Can I make the stock exhaust quieter?

[Dale_K]

My ears are messed up and sounds that never used to bother me can get unbearable.  I bought a 98 base model Valkyrie recently that had an aftermarket exhaust and I only made the purchase because the owner still had the stock exhaust.  Since I once had the same model bike years ago I felt sure this would be quiet enough but it turned out to be a problem even after installing the stock exhaust back onto the bike.

So my question is whether there might be some modification that would make the exhaust even quieter than stock.  Is it feasible to add sound absorbent packing into the muffler housing?  I feel certain that stock exhaust is really stock and hasn't been cut up inside.  And yes, I'm using ear plugs.  They make it possible to use the bike but they create some ear issues themselves.

[Hooter]

Are you sure you've got stock exhaust? Did you pull the tips and check? If the pigs haven't been cut its probably stock. If it is stock I know of no way to quiet it down.  Maybe someone else has an idea.

[Harryc]

I have stock pipes and all I hear is the wind. I'd be cautious about doing any mods to stock pipes. You don't want to introduce too much back-pressure.

[hubcapsc]

Check, as Hooter said, that your piggies haven't been cut and
your baffles haven't been drilled. Here's the pipes my bike
came with, piggies cut, and baffles super drilled... I think some
people put a long drill bit down the piggies to drill the baffles,
so in that case you wouldn't see the baffle drill holes so easily.



The quietest stock pipes are Interstate pipes, their piggies are a little
longer.

A quiet modification is to make the piggies stick out beyond the
tips (the tips are kind of an echo chamber)... I did it with some
chrome piggie extenders you can get from bigbikethings.com.



Allan (Punisher) ordered some pipes from a place that have a perfect ID to fit
on our piggies OD, and used them to extend his piggies beyond the end
of his triple tips... that's probably as quiet as you can get...

The Head-Dude of Valkyrie pipe modifications is a board member, maybe
he'll see this thread...

-Mike

[Chrisj CMA]

I did like Mike and it's pretty quiet
Except I made my own extensions

[MarkT]

If you don't have "ragnar cut" pipes - the ends of the mufflers ravaged with the insides of the piggies yanked out - you can do this.  Buy SS wool "muffler pack" at Amazon. Remove the tail cones.  Cut off the piggies close to the mufflers.  Stuff the cones with the SS wool, packed tightly - the more you add, the better it blocks sound waves. Drill 3-4 holes on the inside face of the cones near the ends in a vertical line close to the outlet.  This is to insert long screws with nuts on the inside, to act as a grate to block the SS wool from exiting out the cone. Reinstall the cones.  This will have no effect on performance as the exhaust has no problem finding it's way out through the SS wool - which will really impede the sound waves and won't corrode.

[Dale_K]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll take off the rear cover and look it over.  I'm not sure of the terminology "cones" but maybe it will be clearer after I open it up.  I wonder if the extended tips could be customized to have interior perforations like an old VW Beetle exhaust tips.  Lots of modern cars have tips with a perforated interior liner.

[Bone]

Here's a inside look at the exhaust;

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/GL1/gl45.jpg

[Tfrank59]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll take off the rear cover and look it over.  I'm not sure of the terminology "cones" but maybe it will be clearer after I open it up.  I wonder if the extended tips could be customized to have interior perforations like an old VW Beetle exhaust tips.  Lots of modern cars have tips with a perforated interior liner.

You know for what it's worth you might be able to find some baffles like on fleabay that would actually fit inside the piggies although it would increase your back pressure which is not necessarily a good thing. I have stock exhaust on my 98 and I actually need earplugs when I'm riding long  distance because of the droning sound but it may be more the engine than the exhaust.  I also have tinnitus so that's the other reason I wear ear plugs and I want the exhaust to be pretty quiet

[Chrisj CMA]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll take off the rear cover and look it over.  I'm not sure of the terminology "cones" but maybe it will be clearer after I open it up.  I wonder if the extended tips could be customized to have interior perforations like an old VW Beetle exhaust tips.  Lots of modern cars have tips with a perforated interior liner.

You know for what it's worth you might be able to find some baffles like on fleabay that would actually fit inside the piggies although it would increase your back pressure which is not necessarily a good thing. I have stock exhaust on my 98 and I actually need earplugs when I'm riding long  distance because of the droning sound but it may be more the engine than the exhaust.  I also have tinnitus so that's the other reason I wear ear plugs and I want the exhaust to be pretty quiet

The droning. That is why I extended the piggies. No more drone

[Gabriel]

[Tfrank59]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll take off the rear cover and look it over.  I'm not sure of the terminology "cones" but maybe it will be clearer after I open it up.  I wonder if the extended tips could be customized to have interior perforations like an old VW Beetle exhaust tips.  Lots of modern cars have tips with a perforated interior liner.

