The "Ultimate" V&H baffle (w/drawing)

[Netnorske]

I bought a 6" piece of Cold Roll 4" OD Round Stock Steel from Everett Steel for $40.00 and gave it to a buddy to whittle into shape. A little spendy but you're gonna have to pay for quality metal in that size. I was on my bike when I picked it up and I was almost afraid to put in it in my saddlebag....it weighed a ton! I got it home okay...now just waiting to see the end product.

My friend is a crew chief on a car racing team and when I suggested aluminum...he thought that the exhaust gases might be too corrosive over time and start to pit the aluminum, but who knows. Not sure how long it will be before I see the finished product. I don't want to keep asking and bugging him. I will get them when he's done...whenever that might be... :)

Thanks Cliff for the drawing and the inspiration!

[Top Cat]

Originally Posted by cactusjack

Tell you what...you try it out and let me know how it works. Then I'll do it.

Well, you know I have fishtail tips on my mufflers so if I did put some kind of pin or bolt through there and then reinstall the tips, the bolt or pin would not show from the outside.
I gota give this more thought :-/

[macmac]

I looked at figures in bronze, stainless and brass, and to me these would be cost prohibitive , just for raw stock.

I agree that aluminum will get all munged up in a application like this. Too much heat IMO, and there is acids plus water..

It was pretty fast figuers for a pair would exceed what I consider reasonable.

I didn't look at mild steel either since the enviroment isn't chromed safe either. I don't think parkerizing would work and i am sure blueing would look great for a week.. pretty soon rust would start.

I was looking at 1 foot lenths with the idea a saw cut could me made and so no one baffel would be a real 2", but it would be very close.

I'ld like to see a bike set up, and or try a set myself, bit I don't see the idea of making them something my friend can do and still keep the cost down.

Anyone trying alloy and or mild steel should use plenty of anti-seize on the bolts, as either oxide and or galvanic action will make a real sticky mess pretty soon. In fact anti seizing the entire surface contact just might be a real good idea.

[Scoot]

Ok I got a question, On the pic below, think I could cut where the red line is and put bolt thru where the blue line is? Seems like it's going to be to expensive to build the ultimate. I mean I know I could do this but do you think it would change the sound? at least be comparable to the ultimate.

[dogdoc]

I dont see how one bolt will change the sound much IMO. I could be wrong though.

[Jared]

Originally Posted by Scoot

Ok I got a question, On the pic below, think I could cut where the red line is and put bolt thru where the blue line is? Seems like it's going to be to expensive to build the ultimate. I mean I know I could do this but do you think it would change the sound? at least be comparable to the ultimate.

It would be pretty much the same shape as the ultimate baffle. You ought to try it and see how it sounds.

If the bolt is long enough to stick out the other side, you could prabably use it to support the weight of the the baffle inside the pipe. This way the baffle wont only be supported by the two mouning bolds

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by Doc (Lonewolf)

I dont see how one bolt will change the sound much IMO. I could be wrong though.

Dennis, you would be really surprised as to how much a 1/4" rod would change the note of the exhaust. In the "Ultimate" baffle, it makes a HUGE difference in the sound. ;)

[dogdoc]

is it just the 1/4 pin or the shape of the baffle(new one)?

[VulcanE]

Without the 1/4" pin, the V&H are as loud as having no baffle at all, but you do have some back pressure. The pin makes the sound much lower in tone (sorta like the kids with their boom boom speakers).

[macmac]

Scoot that idea is interesting, and I wonder if you have a set of torches? If so setting the cut off end in a jig to hold it and heating the cut directly, hammering that with a smaller ballpeen hammer to flare it like a velocity stack, just might work. The cone would face in, so it wouldn't need to be really pretty.

ANother idea maybe, would be take a 10 gauge sheet of steel and cut out a big washer to fit over the baffel before the cone is formed, tach weld then hammer the cone to meet it, and then weld at least 4 good spots, so the washer wouldn't rattle ever.

That would be the machined drawing almost in size and shape that way.

The drawn way is easy enough to do but the metals are steep... All metals are dammned steep right now and most of it as machined is waste.

[steve0913]

What if we just cut the mid section out of our baffles and welded both ends back togather, then ran a 1/4 inch bolt through the center wouldnt that be about the same thing?

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by steve0913

What if we just cut the mid section out of our baffles and welded both ends back togather, then ran a 1/4 inch bolt through the center wouldnt that be about the same thing?

Yes that would be pretty close. The lead in angle of the "Ultimate" baffle is the same as the lead in of the V&H baffle. It doesn't have to be 2" long, the ones in mine (bronze) are only 1 1/4" long, so it could be a little longer, or shorter than the 2". The reason I made them out of a solid piece of metal is because DKs kept breaking where the mounting holes where (not enough mass there to support the V&H sawed-off baffle). So if you use the 2 ends welded together at approx. the 2" length, it should have it's support (also, make sure they line up or you'll never get them to slide in). The only down side is, once you do it, if you don't like it, you'll have to buy a new set of baffles from V&H to go back.

[timebandit]

How hot those these baffle get?

I was thinking of using fittings from abs that is used for exhaust on gas water heaters and furnace! ???

The lead in angle is already machined in those, would just need to put a 1/4" rod and use self tap to install. ???

Some have already the

[macmac]

I don't know how hot, and can't currently test... My bike is still put up for winter, since it is still winter..

oddly yesterday someone gave me a digital read out industrial thermometer, called RFD I think....

It plugs into 110AC and has a wire lead with a stainless wand on it, and will read temps almost instantly. The idea was to make reading my maple syrup quick.

When I can access the bike ::) I can tell you then, but certainly someone here must have access to one of these fancy smancy gadjets...

How much heat can ABS stand I wonder?

Alloy IMO will be eatten up with a combination of heat and acids common to exhaust... I don't think alloy would last a month, before it looked like dirty swiss cheese..

[timebandit]

Originally Posted by macmac

I don't know how hot, and can't currently test... My bike is still put up for winter, since it is still winter..

oddly yesterday someone gave me a digital read out industrial thermometer, called RFD I think....

It plugs into 110AC and has a wire lead with a stainless wand on it, and will read temps almost instantly. The idea was to make reading my maple syrup quick.

When I can access the bike ::) I can tell you then, but certainly someone here must have access to one of these fancy smancy gadjets...

How much heat can ABS stand I wonder?

Alloy IMO will be eatten up with a combination of heat and acids common to exhaust... I don't think alloy would last a month, before it looked like dirty swiss cheese..

We use Abs for launching fireworks. it can handle quite a bit of heat cause there is an actual ignition and explosion in there!