Removing baffles from stock exhaust

[HansO]

Yeh .. never seen a 3 foot long drill bit

you can usually borrow one from a good machine shop the fitter and turners usually make their own, I borrowed one when I had my VFR800 sounded heaps better

 

[bruce aussie]

If your a bit dodgy but resourcefull you can stick weld a bit of rod to a drill bit. Hard to get straight but it doe's work just don't spin it to fast.

 

[Mittzy]

You can actually buy extensions, 3foot would cost you about $50. But for a once use I would weld a drill bit as Bruce said.

 

[DRMD421]

I am presently getting anywhere from 30 to 50 mpg depending on how fast I ride, and I don't want mileage to drop. I got the 50mpg on trip that I kept the bike between 40-60 mph on back roads. I have owned the bike less than a month and have put 1200 miles on it. I got over 40mpg on probably 5 fill ups. I am averaging probably 38mpg. I have greatly reduced my speed in my old age, though I do open it up to 120mph every now and then just to see what it will do, and I take off fast every now and then just for the thrill. The main factor for me in riding slow is my wallet and at times in nice country side it is relaxing to take it slow and look at God's beautiful creation.

I didn't have to, but I did change the tune which was pretty easy once you get he cable. Tripps passed along a couple of Hanso's tunes to me and I added a K and N under seat filter that Nolton hooked me up with and added a GI Pro to speed up the take-offs. I lost a little on mileage but not much. I think that's more due to the way I drive it now. The more you ride that Rocket the more that mileage thing will become less of a concern.

 

[freebmwforyou]

DRMD did you need to retune after removing baffles and opening Cat? I don't have a clue on how to retune and am unwilling to do the work of getting the info in my head at present. Also did the removal cause a loss of gas mileage?

I did tune mine after the removal, but mostly because I added triple K&N filters. I have the PCV & AT along with the Tune ECU cable. Hans was nice enough to share some tunes with me.

 

[DRMD421]

Yeh .. never seen a 3 foot long drill bit

Cleaning out the garage earlier and Lund the 3/4" bit that I thought I took back to work! Anybody need to borrow it?

 

[DRMD421]

I trimmed the rear of the exhaust out with a reciprocating saw and then knocked out the rear two baffles and then drilled through the center all the way through the catalytic converters. It's plenty loud. Not even interested in aftermarket pipes.

 

[ewswartze]

I performed a similar function a while back by simply welding a bolt to the inner pipe and removing it entirely with a homemade slide hammer. Took about half an hour and was reasonably clean looking. During the same episode I capped the third outlet on the cat delete and removed that pipe.

 

[Steel]

I thought the 2012 had the cat in the crossover, and the 2013 had it in the exhaust pipe. R3Tex donated his open crossover to me so I could put it on my 2012 and be done with the cat.

Looking under my bike I realized I had the same crossover he gave me from his 2013. Oh well, figured I'd drill it. I used a 2 5/8" hole saw that I used to build the plate for my Pipercross filter.

As soon as I touched the pipe, my trusty drill died. Not so trusty after all. Went bought a new drill, and drilled the outer plate and removed the short pipe inside. Then drilled the second plate, and removed the baffle in it.

The cat is still deeper in but wont be so easy to remove.

Over all the sound is deeper, and a little louder. The power seems to be up. Where before at 20-30 mph if I wanted to wheelie I had to try. Now at 20-30 if I snap the throttle it will jump up about 2 feet, then as it hits the powerband the front continues to rise until I have to let off. Even with my weight (275 pounds) forward it will wheelie.
I'm still debating whether to drill more.

 

[cootertwo]

"Very interesting"