So anyway, at a local meet, I finally found my perfect sounding pipe - only to find out it was a stock pipe with the baffles drilled out.

Now I only have an 883 sporty, the pipes in question were on a fat boy. Much bigger engine and all that.

I know that you lose power due to loss of back pressure when you remove the baffles and I'm concerned that doing that to my 883 will result in an unacceptable sacrifice of power. Now I'm not a speed demon, I cruise around town and rarely break the speed limit on the interstate. However, I like the 'nippiness' of the sporty and the way its ability to accelerate very quickly can help get you out of precarious situations. How would drilling out my baffles affect my power? Would I hate it? Would it be that noticeable to me?

Should I just start powerwhining to hubby for a pair of cycle shacks....

Oh and if anyone has a link or something to explain what the heck baffles are or how the heck you drill them out, I'd be much obliged!

Cheers
Eva

 

Tell hubby it's Christmas and you want a different intake,exhaust and tuning from Santa

Baffles are made from metal with fiberglass wrapped around them.



They go in the end of your exhaust. If you look in the end you will see them. The outer part of the baffle is usually solid and that is where you would drill holes into using w/e size drill you choose.

Would I do it? No..unless you REALLY don't have the money and even then it's debateable.

 

Don't remove your baffles! As far as drilling the baffles works well, sounds good and keep enough back pressure so you don't lose low end torque. I had the H-D dealer mechanic drill mine to 1-3/4" on my 88 and no desire to change them until I went to Stage IV 95". Then i took the next most inexpensive step of installing good ol' Cycle Shack Slip-ons. This was a 110 hp 115# torque motor. Check out some top dyno runs and you'll see the cycle shacks right up ther with the big EXPENSIVE boys.

 

Okay, I'm getting confused I think. I thought drilling the baffles meant drilling them out and removing them completely. But that doesn't sound like what you had done. What did you have done? And if you don't mind, how much did it cost to get it done?

 

Go with the Shacks. You never know how the drilling will work, it's different every time. Some people get a real tinny sound in the exhaust note. It's never going to work as well performance-wise as a muffler that's designed to make power.
Oh, and most people drill one or more holes through the baffles; they don't remove the baffles entirely.
Try www.jirehcycles.com for the Shacks.

 

S&S mufflers and don't look back. They give you the sound, and they are a TRUE performance muffler.....I know,....I have them!

joe

 

My H-D shop charged me about $40 bucks, it works great. The restictor plate inside the baffle is opened up to 1-3/4 ". But you can buy a set of Cycle Shacks (slip-ons) for a hundred bucks from USA Twins. These are definitely the best performance for the buck, just DO NOT remove the baffles.

 

AMEN! Removing the baffles will KILL your engine's torque,....unless you install torque cones in the pipes!

Then it will just sound like drag pipes, without the torque loss!


joe

 

ahhhh - go straight pipes all the way. I'm no expert and Im sure "results may vary depending on your application" but I didnt see any signaficant power loss and I havent found any flat spots either (I do have cones). Just good ol fashion twin thumpin

[IMG]local://upfiles/6362/E0AEA497BDEB433EBAA4272FA99E63E0.jpg[/IMG]

 

Yep, with power cones, you'll have the straight pipe sound, with the necessary backpressure!

joe