Screamin Eagle Muffler Mod Suggestions?
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 594
Likes: 10
From: Seminole County, FL
I apologize in advance for the long post here...
Recently I bought a 2003 Electra Glide, which still had the stock pipes. I'm not wanting my bike to be so loud that I can't even communicate with my passenger, but I do like it have a pretty audible "rumble", so to speak.
Here's what I did... and what I don't like. Maybe you can give me some suggestions...
My Dad has a Road King with screamin eagle slip-ons and I love the way it sounds. Just the right amount of volume. That's exactly what I wanted for my bike so I hopped on eBay and bought a pair of screamin eagles. The seller stated "As far as volume goes, 1 being stock and 10 being straight-pipes, these are a 4." Sounded good to me. Unfortunately, to me, they sound like a 1 as well. No louder than the stock pipes, just a lower tone to them. I mean, these are QUIET pipes. So, I drilled out the rivets and pulled out the baffle to see if I could do any modifications. We cut off part of the baffle, but it didn't really help very much. I'm assuming my Dad's pipes must have been modified.
Couple questions, because I've never tried any of this before...
1.) is it important that the baffle runs the length of the muffler so that the header pipe is shooting exhaust directly into it? (As opposed to cutting half of the baffle off so that it really only makes it 1/2 or 3/4 of the way back the muffler.) Will this cause back-pressure issues?
2.) The "insulation" around the inside of the pipe... is that there to deaden sound or is it more of a heat-shield to prevent the chrome from discoloring? If it's only there to deaden the sound I suppose I could remove that to help bring up the volume a little bit.
3.) Should I just buy some kind of aftermarket baffle to put in?
I'm considering taking apart my Dad's muffler and seeing what it looks like inside, then just trying to imitate that on my pipe, but I wanted to get some suggestions in case anyone out there already has some good ideas.
I know the quick and easy answer would be to just buy new pipes, but I don't really have $600-800 to drop right now and I'm not finding much on eBay at the moment that sounds like something I want. I don't mind putting some work into these screamin eagles if I could just get pointed in the right direction.
Just to note:
The part number is 80537-07, so I assume these pipes are from 2007. Or at least began production in '07, if I'm understanding H-D's part numbers correctly.
Just in case that helps.
Thanks
Recently I bought a 2003 Electra Glide, which still had the stock pipes. I'm not wanting my bike to be so loud that I can't even communicate with my passenger, but I do like it have a pretty audible "rumble", so to speak.
Here's what I did... and what I don't like. Maybe you can give me some suggestions...
My Dad has a Road King with screamin eagle slip-ons and I love the way it sounds. Just the right amount of volume. That's exactly what I wanted for my bike so I hopped on eBay and bought a pair of screamin eagles. The seller stated "As far as volume goes, 1 being stock and 10 being straight-pipes, these are a 4." Sounded good to me. Unfortunately, to me, they sound like a 1 as well. No louder than the stock pipes, just a lower tone to them. I mean, these are QUIET pipes. So, I drilled out the rivets and pulled out the baffle to see if I could do any modifications. We cut off part of the baffle, but it didn't really help very much. I'm assuming my Dad's pipes must have been modified.
Couple questions, because I've never tried any of this before...
1.) is it important that the baffle runs the length of the muffler so that the header pipe is shooting exhaust directly into it? (As opposed to cutting half of the baffle off so that it really only makes it 1/2 or 3/4 of the way back the muffler.) Will this cause back-pressure issues?
2.) The "insulation" around the inside of the pipe... is that there to deaden sound or is it more of a heat-shield to prevent the chrome from discoloring? If it's only there to deaden the sound I suppose I could remove that to help bring up the volume a little bit.
3.) Should I just buy some kind of aftermarket baffle to put in?
I'm considering taking apart my Dad's muffler and seeing what it looks like inside, then just trying to imitate that on my pipe, but I wanted to get some suggestions in case anyone out there already has some good ideas.
I know the quick and easy answer would be to just buy new pipes, but I don't really have $600-800 to drop right now and I'm not finding much on eBay at the moment that sounds like something I want. I don't mind putting some work into these screamin eagles if I could just get pointed in the right direction.
Just to note:
The part number is 80537-07, so I assume these pipes are from 2007. Or at least began production in '07, if I'm understanding H-D's part numbers correctly.
Just in case that helps.
Thanks
The baffles run front to back, one solid piece. If you drill out the rivets on the end cap the baffle will slide right out. What I ended up doing was to cut off the two ends, and replace the baffle with a straight piece of 1-3/4" exhaust tube. You need to either swage a flare on the entering end or splice the swaged end to the new pipe with a coupler fitting. The swaged end just pushes onto a nipple inside of the muffler. Do the same thing on the exhaust end with a coupler and weld or braze it all together. Now you have wide open pipes, loud as hell.
I installed Big City Thunder head pipe baffles in the end of the head pipes to dampen it down, but not too much. They provide a really nice tone, and act as an anti-reversion device too. Cost me about $150.00 all together.
While cruising you have to turn your head to really hear the full output.
As far as insulation is concerned, there is a thin blanket inside that is held against the shell with heavy stainless steel screen. No worry about insulation at all.
You can get a $20.00 high leverage riveter from Harbor Fright to put the 1/4" rivets back when you re-assemble.
I have been using this set-up for over five years with no problems,
Hope this helps...
Road Captain
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 594
Likes: 10
From: Seminole County, FL
I didn't do anything with fuel until I changed the breather, then added a Daytona Twin Tec tuner and tuned it by tach and reducing the pinging and throttle response. A poor mans alternative to expensive tuners and dyno testing.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
04ctd
Milwaukee Eight (M8)
25
Sep 6, 2023 02:44 AM
Tn.Heritage
Exhaust System Topics
0
Mar 8, 2005 10:40 AM
