflers need to periodically repacked to quiet them down to their intended noise level. I like the sound, it's just too loud for everyday commuting.(And for the neighbors with my 5:00 a.m. departure for work). Can anyone who has done this before walk me through what I need to buy and how to do it? I am fairly handy with plenty of tools but haven't worked on a bike in 20 years.I'm also on a pretty tight budget as buying a bike after 20 years away was apparently not in the wife's long term financial plan. Who knew? | ||
| Wackyracer |
To take your exhaust apart you'll first need to drill out the rivets on the opposite end of the end cap. You'll need to use a drill bit that's about evenly between the center hole in the rivet and the total diameter of the rivet. Once you've drilled out the first one, double check to make sure that the bit you're using is as close to the hole size for the rivet as possible. If you spin a rivet when drilling, try holding the rivet with a pair of pliers and be careful not to scratch the muffler body. Once you've drilled out all of the rivets on that end you should be able to pull out the core leaving the muffler body and cap to set aside. remove any remaining fiberglass packing and replace with new packing cut to fit (you can order it from Lockhart Phillips). The packing simply wraps around the perforated core and should be wrapped until it just fits back in the muffler body. You should have the packing cut to fit the entire length of the perforated core. To hold the packing in place it's fine to use masking tape to hold it while you slide the exhaust back together. Once it's all together you'll need a rivet gun and the correct size rivets (Home Depot) to button the muffler back together. Then go out and enjoy your much better sounding exhaust! Your neighbors will thank you too.  | ||
| Mikej |
For the WileyCo, possibly similar to your V&H: 1. Remove muffler from bike 2. Drill out pop-rivets from one end 3. Remove end cap 4. Remove innards 5. Wrap new packing material around innards 6. Stuff rewrapped innards back into the can 7. Reinstall end cap 8. Install new pop rivets (most use steel ones, some use aluminum ones) 9. Reinstall muffler on bike 10. Go for a test ride I found an old fashioned hand drill with a sharp bit works well on drilling out the rivet heads, then a light tap with a small punch or small screwdriver to shove the remaining rivet body into the muffler cavity so it doesn't hang up when trying to remove the end cap off of the muffler.  (my brace/drill is similar to this one, just older  ) This was all from memory so someone will be along shortly to adjust or correct me. | ||
| Wackyracer |
If you drill out and take off the end cap you'll end up with an end cap in your hand and you'll be looking into the muffler and wondering how to get to everything inside. Be sure to drill the opposite end (with header attached) so that when you pull it apart, all will be revealed. There's really no reason to take the end cap off unless you really like drilling out and replacing rivets just for fun. | ||
| Djkaplan |
You can repack a V&H without having to drill rivets out. My V&H has little Allen screws that holds the perforated baffle to the can. I don't think you need to drill the rivets out on the front of the can unless they are leaking or loose. Repack kits come with new rivets, but you don't have to use them if you don't need to. | ||
| Newbuellertoo |
Thanks for all of the advice. My pipe also has Allen screws at the outlet side. American Sport bike sells a re-pack kit- #5928 For V&H SS2R mufflers - Any idea if this might be the correct one? Having bought the bike with the pipe , I don't have any idea what the model number is. | ||
| Djkaplan |
Just ask Al, he won't steer you wrong. I used that repack kit... you might want to get some advice on how to do it the easiest way possible. If the paper bag the packing is in breaks open while you're slipping it over the perforated core, it'll turn into the size of a shrub and it'll take quite a while getting it all in the can. The packing in that kit isn't the itchy fiberglass, so at least you got that going. | ||
| Wackyracer |
Thanks for the rivet correction. I wasn't aware the V&H had allen bolts on the end cap. It will still be a bit more difficult to remove any existing packing and replacing the new packing working from the end of the pipe though  , unless V&H has the baffle connected to the end cap (most likely not). |
