I have just acquired an 87 Savage and I have two dislikes about the muffler:
1) The last six inches has road rash down the side
2) It's a bit docile and quiet compared to my Sportster

What I'm thinking about doing is slash-cutting the last six inches off and pulling the guts out....
Questions:
1) Are the guts of the muffler attached anywhere else up inside the muffler, or attached only at the rear?
2) If I open up breathing like this, will tuning/operational/drivability problems be created?
3) has anybody else tried this and what were the results?

You can save the muffler & get a muffler off a Harley for around $20.00. My personal choice for good looks is the Dyna. If performance is your dream, buy a cam from Lancer & put a Supertrapp on it.\\
No idea what your carb has in it for jets. Some years they put jets in that could keep the mixture rich enough to mod the airflow rate & not have to rejet. The newer ones are lean from the factory. If you dont open the intake up, then the intake wont flow more into the cylinder than before( Im guessing here, Im sure someone around here can fill in the blanks I am leaving for you Greyhead.& they can correct the places Im just wrong on..

Quote:

another fine point. nothing like a bowling ball you dont need........

You want a Harley Dyna or Sportster muffler with no crossover, preferably a rail mount but a tab mount will do.

Some Harley dealers are a-holes,...the one here refused to sell me one.  I bought mine on e-bay.  $30.00 for a pair...w/shipping

Well..... I decided to try to answer a few of my questions....
First, I removed the muff and looked into it from both ends-- it has several walls inside and the chrome outer is a skin, so I'm glad that I didn't just take a cutting disc to it. No, it can't easily be hollowed out and the cut end can't be finished.
Next, I took it for a ride to check for performance/drivability problems.... Although very loud, it seemed to have 1/3 more power and performance... and a decel backfire that sounds like gunfire!
After that, I measured the headpipe for an aftermarket muffler.
The pipe OD is 2" and necks down to 1 5/8" and has a 1 3/4" ring around this smaller part. Farther back on the 1 5/8 part a 3/4 wide strip of brass foil was wrapped around the end of the pipe like a piece of electrical tape to a thicness of 1 7/8" diameter. I made a slshcut straight out of 1 3/4" OD muffler pipe, but am unable to tighten it at present. I think I'm going to make another straight pipe out of 2" ID muffler tubing. I'm going to hafta install some kind of muffler on it before putting my son on it so he doesn't get into trouble, but for now....

I did took the stock muffler off mine and replaced it with about 10" or straight pipe Ig ot from my local parts store. After a short ride and some creative intake work.... the backfire is dull compared to what it could be definately might want to think about a weld-on if you are gonna go straight pipe-no baffle! Worked for me!

Oh.... and there isn't a Harley in my county that is as loud as my bike! I love it!