GL1100 Exhaust Baffles?

[n2ppn]

HI all,

I went out for a ride this morning and when I started her up I noticed she was a bit "louder" than normal...

Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the exhaust baffle was missing from the right muffler!!
(see attached pics)

Right Side Muffler (end View)

Left Side Muffler (end view)

Anyone ever replace these on their bikes??

Are they available??

I know if you grind off or drill out the rivet located on the underside end of the muffler tip, you can "slide" them out... thirty years or so ago, a friend removed his baffles from his GL1000 to "open-up" his exhaust system by removing the rivet and then making the bike backfire by using the kill switch while coasting down the street in gear and then "un-killing" the switch to make it backfire from built up fuel fumes in the exhaust pipes (pretty loud and scary and he used to do it just to scare people)... the resulting explosion would drive out the baffles.....

Any ideas???


Rich

 

[mcgovern61]

Rich, I ended up getting a used set from a mmber here. But here is a thread on some options I went through:

viewtopic.php?p=22225#p22225

 

[n2ppn]

Hey Gerry,

NICE thread... After reading it, I guess I may just remove the other one and hunt around for the HD ones... I have enough friends that ride 'em that I am sure that if I put out the call, someone has a set of 2" ones laying around....

Otherwise I might have to live with the slight increase in exhaust noise... not that you can hear it over my mega stereo system...


Rich

I found these after looking around a bit:
https://www.khromewerks.com/exhaust.htm

Seems closer to the OEM design.. Might see if my local HD shop has some I can look at before I buy...

 

[bbells]

It's pretty easy to find new baffles for the bike. The originals measure 1 7/8" on the big end, 1 1/8" on the tube, and 8" long. If you buy a longer one you can cut the tube off to the right length. It doesn't matter if the tube is too big around, but the big end needs to fit well. You may need to grind off the end of the old baffle from inside the pipe. They get rust welded on sometimes. Most baffles they advertise for 2" pipes would be the right diameter for the big end. I wrapped mine with fiberglass used in body work. But, I think if you are going to the trouble of doing this you would have better result using a wrap that is designed for baffles.
I bought 2 of the following part to replace them ($17 total). Custom Chrome #280019. 1 7/8" OD on the big end, 1 1/4" OD on the tube, 8" total length. They fit perfectly in the GL1100 Aspencade exhaust. I needed to hammer a rod down through the inside of the baffle before installing, because like all the other baffles with triangular holes, the tips bend into the baffle and block the flow. It would probably be ok to use as is, but i had some extra time.

 

[dan filipi]

Here's a link to those baffles at customchrome.com

 

[n2ppn]

Saw those already... they are nice, but the triangular cutouts in the baffle tube (as evidenced by mcgovern61's prior thread) do not control the exhaust pulses as desired to quiet our particular engines.....


I DID however find these:

and they seem more suited for my purposes...

Rich

 

[bbells]

IMHO: They actually quiet the mufflers a lot. But, I pounded a rod through the center of the baffles to bend all the inserts flat against the baffle wall and then wrapped the outside with fiberglass. The previous poster might not have wrapped the baffles with fiberglass cloth, too. Those 2 things could be why they worked so well for me.
I think they are close to the original quietness. I can't hear the exhaust sound at 55 mph. I could really hear it before this.
I'm not saying these are or are not the best option. Just that for $17 they work much better than expected.
I would suggest wrapping with regular baffling material rather than the fiberglass cloth, though. I just had some laying around so I used it.

 

[mcgovern61]

Saw those already... they are nice, but the triangular cutouts in the baffle tube (as evidenced by mcgovern61's prior thread) do not control the exhaust pulses as desired to quiet our particular engines.....


I DID however find these:



and they seem more suited for my purposes...

Rich

I like them Rich! :clapping:

They are much closer to OEM.

 

[n2ppn]

Thanks Gerry,

The triangular cutouts are more of a HD "loud exhaust" design thing... they let large volumes of exhaust pass out through them, with little or no pulse cancelling, thereby limiting the suppression of the pulses and making the "exhaust pulses" more noticeable... I think that's why you heard the "popping" noises you reported on when you tried that style... The fact that you and bbells both "closed" the triangle cutouts by driving a socket down the baffle tube bears that out....

On the other hand these baffles having the large circular and smaller diameter circular "screen" holed sections, should run quieter and provide a "smoothing" out of the pulses at low RPMs and allow full flow at higher ones... more like the OEM ones that are all "screen" material....

I will report back on how I like them after I do the install... maybe I'll even do a video like you did...

 

[mcgovern61]

I will report back on how I like them after I do the install... maybe I'll even do a video like you did...

Can't wait! If it goes well then we will have a good source for our baffles! :clapping:

 

[n2ppn]

Arrgh!!

:Awe: :Awe: :head bang: :Awe: :Awe:

I had some free time today, so I thought I'd tinker with the baffles I had bought off eBay....

I used my dremel tool with a cut-off disc to slice the remainder of the old baffle from the right side and to grind off the rivet from the left side baffle...

I got all the old pieces of baffle out from both sides and cleaned up the insides of the exhaust so I could "dry-fit" my new baffles....


I guess the guy who posted them on eBay didn't really use a caliper on the baffles as they are about 0.09375" too big for my pipes...

I guess I COULD use my exhaust pipe expander on the ends of the exhaust to "open" them up a bit, but the new baffles have an additional "locator/spacer" up near the front and I don't want to try to expand the ENTIRE exhaust pipe!! Soooo I might try to use the band saw and make a few longitudinal slices in the locator/spacer so it can be compressed enough to fit into the exhaust pipe..

That's another project for another day...

For now I have my GL running w/o baffles and at least in the driveway it's not too loud, but I'll see tomorrow how bad it is on the highway when I go into NYC...

Sheesh! I thought this was gonna be a simple solution for my exhaust system....

But since I love my GW, it's a no-brainer...

Rich

 

[bbells]

You probably already checked, but you might want to make sure there is none of the old baffle rust welded to the inside of the pipe. Mine looked like the thicker metal was supposed to be there - Until I chipped away at it and discovered it was the outer layer of the old baffle. Good luck.

 

[n2ppn]

I had done that already... used dremel tool to clean up entire inside end of exhaust pipe as far as tool would go into pipe... it's all nice and shiny in there now looks like showroom new...

Rich

Hey, I could always adopt an "open pipes, save lives" attitude......

Also I looked into the exhaust pipes (with a bore scope) and inspected the actual mufflers... they looked good for 31 years old...

 

[dan filipi]

A video with the bore scope would be interesting to see.

 

[n2ppn]

Interestingly enough the bike isn't really too much louder... yes it certainly does have a nice "throaty" quality to it, but at 4500 RPM (approximately 60 MPH) it isn't objectionable and I can still hear my awesome stereo system and talk comfortably on the phone on my SENA bluetooth headset.... I dunno if I WANT to make her all quiet again....

Hmmmmm now I have a dilemma......

I will run this way for a few tankfuls of gas and see if the reduction in back pressure, allows for better aspiration of the engine and gets me any increase in fuel economy....

If the engine breathes better, I may just put off the baffles for the day the "wife" (aka "she who MUST be obeyed) voices her opinion on the increase in exhaust noise...

"Vroom, Vroom"

Rich

 

[joedrum]

it will i bet