Exhaust baffle and packing replacement

mcgovern61 · Feb 27, 2011

I have been in pursuit of the quiet Goldwing! My '81 engine had aftermarket Jardine exhaust which were a touch too loud for me. I bought a set of used OEM exhaust, but they had holes and fell apart in about a year. Swapped out the '81 engine to a real nice '83 engine and got a real good set of OEM exhaust from Dan that sounded great! But, alas, the fiberglass packing material is disintegrating and the pipes are getting louder again.

Time to repack the muffler! I bought new packing material at my Dealer (believe it or not, they actually had it on sale!! CHEAP!) I finally decided today to pull the baffles and repack the beast. WELL, the baffles did not exactly have much left to them:

I do not have a welding machine so fixing them by welding on new steel is not going to happen (besides, there isn't enough steel left to even tack weld something to). What to do????

Ebay doesn't have any GL1100 exhaust baffles alone without buying the whole system. BUT...I did find these on Ebay....replacement baffles for HD pipes:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... MEWAX%3AIT

They are for 2" OD pipes (which these are) and 1 7/8" ID and they are 8" long, same as what came out.

mcgovern61 · Feb 27, 2011

Now.....the funny part is, with the baffles out and the packing removed, I started up the bike to clean out the soot from the pipes.....and...to my surprise....it was not that much louder than before! As a matter of fact, it now sounds like I have the aftermarket Jardine exhaust again!

This exhaust system is stamped "meets EPA noise emission 83 dBa". I have the feeling there may be more packing in the larger part of the muffler. Or could just be the shape of the pipes inside the muffler. I know the other rusty OEM pipes were never this quiet even when they had their baffles. My hope is that the HD baffles will fit without modification and that with new baffles and packing the exhaust will be as quiet as a '76 GL1000!

dan filipi · Feb 27, 2011

Wow Gerry, those pipes were quieter than mine!

Yes there are baffles forward of those.
I just found that out here recently in one of the threads.
It takes cutting the pipes open to get at them though.

I think what happens is the fiber gets jamb packed with carbon so instead of the fiber acting as a buffer it goes straight through. Sound right?

joedrum · Feb 27, 2011

gerry if its anything like the 1000 exhast on the mongruel ...right at where the exhast hooks up to the frame there is a spegetti jucntion of of smaller pipes and a solid disc they go through and it is at this spot that most of the exhasy systems wear out or rust through ...it sounds like yours are fine ....if i were you id ride it the way it is and order your harley baffles....that darn disc in there sould of had a gole in the bottom so that the exhast could always clear out that section ...water gas or what ever get stuck there eating the pipes up ......the baffles sound good if they fit 20$ ....good luck :mrgreen:

dan filipi · Feb 27, 2011

Would be great if those baffles fit.

On mine the engine is louder than the exhaust but later when I do my full tilt rebuild I'll want the exhaust super quiet.

mcgovern61 · Feb 27, 2011

dan filipi":1efspzb1 said:
I think what happens is the fiber gets jamb packed with carbon so instead of the fiber acting as a buffer it goes straight through. Sound right?

Sounds right to me. When I pulled the fiber packing, it was fairly solid packed with carbon, but just about disintegrated when it came out. I used a propane torch to heat up the end which made it easy to get it out. But as you can see, the steel was rusting away. Also, a lot of crumbled rust came out around the packing making it even more solid. I am hoping the new packing will absorb the sound real nice!

I will keep you guys posted and like Joe said, keep riding until the baffles come in. On a side note, my locking ring for my Vetter headlight split when I was riding today and popped off. Super glued it for now and hope it holds. I knew it was partially cracked when I rebuilt the bike and put a new lamp into it. Surprised it lasted this long. If the super glue doesn't hold, I will try ABS cement.

danf · Feb 27, 2011

Good post.. :grin:

slabghost · Feb 28, 2011

Super glue won't hold for long if exposed to sunlight.

mcgovern61 · Feb 28, 2011

slabghost":gauk3d29 said:
Super glue won't hold for long if exposed to sunlight.

Very good point! I forgot about that. Maybe I should just use the ABS cement.

mcgovern61 · Mar 4, 2011

The baffles are in and guess what.......they fit perfectly!!! :yahoo: :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :Egyptian: :yahoo:

On Saturday I will take a before video of the mufflers without the baffles and then after I repack them. Then we shall see!

BigAndrew · Mar 4, 2011

Sounds good, Can't wait to see the video :builder: :laptop: :read:

dan filipi · Mar 5, 2011

BigAndrew":2xazrxi5 said:
Sounds good, Can't wait to see the video :builder: :laptop: :read:

Me two.

mcgovern61 · Mar 5, 2011

Mixed review!!!! :cheeky:

The baffles fit, the packing went real easy, they are made for a Harley! :cheeky:

The cutouts inside the baffle are turned inward at 90 degrees and instead of silencing and breaking up the explosions, they create an annoying wet popping sound. I pulled them out and ran a 3/8" socket extension down the center to knock down the peices and that helped. But even with the new baffle material, it sounds the same as it did before I started. I guess GL1100's just weren't that quiet to begin with.

I did try something though....I shoved some baffle material up each pipe and it ran as quiet as a sewing machine (what a great engine!). BUTTTTT.....in no time, the engine started to heat up real fast from the back pressure and not being able to get rid of the exhaust. (But boy did the throttle pop instantly with the baffles plugged!) Pulled the stuff out and back to normal right away. (It was nice to have a sewing machine quiet wing for 10 minutes.)

Video of the baffles before laying down the tangs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AK1wAt ... e=youtu.be

dan filipi · Mar 5, 2011

From what I can gather from your test and the pipes I removed the baffles from, I think the way these mufflers work is the forward baffles do most of the noise reduction leaving the rear baffles to reduce noise a little but also tune the pitch of the noise.

Got a plan B yet Gerry?

slabghost · Mar 6, 2011

You can try wedging a fender washer in the middle to redirect most of the exhaust through the wrap. I'm also looking to make my bikes as quiet as possible.

mcgovern61 · Mar 6, 2011

I kinda got ahead of myself with posting the video, I did take step by step pictures of the process:

mcgovern61 · Mar 6, 2011

This is a video of after I knocked down the tangs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSTqCeVJ_Hc

mcgovern61 · Mar 6, 2011

slabghost":14uinv22 said:
You can try wedging a fender washer in the middle to redirect most of the exhaust through the wrap. I'm also looking to make my bikes as quiet as possible.

I did try just shoving a small amount of baffle material in the center of the pipes and it did make it sound like a car (whisper quiet) but with interrupted airflow, the engine started heating up right away. The baffle material is too think to be used this way. I think the trick is to redirect the sound without stopping flow.

slabghost · Mar 6, 2011

The washer won't plug it like the material. It has the hole in the center. It might work.

mcgovern61 · Mar 6, 2011

I am not sure which washer is the fender washer? Is it shown on a parts fiche?

Exhaust baffle and packing replacement

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