You know for what it's worth you might be able to find some baffles like on fleabay that would actually fit inside the piggies although it would increase your back pressure which is not necessarily a good thing. I have stock exhaust on my 98 and I actually need earplugs when I'm riding long  distance because of the droning sound but it may be more the engine than the exhaust.  I also have tinnitus so that's the other reason I wear ear plugs and I want the exhaust to be pretty quiet

The droning. That is why I extended the piggies. No more drone

How did you extend them? 

[houstone]

If you are already using ear plugs, you might consider some active noise cancelling earbuds.  That might be easier than all the pipe mods...
Jeff

[Chrisj CMA]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll take off the rear cover and look it over.  I'm not sure of the terminology "cones" but maybe it will be clearer after I open it up.  I wonder if the extended tips could be customized to have interior perforations like an old VW Beetle exhaust tips.  Lots of modern cars have tips with a perforated interior liner.

You know for what it's worth you might be able to find some baffles like on fleabay that would actually fit inside the piggies although it would increase your back pressure which is not necessarily a good thing. I have stock exhaust on my 98 and I actually need earplugs when I'm riding long  distance because of the droning sound but it may be more the engine than the exhaust.  I also have tinnitus so that's the other reason I wear ear plugs and I want the exhaust to be pretty quiet

The droning. That is why I extended the piggies. No more drone

How did you extend them?  

3/4" copper pipe front Lowes ten bucks or so

[Tfrank59]

Very interesting. Thanks. That looks easy to do except for the soldering part but I could probably manage it. You gotta wonder why mother Honda didn't make those that much longer.  One more question, do you still have the stock exhaust tips then or did you get extensions?

[Dale_K]

Now that I see how easy it is to extend the pipes I might try that.  I was considering drilling a bunch of holes crossways in the three small pipes effectively creating a 3 perforated pipes.  Possibly combined with some muffler packing wrapped around them.   

[Chrisj CMA]

Very interesting. Thanks. That looks easy to do except for the soldering part but I could probably manage it. You gotta wonder why mother Honda didn't make those that much longer.  One more question, do you still have the stock exhaust tips then or did you get extensions?

Stock tips 

[Tfrank59]

Okay once again thanks for the reply. I'm going to give it a try, there's really nothing to lose as the mod can easily be removed or modified further.

[Dale_K]

Update from the OP.  I just looked inside the rear end of the exhaust and all 3 of the little pipes have been cut off about 1-1/2" from the exit from the muffler proper.  In other words they look to be about 6-8" shorter than stock.  I bet this is one of the reasons why the bike seems too loud and resonant at low rpm.

When I bought the bike it had a Cobra exhaust.  I bet the previous owner tried to make it louder by cutting off the little pipes and decided that wasn't loud enough so he put on the Cobras.

It looks like I might be able to use a method similar to above to add sections of copper pipe to try and recreate the original acoustic property of the stock exhaust. 

I knew something sounded different than my previous Valkyrie.

[davit]

I started out like Chris by extending 3/4" copper pipe beyond the tips, and it seemed almost whisper quiet (slight exaggeration) compared to stock, and ran that for a year.

Then I bought truck stacks with Grumpy's tips and changed the 3/4" piggies to 1" (because I'm a tinkerer and can never leave anything well enough alone) but ended them about 4" from the end of the tips.  Absolutely loved the sound, it was much deeper and had a nice growl to it,  but the droning was too loud with the face shield pulled down on my 3/4 helmet.  Ran that for a year.

My latest iteration is to step the 1" pipe up to 1 1/4" and extend it nearly all the way out, not past the tips as I don't care for the look of the piggies extending beyond the tips.  Haven't had it out of the garage yet but have high hopes.

That said, Hubcap and Chris's method, provided you have unmucked stock pipes should get you what your looking for.

[Harryc]

Remove the covers and see if he didn't punch holes in the baffles too.

[Chrisj CMA]

I started out like Chris by extending 3/4" copper pipe beyond the tips, and it seemed almost whisper quiet (slight exaggeration) compared to stock, and ran that for a year.

Then I bought truck stacks with Grumpy's tips and changed the 3/4" piggies to 1" (because I'm a tinkerer and can never leave anything well enough alone) but ended them about 4" from the end of the tips.  Absolutely loved the sound, it was much deeper and had a nice growl to it,  but the droning was too loud with the face shield pulled down on my 3/4 helmet.  Ran that for a year.

My latest iteration is to step the 1" pipe up to 1 1/4" and extend it nearly all the way out, not past the tips as I don't care for the look of the piggies extending beyond the tips.  Haven't had it out of the garage yet but have high hopes.

That said, Hubcap and Chris's method, provided you have unmucked stock pipes should get you what your looking for.

