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Vance & Hines Longshot Baffle Mod for Road Star

Wednesday, 30 November 2005

modified baffle on Road Star

I had Longshots and a Kuryakyn Twin velocity air cleaner installed on my brand new '02 Midnight Star at the 600 mile service (July '02). The pipes are a LOT louder than I expected. My riding buddy says they sound really good, but are almost obnoxious when I pass him or ride just ahead of him. What I did was to fabricate some very simple baffles and they quieted the bike down a bit. I took a flat, brass door strike (the one that a door's dead-bolt goes into) and bent it into an "L" shape. Make sure you use a solid brass one and not the cheap, stamped sheet metal type. After you have the brass bent into an "L", place the screw hole on one side of the "L" onto the screw that secures the stock V&H baffle (still installed). Put a dab of "Form-A-Gasket" on the screw threads and secure with a nut & lockwasher. Repeat for 2nd pipe.

Believe it or not, this really works. The bike is still very loud, especially when you "get it on", but it's a bit quieter at idle & cruising. It works by disturbing the outflow of the exhaust. As an added bonus this provides some extra back-pressure, for increased torque. This will work well for those who like a louder sound,and run without baffles as well. Here again, this will restore some critical back-pressure for improved torque in the low to mid range.

Exhaust gas analyzation at Yamaha says carb adjustment is still right on. The bike runs great & sounds "most excellent". I removed them a while back, to see if the sound improvement was just my imagination. Nope...definitely quieter with them on, so reinstalled them right away. Again, it's not a huge difference with or without these things.

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Adjustable PMS for the Road Star

Saturday, 19 November 2005
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for you screwing up your ride, yourself or someone else by you making this modification. This is what I did and it works OK for me. Don’t blame me if you are a D.A (and I don’t mean district attorney) because you trashed your carburetor or set yourself on fire with the soldering iron from the gas you did not empty from the carb.

Tools and Materials Used:

  • - Soldering iron
  • - Solder - I used silver solder because it is stiffer. It is available at your local hardware store
  • - Sonic weld - a two part epoxy that comes in a stick form
  • - Stranded cable type control rod set - This is available at any hobby shop and is used for control cables on radio controlled aircraft. The one I used was a .063” galvanized steel cable. I would not go any smaller in size but a little larger is OK,
  • - Scraps of metal to make a bracket
  • - Drill and drill bits

How to:

1. First start by removing your carburetor. It is also a good idea to drain the gas from it.

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Installing the Krankvent from ET-Performance

Wednesday, 27 July 2005

[Editor Note from GRAM: ]  I have used the Krankvent for a number of years now, and have been very pleased with it.  Subsequent to an offer from the manufacturer for a unit to review, I asked Pat to install it on his bike and provide the basic installation instructions below.  It is more expensive than using a PCV valve or an external air filter, but provides some real benefits with regard to endurance and maintaining best head vacuum.

Image

ET-Performance has adapted thier very popular crankcase vent (Krankvent) for use with the  Roadstar.  A lot of us are currently using PCV Valves or external air filters to provide this functionality when we change out the stock air kits on our bikes.  Some are even using open tubing run to the ground.  Each of these serves its purpose by allowing the excess pressure to be relieved from the heads and crankcase during a normal combustion cycle.  In the stock configuration, this pressure (and its accompaning oil blow by) are vented to the air kit, which sends the air and oil into the carburetor for consumption in the normal air/fuel mix. 

The problem is normal for combustion engines, and occurs in the heads above the valves and below the piston rings in the crankcase.  When the pistons are moving up and down, they are drawing in and expelling air into this "non-combustion" area. Some of this pressure is caused by the normal movement of the piston in its cylinder, some from "blow by" that escapes around the sealing ring of the piston.  This creates a pressure in the crankcase that can sometimes cause seals to leak. It also creates an energy in the form of air pressure that the pistons have to work against.  Every combustion engine needs a way to relieve this pressure for best performance. 

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