Here's the 1 3/4" exhaust pipe that I had cut, bent and fitted to the header.   The mounting bracket is sitting up against it.  I'm gonna get my father-in-law to weld the bracket on today.  If that falls through then I'll just take it to the exhaust man and have him do it. Cost- $15.


Here is the pipe on the bike without the mounting bracket.  I'm gonna shorten it about 2" so it won't extend past the rear tire. I'll probably do a slash cut on the end.


I'm gonna spray it with high temp gloss black and install (possibly) the longest heat shield in this pic. Cost $40.

For those who have never installed aftermarket exhausts on a bike, such as Vance & Hines, Cobra, Hard Krome, etc., you may not realize this but those too are simply exhaust pipes with fitted chrome heat shields mounted on the pipe as well.  I want to point that out because some people think they are simply exhaust pipe that has been chromed.

I'm also toying with the idea of going with this heat shield.


Then I'm going to install a baffle.  Most likely this one.  This should give me that deep, throaty sound and restore a little bit of the back pressure. I'll likely play around with the baffle to get the best sound/back pressure setup. Cost $20.


Just dry fitting it and running it- man, it sounds great.  The longer pipe gives a considerably deeper tone than what my sporty muffler did, with and without the baffle plug.  With no baffle this new pipe is just a bit louder than I'd prefer.  I've messed with enough pipes and baffles that I've got a clear idea of what it will sound like when done.  If it turns out really good, like I think it will, I'll probably have the pipe powder coated gloss black.  When all is finished I'll post sound sound clips.  

The pipe/bracket ($15), paint ($5) and baffle ($20) total $40.  Heat shields run about $15-40 depending on length and style.  Not a bad price for the sound you can only get from a longer pipe and tuned baffle.  

Jim:  Keep up the Great work on your bike and Thanks again for sharing your mod's with us.  Looking forward to seeing the final pipe mod product.

The new pipe, with no baffle yet installed, sounds just like the Raask pipe in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNgXjyy36aY

My new pipe is essentially a Raask.  It's the same diameter and length pipe.  It seems I read somewhere a while back that the Raask pipe was over $400 but I don't remember.  I think my new pipe will sound better still once I get the custom baffle installed.

I've recorded a sound file of my new pipe but it's not quite as good as the audio in the Raask video on Youtube.  I recorded it using the sound recorder built into MS Windows and the microphone from Rock Band.  The higher revs get cut off and garbled a little due to the microphone's limitations and probably recording settings.  I don't have a way of hosting it and making a link for it so I can email it to you if you want to hear it.  It's a 2mb file.  Message me through this site and include your email address.  If someone can host it for me, or if this site can host it, let me know and I'll send you the file.  

Looking good.    I think that the chrome flame heat shield would look sharp against the black pipe.....  

I installed the exhaust baffle today.  I went with one of these 8" baffles.


I installed the baffle just after the bend in the pipe where it transitions from the header.  


Most of the time baffles are mounted at the end of the pipe.  I straightened out a coat hanger, attached it to the baffle and then experimented with the sound by sliding the baffle into the pipe in various locations while idling and revving the engine.  In all positions tested the baffle reduced the volume by about 30% and helped mute the metallic resonances that are inherent in unbaffled straight pipes.  It definitely sounds better deeper in the pipe.  When mounted in the end it had a decent deep sound but it was kind of a dead, bland deep sound.  Mounting it deeper left plenty of pipe after the baffle to develop a deeper, richer, mighty sweet sound.  

Very Nice looking, kinda like my drag pipe I got from Lancer.

What was the total cost? Pipe, bend, baffle, etc?

SimonTuffGuy wrote on 02/06/09 at 06:03:13:


It's 1 3/4" pipe. I originally thought it was 2" pipe til I measured it for the baffle and realized it was 1 3/4".  I had Randy at the local muffler shop make both this exhaust pipe and a fitted angled extension for the sportster muffler.  Both together were $15.

The muffler bracket was made with some square hollow steel that I had in the garage but a 1 foot section runs I think about $5 at hardware stores.  My father-in-law welded it on for me but I could have gotten the muffler shop to do it for $5 at the most.

Paint was high heat gloss black at $5 a can.

The baffles came from Demon Cycles at $8.99 + $4 shipping.  They come in pairs but I'm only using one.  

I ordered a 10" Samson chrome heat shield at $12.90 total (including shipping) from ebay.

Exhaust wrap was 15 foot black 2" wrap at $11.25 total (including shipping) from ebay.

Add a few bolts, nuts and washers and the total for me comes to about $59.  If I had to buy the the square hollow steel for the mounting bracket and had to pay to have it welded on it would have cost another $10.