I drilled my heat shields Monday night...
 

Last weekend I saw a Sportster with heat shields like this, and I really liked it. So, Monday night I yanked mine off and drilled 'em.

What do y'all think? Call me weird, but I really dig how the blued pipes show through the holes.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...es/holes_2.jpg

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...es/holes_3.jpg

I like it looks good IMO. Ive wanted to try it on mine. I just think my holes would be all F'd up. So I have left it alone.

I dig it.

nice, i like the blued pipes showing too - good work too, looks clean

peek a boo always turns me on.:icon_naughty:

You did a damn good job on those. Looks like it came that way.

NICE!! I like that alot, best thing is it's a free mod.

I bought a stepping bit from Lowe's. It goes from 1/8" up to 7/8" in steps. It would work better with a drill press, but I don't have one, so I did it with my power drill. The holes aren't perfect if you look close, but nothing I ever do is perfect...

Also, I spent about an hour figuring where to mark the holes, then I drilled a 1/8" pilot hole. Then, after I was done with the large holes, I de-burred them with my Dremel Moto-Tool.

That stepping bit is the thing, though- it would've been a real pain with a normal bit.

I think I'm gonna drill my belt guard next... :icon_teeth:

Looks good man.

I think there is some sticky paper that is pre-marked you can get at hobby shops for something just like this. Maybe an autobody supply would have it too.

looks good.

Looks great! Thanks for the tip on the stepping bit.

I picked up a belt guard on ebay with the intention of drilling it. Haven't gotten around to doing it yet, but after seeing your shields I'm getting more motivated. Looking forward to seeing how your belt guard turns out.

That looks good. Post up pics of the belt guard too!

looking good, I liky a lot
stuck between which way to go.
wrapping or drilled.

im in the other camp i guess, I am not liking the look but what I like does not matter......if your happy with it that is all that counts...

Gun Drilled....I dig it!

I've seen the heat shields on the Nightster on page 58 (and again on page 62) ... the drilled belt guard for sportsters is on page 98 ....

The Sportster heat shields are on page 477 Screamin' Eagle Jet Black Buckshot Exhaust Shield Kit P/N 64924-09 ....

The Dyna black heat shields on page 481 do not come in the perforated 'Buckshot' style ... P/N 80821-10 ... only perforated black Dyna heat sheilds are the 'Tommy Gun' style for Fat Bob and Wide Glide ... P/N 65247-09 ....

Page references are to GMA10 Genuine Motor Accessories catalog 2010 ....

R/
'Chop

Me too.

Since I have the Kury Liberator pegs and stirrups (styled like a gun and bullet) and I want the silencer grips from HD.....I suppose that means I should follow the theme and go drilled.

Did you have the heat shields powdered black after
you drilled or were they already done before you
drilled? Wondering if cleaning up the burrs made
it so the finish is messed up at all?

Looks Sharp

I scraped my lower Vance and hines heat shield and have been debating on drilling 3/4 holes in them and powder gloss black. I think you did a fine job. The front pipe needs more holes to continue farther back IMO.

I like it, I thought about slotting my chrome shields and then painting the pipe heat resistant black but havent gotten around to it yet.

I painted them myself, about three years ago, after having the chrome bead-blasted off by a local painter for $15 bucks. I used PJ-1 exhaust paint, and baked them in the oven. The finish has held up pretty well. You can compare it to the finish on the slip-ons, which I only painted about five months ago - you can hardly tell the difference.

As for the burrs, I experimented with a smaller hole to see which side the burrs were worse, which was the back side. So, when I drilled the final hole, I did it from the finished side which put the burrs on the inside. Then it was easy to de-burr from the back. It didn't flake the finish at all.

I like the way the bare metal shows at the edge of the holes. If it starts to look bad, I'll just take them back off and paint them again - ain't no big deal.

There actually is one more hole in the front one - it's blocked by the brake pedal in that top photo.

Any more heat on your leg from the top pipe due to the holes?

Can't really tell... but the heat index today was 98 degrees.

I've had about enough of this damn heat wave.

Nice Look..

those look awesome

OK, kids... more tomfoolery with weird-ass drill bits:

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e.../beltguard.jpg

Those look friggin excellent. I've been thinkin about that since I saw the shields that came on the sporty as well. I would like to do that on my chrome shields but my main concern is if I would have to have them re chromed. I may hunt around for some chrome shields to practice on. Thanks for sharing an excellent mod and the pics.
:icon_toast:

Great job! I think it all looks awesome!

nice job looks prof, from pic i personally woulden`t want to see blues pipes, but kudos for the guts to drill on such nice pipes

Me likey as well! Of course, i'm a bit biased with the 'tommy gun' pipes nobody likes! Very nicely done and professional looking bud....:icon_omg:

Thanks! But it didn't really take guts... those are the plain old stock Dyna heat shields. They're a dime-a-dozen, since everybody throws them away. If I screwed 'em up I knew I could replace 'em cheap!

It's cool that people don't realize the header pipes and heat shields are stock. BTW, those are Super Trapp slip ons - they're not the stock mufflers.

Looks really nice!

I like that look Risdo...I have chrome heat shields and I am thinking I might do that as well but add some fine screen wire mesh to the back of the heatshied...that way you get the look of the holes without the blueing of the pipes showing through so clearly...just got to see if I can find some high temp fine mesh wire.

oh boy.... thanks for giving me a reason to start f'ing with my bike again. But I, like one of the others, am now tied between black heat wrap and now drilling holes in everything. also, good to know about those supertrap slip-ons. my buddy just got a bike with some ugly looking traps he wants to replace.

Those Supertrapps have a range of tips available for them; I chose the stock-looking ones because I just like the old factory look.

It's hard to tell from the pic but they're about 5" shorter than the original factory mufflers.

The other thing I like is that you can tune them pretty much the way you want.

I think I have seen some stainless Wire Form mesh that would be nice behind drilled parts. I believe I saw it at the local Arts and Crafts store.

I did this last winter and was worried that the blued pipes would look shabby through the holes. I bought some VHT paint in gray and painted the headpipes. It has stayed on far better than I expected and really helps the overall look.

I went to a local bike night last night. Most people liked the holes, but they were pretty split on the blued pipes showing through.

Personally, I've always liked the blued pipes; it makes the bike look like it's done some miles.

I don't like perfect... which is probably why I took off most of the chrome.