That looks awesome with the three 1 1/4 inch pipes.  I may have to try that on Bruce's bike.  It already has trick stack tips and grumpy's tips.

[Dale_K]

OP again.  Here is what I found when I pulled off the outer cover.



Although I couldn't get a picture, when I look up inside the cut off pipes I see a flat plate about 1" up inside the muffler.  In other words it doesn't look like anybody took a drill to the interior muffler baffle.  I'm going to get some soft copper pipe tomorrow and try to recreate the other users system where the pipes stick out of the ends a couple inches.  Sure hope this works.  I'm hopeful but it's hard to understand how extending the little pipes 6" can change the sound volume.  Nothing to lose, so I'm going to try it with my fingers crossed.

[hubcapsc]

This looks awesome  ... I bet bringing the piggies all
the way to the end is all that important for quiet, since the exhaust
note will not exit inside of the "echo chamber" tips.



I hope dale_k's cut piggies aren't problematic for regular tips... uncut piggies have
a twist in them that lines them up with the two OEM exhaust tip types. The Hondaline
tripletips, though, line up GREAT with extended cut piggies. There might
be a good set of triple tips on the classifieds for $150... I asked the fellow
about them last week while I was out of town... I have a slightly
blemished-on-the-bottom set of triple tips, and I plan to make a
set of mufflers that way.



-Mike

[Chrisj CMA]

OP again.  Here is what I found when I pulled off the outer cover.



Although I couldn't get a picture, when I look up inside the cut off pipes I see a flat plate about 1" up inside the muffler.  In other words it doesn't look like anybody took a drill to the interior muffler baffle.  I'm going to get some soft copper pipe tomorrow and try to recreate the other users system where the pipes stick out of the ends a couple inches.  Sure hope this works.  I'm hopeful but it's hard to understand how extending the little pipes 6" can change the sound volume.  Nothing to lose, so I'm going to try it with my fingers crossed.

Yep, that is a drone maker like that

[Chrisj CMA]

I miss typed. I used 3/4" pipe. I was just at our Lowes and 1" is their biggest. I'm going to come up with something though.

[gordonv]

I wished my piggies looked like yours. Mine are cut at different lengths. I'm thinking either straight piggies, or a slip in silencers, along with the 4" truck stack.

You can buy a used set off a muffler end from MarkT for not too much, it will have the correct bend you want to line up with the exhaust tips. They still end inside those tips a little, and like mentioned, if they are extended past, will further cut back the noise.

http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,38448.msg388067.html#msg388067

[Tfrank59]

This looks awesome  ... I bet bringing the piggies all
the way to the end is all that important for quiet, since the exhaust
note will not exit inside of the "echo chamber" tips.



I hope dale_k's cut piggies aren't problematic for regular tips... uncut piggies have
a twist in them that lines them up with the two OEM exhaust tip types. The Hondaline
tripletips, though, line up GREAT with extended cut piggies. There might
be a good set of triple tips on the classifieds for $150... I asked the fellow
about them last week while I was out of town... I have a slightly
blemished-on-the-bottom set of triple tips, and I plan to make a
set of mufflers that way.

info

-Mike

Yes with those big pipes sticking out the end I'm thinking that's gonna be a little too throaty and would probably drone with the shield down on my three quarter helmet.  I think I would pass on that iteration but it's also nice to know that you can play with it and easily revert back to what you started out with

[Harryc]

I am glad the previous owner never touched the pipes on my bike and neither did I. They are perfect stock IMHO. My Harley buddies make fun and say they can't hear the Valk and I laugh it off, but out in the wind when that's all I hear I am smiling all day. Who has had a better day? I could give a rats ass about loud pipes. They are way over-rated.

[hubcapsc]

I am glad the previous owner never touched the pipes on my bike and neither did I. They are perfect stock IMHO. My Harley buddies make fun and say they can't hear the Valk and I laugh it off, but out in the wind when that's all I hear I am smiling all day. Who has had a better day? I could give a rats ass about loud pipes. They are way over-rated.

On a Valkyrie with stock pipes you can get in the right groove on a well paved mountain
road and it is like being on an electric bike 

-Mike

[Harryc]

On a Valkyrie with stock pipes you can get in the right groove on a well paved mountain
road and it is like being on an electric bike 

-Mike

I hear you Mike. Been there and done that.

[firemedic309]

On my bike it looks like the p/o cot the tips on a angle and also cut the piggies almost flush.  Looking in the piggies with a flashlight I think he rather drilled or cut out any plate cause I can see way up in to the muffler. At 2.5 k it makes my head buzz.. ( sum buddy learn me how to post pics easy)

[Tfrank59]

I started out like Chris by extending 3/4" copper pipe beyond the tips, and it seemed almost whisper quiet (slight exaggeration) compared to stock, and ran that for a year.

