Shadetree Baffles

[ValkFlyer]

I'm trying to get a little more information around this term.  I've seen the videos that "dragon_slayer_129 posted.  He indicated that what he had done was to build baffles from insulation and 1/2 metal screen. A couple of questions:

How is the term "Shadetree Baffles" tied/associated with this build? I haven't been able to pull any additional information on the VRCC Tech. board, or the Web.

Has there been any feedback with concern to how these have held up?

[old2soon]

I have not tried to look up the baffles yer talking about but-shade tree wrenchin is gettin by on what ya got with out spending a lot of money. Some folks(least ways where i'm from)know all about shade tree mechanics. Some folks don't. Not meant to insult anyone meant as some info only. I was always a shade tree mechanic on whatever i drove or raced. Still am to this day.  RIDE SAFE.

[ValkFlyer]

I have not tried to look up the baffles yer talking about but-shade tree wrenchin is gettin by on what ya got with out spending a lot of money. Some folks(least ways where i'm from)know all about shade tree mechanics. Some folks don't. Not meant to insult anyone meant as some info only. I was always a shade tree mechanic on whatever i drove or raced. Still am to this day.  RIDE SAFE.

old2soon,
Nicely clarified, thank you.

[sugerbear]

you mean i don't HAVE topark under my big ol shade tree to work on the valk??

[shooter64]

you mean i don't HAVE topark under my big ol shade tree to work on the valk??

Only in the summer. In the winter you must park in the sun.

[old2soon]

you mean i don't HAVE topark under my big ol shade tree to work on the valk??

   When i finally had a garage to work in i was surprised how much quicker dropped small items are relocated on concrete floors versus grass gravel or sand.  Of course small items can/do and will find a way to depart the work area and disappear.  The"lost part"usually shows up with in a hour or day or so AFTER you purchase the replacement for said"lost"part.  Of course that's not even to talk about the"missing"tool that generally shows up on a test ride of whatever vehicle yer workin on to either poke you in the a$$-jam the brake or the accelerator or as an aircraft mechanic piss off the pilot and/or the aircrew.    DO NOT ask please.  RIDE SAFE.

[dragon_slayer_129]

ValkFlyer:

I just did a little over 900 mile trip last thursday - friday to bowling green, ky (corvette plant and museum) and then off to nashville, tn for the night.  The baffles worked great and have shown no signs of falling apart.....guess it was a little time and 4 bux well spent.

Yes they are a bit darker now than when they were first put in but what can you expect when you are blasting down interstate at 75-80mph solid for a tank of gas. 


Now a pic with the flash turned on:




I did manage to get 38-40 mpg on the trip overall so I can say that I'm pretty impressed with the phat bottom girl as a long distance ride.







Dragon Slayer 129

[ValkFlyer]

Thanks for the feedback Slayer.

[Mo Lee]

When I was a teenager growing up in the same town where old2soon lives, I always had loud exhaust sometimes because of losing mufflers and pipes on the dirt roads, and sometimes because I heated new glasspacks  up with a torch and then run cold water thru them to break them in so to speak before installing them. I was well known by the City cops and regularly received warning tickets requiring reinspection when it was fixed. I always carried a short broom handle in the trunk and when I got a warning for loud and excessive I would run to the grocery store and buy a box of  steel wool and use the broom handle to stuff a few up each muffler and then ease around till I found the cop for reinspection. One day out of curiousity he follow me trying to figure out how I fixed it so fast, and wouldn't you know it but I accellerated a little to fast and one of the glowing steel wool pads blew out and hit his windshield, got a real ticket that time.   

[sugerbear]

When I was a teenager growing up in the same town where old2soon lives, I always had loud exhaust sometimes because of losing mufflers and pipes on the dirt roads, and sometimes because I heated new glasspacks  up with a torch and then run cold water thru them to break them in so to speak before installing them. I was well known by the City cops and regularly received warning tickets requiring reinspection when it was fixed. I always carried a short broom handle in the trunk and when I got a warning for loud and excessive I would run to the grocery store and buy a box of  steel wool and use the broom handle to stuff a few up each muffler and then ease around till I found the cop for reinspection. One day out of curiousity he follow me trying to figure out how I fixed it so fast, and wouldn't you know it but I accellerated a little to fast and one of the glowing steel wool pads blew out and hit his windshield, got a real ticket that time.   

YOU KIDS....we send ya to school, but ya books, and ya eat the covers. 

[Hoser]

I'm trying to get a little more information around this term.  I've seen the videos that "dragon_slayer_129 posted.  He indicated that what he had done was to build baffles from insulation and 1/2 metal screen. A couple of questions:

How is the term "Shadetree Baffles" tied/associated with this build? I haven't been able to pull any additional information on the VRCC Tech. board, or the Web.

Has there been any feedback with concern to how these have held up?

When I was a child my dad had to rebuild the motor in his old farm truck.  He laid a big tarp under the shade tree in the front yard and used a over hanging branch to hook his chain hoist and pulled the motor, rolled the chassis out from under it and did the rebuild in the cool shade.  Nobody wanted to work in the sun in the mid 1950's, It was a heatwave similar to the one we are enduring now.  Then he rolled the truck back under it and reinstalled it.  I really thought it was a big deal helping him push the truck back under the tree.  He referred the term shade tree mechanic to himself and most of the other farmers around us.  They were always helpng each other work on machines that needed repair. Hoser     A hard life, but a good life.

[Michvalk]

I was working 100 miles frm home and driving an older Ranger pickup. It had 200,000 miles (or more) and was getting tired. Stopped one night and bought a used motor at the junkyard, and went home. Had supper, pulled the truck under the shadetree in the yard, pulled the old motor, and put that used motor in. Was done before 1:00 AM, up by 4:00 and back to work the next day. Shadetree mechanic

[tonyfan70]

"and sometimes because I heated new glasspacks  up with a torch and then run cold water thru them to break them in so to speak before installing them."

ahhh, those were the days. I remember doing that for my old Mustang as well. This process was part of the installation procedure, if I'm not mistaken! That and adding some air to the shocks so they wouldn't get torn off right away.