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muffler advice?

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recordsj said:
Why do the modifications to the harley muffler?
Click to expand...

If your are talking about the plug: because it was designed for only one exhaust event not four and it had a balance tube to the other muffler on top of that. Basically it's too restrictive in stock form. IIRC I mentioned everything it in the linked post.

If you are asking about the cuts, that would be to quieten it up more seeing you want minimal noise. You can do the plug first and see if the noise level is o.k then cut the baffles as shown if you want it quieter.
 
keelysguy,
I see if you posting on the harley muffler that you said it was quiet and people were suprised in was a harley muffler. Since it is a straight through pipe, why is it quiet as opposed to other straight through pipe mufflers?
 
Most straight through mufflers are glass pack types. The holes in a GP are dimpled outwards and away from exhaust flow (if you put it on the correct way.) The packing is right up against the holes and doesn't allow much gas to go inside of the muffler. This maked GPs naturally loud. The HD muffler has holes in the center tube that are drilled straight through the pipe wall at a 90 degree angle. This allows gases to easily travel into in inner chamber (which would ususlly be filled with packing in a GP). The HD muffler doesn't use a glass packing that can wear out to deaden sound like a GP does, it uses a unique dimpled outter wall in the chamber. Unlike a GP, a lot of engineering went into the HD muffler. The HD mufflers isn't a $20 aftermarket replacement. It was designed to last the life of the bike and give the same level of noise suppresion of when it was brand new so it's no surprise it performs better. One really cool thing about the HD muffler is you can adjust the sound by the number and/or type of holes in the center pipe if you find it too loud.

You can leave the center plug in, however; I STRONGLY recommend more holes or long slots be cut the entire lenth of the inner tube on both sides of the plug if you do. Like I said before, it was designed for half the displacement with a balance tube to another muffler. A 4 cylinder 1500 wasn't EVER in the picture so IMHO adjustments should be made accordingly.

If you try one and hate it, there's sure to be someone around to take it off your hands.
 
recordsj said:
keelysguy,
I see if you posting on the harley muffler that you said it was quiet and people were suprised in was a harley muffler.
Click to expand...

Correction , I said they were surprised it was a straight through muffler, not that it was a Harley unit.
 
compared to stock, how much louder would you say the harly muffler is?
Also I figure there are a handfull of different harley mufflers, if I go to a harley shop, how would I know which one to look for?
 
Go back to post #6 on this thread. There is a pic of the one Kelly and I both used. He took his apart to quiet it down. Mine had the center baffle punched out and I loved the sound. Mine was free for the asking at a local Harley Shop. You want the bullet shaped muffler. I tried several of the other shapes and made Bugsy sound like a rice rocket with a really big farting sound, not a pleasant tone at all. Not sure which bike it comes off of. Print out the picture and take with you. Typically this is the first thing that comes off of a new bike, owner wantsd louder pipes or they have managed to drop the bike. Again mine was free, if used don't pay more than $25. You can find them on E-Bay as that much for a pair.
 
Louder but a nice loud IMHO. Now my wife, yes SWMBO, who BTW can hear an ant fart when she is sleeping, says do not start Bugsy early on Sat or Sun AM to go and get coffee. Bugsy II may get a quieter muffler so I can indeed take him out on early weekend coffee runs. She does say I can hear you coming all the way down the street. I do disagree with her statement. Multiple folks have complimented me on how nice Bugsy sounds. He's way quieter than my neighbor with the Harley 4 doors away.
 
I have the Harley Screamin' Eagle muffler.
It's loud and growly and I love it!
 
Jim_Gruber said:
Louder but a nice loud IMHO..
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In his case it'll be hard to say as what he has isn't stock. You also have to remember,Jim has a 1275 which from my experience sounds different, I find the 1275's to be louder than the 1500. That being said, in my case I'd say HD with plug out but no baffle mod is a little louder than stock and only maybe slightly louder than stock if not the same with the baffle modded. Put it this way, on the interstate I have more wind noise than exhaust noise. The only time you really notice the sound if at all is max throttle and even still it's not bad at all.
 
RickB said:
I have the Harley Screamin' Eagle muffler.
!
Click to expand...
The Screamin' Eagle is Harley's bolt-on performance line. What you want is the bullet shaped muffler from a Dyna or Softail. maybe a Fatboy or Sporster too. Something from the 90's to maybe 03 or 04. You DON'T want the one with the honeycomb catalyst in it as I don't believe those can be modified.
 
Haven't been able to find the muffler, the Harley shop is saying that there should be a part number (5 numbers followed by a dash and then 2 more numbers). Does anyone have any kind of part number on their muffler>
 
I went to the Harley Store and asked if they had some take offs they were willing to part with - they went to the bin and came back with two or three choices - The key here is take off - not new.
 
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