Then I bought truck stacks with Grumpy's tips and changed the 3/4" piggies to 1" (because I'm a tinkerer and can never leave anything well enough alone) but ended them about 4" from the end of the tips.  Absolutely loved the sound, it was much deeper and had a nice growl to it,  but the droning was too loud with the face shield pulled down on my 3/4 helmet.  Ran that for a year.

My latest iteration is to step the 1" pipe up to 1 1/4" and extend it nearly all the way out, not past the tips as I don't care for the look of the piggies extending beyond the tips.  Haven't had it out of the garage yet but have high hopes.

That said, Hubcap and Chris's method, provided you have unmucked stock pipes should get you what your looking for.

Now seeing this photo I wonder if a conduit coupler would work. It might not be able to take the heat because it's aluminum, but I measured my Piggies OD are about .900" so I might check Lowe's and measure  the ID's of their couplers. The nice thing about a conduit coupler is it locks on there with a set screw and you could use regular galvanized conduit for the Piggy extension

Okay A little follow-up I was in Home Depot and I checked in the conduit section and yes three-quarter inch conduit will work good and they have galvanized couplers which might be a little bit big on size but you could take some of that muffler tape and wrap it around the piggy and then it would fit perfectly so I'm probably going to try that and again the nice thing is if I don't like the results I can just remove it or I can further modify it and nothing's permanent

[hubcapsc]

On my bike it looks like the p/o cot the tips on a angle and also cut the piggies almost flush.  Looking in the piggies with a flashlight I think he rather drilled or cut out any plate cause I can see way up in to the muffler. At 2.5 k it makes my head buzz.. ( sum buddy learn me how to post pics easy)

You have to find a place to post your pictures on the Internet. Spacebook has
60,000 servers and 17,000 employees, but the VRCC isn't quite that big 
so they don't really have the resources to support everyone's pictures...

I use google to post my pictures, everyone who has a gmail account can
use them for free.

When I post a picture on my google site, its URL might look like this:

https://sites.google.com/site/hubcapsite1/fcr2016/randy.jpg

You can click on that URL and see the picture.

If I put the URL into my VRCC post and surround it with IMG tags,
people who read my post see the picture instead of the URL...

I type this:



You see this:



-Mike

[Gryphon Rider]

Although I couldn't get a picture, when I look up inside the cut off pipes I see a flat plate about 1" up inside the muffler.

In the pic below (courtesy MarkT's horseapple.com web site) the ends of your piggies would be at about 8" on the tape measure.  If you look at about 1 3/4" you will see a spot weld on the pipe; this is where the rear internal baffle is welded inside the pipe, and is what is drilled out by those who want a little more sound.  As you can see, it is about 4 1/2" inside the muffler can (quite a bit deeper than the 1" you indicate), or about 6 1/2" from the ends of your piggies.

[MarkT]

On Jade my touring bike (besides BluByYou, GL1800 wing) I have set it up with my glasspack mod, 36" stacks, silencers with Organ Pipes, and a big wad of SS wool packed between the glasspacks and the silencers.  Not only does it make more power, but it delivers a QUIET deep rumbly note around town, and a volume level on the slab you can't hear over the wind.  So my mods aren't necessarily loud but they look great and make more power.  Maybe the biggest feature of my Horseapple Ranch pipe mods, is their versatility in setting up the volume you want to make.  Besides the more power, better mileage, and custom look.

For the OP - I believe his easiest soln, cheap and probably most effective in quieting it down, is to install SSwool inside his tail cones.  Quick, effective, and done w/o experimenting - it's a KNOWN soln.

[firemedic309]

https://sites.google.com/site/valkexhuast/valk-ex/39554.jpeg?attredirects=0This is my exhaust that is to much for my ears any ideas

[firemedic309]

[imghttps://sites.google.com/site/valkexhuast/valk-ex/valk%20ex%203.jpg?attredirects=0]http://[/img]

[Dale_K]

I spent some time yesterday building new exhaust tips out of 3/4" copper fittings.  It made a big change in the sound level.  I wouldn't have figured this out on my own, so I'm grateful for the advice I've received here.

By the time I was done I'd bought every 3/4" 45 deg. fitting in the local hardware store.  I might shorten up the tips so they look a little more normal.

Tomorrow the stupid car tire gets replaced and I'll have a nice quiet motorcycle that actually turns.  It should be a complete transformation of the riding experience.

[Tfrank59]

That's very nice work, what are you a plumber?   Two things: first, how far past the end of the exhaust tips do your new piggies extend? (if you have hard bags like my tourer they'd barely be visible)  second, once it's all assembled could you by chance post a vid with sound recording?