I got tired of the stock 2-1-2 exhaust on my wide glide very quick. As a matter of fact the day I brought it home I knew it had to go asap. First I pulled the baffles out and it was louder but still sounded bad. Having just built a chopper from the ground up I'm at the point to where I want to stay away from mass produced parts. I like custom hand built stuff so buying a set of aftermarket pipes is out of the question. So needless to say I decided to build my own pipes but then it occured to me, why not modify the factory exhaust to do so.


Heres the stock tommy gun 2-1-2 exhaust


Heres a quick rundown of what I did. I started by taking everything apart with the heat shields off the pipes look like this. I may be wrong but it looks to me that Harley uses the same headpipes on these pipes as they do the Thunderheader...




Cat Converter ripped apart on the band saw...Cat convertor really!?


Some scrap 3" pipe left over from last 2-1 build.


A little beating to make it slip over the factory collector.


Crazy tip action this will be welded on last after I find or build a baffle for it.


Tacked together and mounted on the bike. Im going to build a little mounting bracket at the rear of the pipe so that it mounts in the factory location. My little cracker box welder is giving me fits so I'll take this with me to work to finish welding.



I cranked it up, its really loud, its amazing how much that cat was holding back flow it sounds really really good but Id prefer a little more backpressure (and not as much attention from John Law). I'm going to go the the local bike shop and see if I cant find a baffle to modify for it. I'm also going to wrap them from the head pipes just past the collector and coat everything in high temp black.

 

Nice work!! Never saw the inside of the cat!! Hate for that thing to get clogged later. Once you get it all done you should post up a video. You can also try the dollar store for baffles. Someone made one out of a metal strainer.

 

yeah I think I saw that, it was like a sink strainer huh? I guess if you get one in stainless it should take the heat ok.

 

Great work, keep us posted I really want to see it finished. I still have my stock pipes under the work bench hmmmmmm......

 

Nice work. Look forward to seein' the finished product, it's going to look the business.

 

You've got to be a fan of The Horse Backstreet Choppers then.

 

Cat Converter ripped apart on the band saw...Cat convertor really!?

Don't throw it away!! Thar's platinum in there. Somebody might give you some decent beer money for that old cat.

Or not.

But there really is supposed to be platinum or palladium in cats.

 

Yep been a fan of the Horse for years, heres the chop.

 

I love the chopper! Straight cool right there.

 

Ok, so maybe a stupid question, can the cat converter be removed without destroying it? Guess what I am looking to see if it's possible to cut the pipe, remove cat, then weld pipe back together and the effects on performance and sound? Why save the cat you ask? Our DMV will knock us in a heartbeat during inspection if too loud, most guys that I know around here save their factory exhaust just for inspection purposes.