I think I am going to drive myself nuts trying to get a baffle to work on these pipes. The original baffle (if that itty bitty hunk of steel could be considered one) was way too loud and absolutely no backpressure. I cut off the cap and welded in a piece of drilled 2.5" exhaust pipe about 12" long. It was better but still too loud. I ended up wrapping the pipe with steel wool and that improved the sound but too much back pressure. I drilled a 1.5" hole in the end cap and that seems to be getting me closer. Tonight I am working on 2 resolutions,,,cut 2.5" fender washers inserted into the pipe at about 2" intervals. I plan on cutting the washers in half and then staggering them left to right to knock down the dB. This should break up the pulses without affecting flow.
The other possibility is to take a piece of 1.25" tubing cut to 12" and then drill it out, cap the outlet end and insert it into the other pipe with about 2" sticking out the inner ring. Now I will have a pipe in a pipe which should reduce the sound but allow for free flowing gasses with moderate back pressure.

Anyone else have issues with build your own baffles and how did you resolve the problem?

Bump

Follow up:
I built an insert baffle comprised of a 1/4" steel rod and 3, 2-1/4" disks cut in half. I welded these at 2" offsets. I welded a heavy washer on one end, slid it into the pipe and bolted it in. Really worked well to knock the volume down to low rumble. Went for a long ride and discovered this engine produces a lot of exhaust pressure @ 75mph. Somewhere between Albany and Mineral Wells I blew the baffle off the bolt! Back to the drawing board!

When I had the pro pipe I had issues blowing the stock baffle apart. I can only imagine what it was like with a more restricted baffle. Part of the reason why i put freedom duals on.

Well that's $400 I will never see again. I discovered why the Pro-Pipe 2-1 is not a good fit for the Road Star, you can't baffle them. The stock baffle that comes with the pipe is about as close as you will get without burning up the muffler. After doing my mod I really liked the sound but then I discovered since these are single walled pipes...the muffler is as blue and a baby's face when it's throwing a temper tantrum. These are designed for one thing...LOUD!
In order to salvage the rest of the system I have a couple of mufflers off my brother's 2013 Street Glide. Essentially these are straight double walled pipes with a baffle on the end similar to the megaphone on the V&H only these are longer and the exhaust note is lower. I will either have to cut the straps off the pipe and weld them to match the hanger or just add an extension to the hanger to match the pipe, either way I shouldn't have too much of an issue matching the mufflers to the headers.
Some where else I read an article where another rider did the same thing but I can't find the page.

So I'm at my brother's house complaining about the crappy V&H megaphone muffler when he says "I have 4 HD mufflers in the shed from my son's and nephew's bikes." Really! So I checked them out and figured the left side muffler would work best since there's a crease on it for the bags. One Loooong weekend later and I have the package I was looking for. I ended cutting off the end of the original megaphone so I could reuse the chrome cap and the tailpiece that I needed to connect to the Header. I picked up a piece of 2" x 3' exhaust pipe, cut off the original insert from the HD at an offset because the megaphone comes out at an angle to the frame. So the only way to clear the mounting bracket and keep the pipe straight was to offset the coupler. Worked like a charm. I then welded the original mount to the new 2" pipe, drilled 1/8" holes on 2/3rds of the pipe and welded in what is essentially a solid washer to separate the two chambers. Then drilled additional holes in the end of the pipe within 3" of the end. The washer has a 1/4" hole in it and if I needed more flow I can open it up a bit. The pipe has a compressed fiber insulation that keeps the outer shell from overheating. After making sure the parts fit well I centered and tack welded the chrome cover over the coupling and then welded an offset extension to the original side mount to support the rear of the muffler. The muffler sits sideways from the original HD bag mount so the mounting bracket is hidden. I fired it up and took it for a test ride. I'd swear sitting next to a HD motorcycle you couldn't tell the difference. Smoothed out the exhaust pulses and has a nice low throaty growl without being obnoxious. Open it up and the exhaust comes to life. Went for a long ride at 65 - 70 mph and after a few minutes it smoothed out. The PCM has to reprogram to the changes in air flow, exhaust backpressure and the O2 sensor readings. Now no more vibration at highway speeds and the exhaust note is perfect. Too bad V&H couldn't come up with something similar on their own. Also the muffler is longer so it comes out just behind the bag.

ms14796 wrote:
So I'm at my brother's house complaining about the crappy V&H megaphone muffler when he says "I have 4 HD mufflers in the shed from my son's and nephew's bikes." Really! So I checked them out and figured the left side muffler would work best since there's a crease on it for the bags. One Loooong weekend later and I have the package I was looking for. I ended cutting off the end of the original megaphone so I could reuse the chrome cap and the tailpiece that I needed to connect to the Header. I picked up a piece of 2" x 3' exhaust pipe, cut off the original insert from the HD at an offset because the megaphone comes out at an angle to the frame. So the only way to clear the mounting bracket and keep the pipe straight was to offset the coupler. Worked like a charm. I then welded the original mount to the new 2" pipe, drilled 1/8" holes on 2/3rds of the pipe and welded in what is essentially a solid washer to separate the two chambers. Then drilled additional holes in the end of the pipe within 3" of the end. The washer has a 1/4" hole in it and if I needed more flow I can open it up a bit. The pipe has a compressed fiber insulation that keeps the outer shell from overheating. After making sure the parts fit well I centered and tack welded the chrome cover over the coupling and then welded an offset extension to the original side mount to support the rear of the muffler. The muffler sits sideways from the original HD bag mount so the mounting bracket is hidden. I fired it up and took it for a test ride. I'd swear sitting next to a HD motorcycle you couldn't tell the difference. Smoothed out the exhaust pulses and has a nice low throaty growl without being obnoxious. Open it up and the exhaust comes to life. Went for a long ride at 65 - 70 mph and after a few minutes it smoothed out. The PCM has to reprogram to the changes in air flow, exhaust backpressure and the O2 sensor readings. Now no more vibration at highway speeds and the exhaust note is perfect. Too bad V&H couldn't come up with something similar on their own. Also the muffler is longer so it comes out just behind the bag.



MS14796 PM sent

J-C

Well done and it doesn't look out of place.

Thanks for the write up and pics.

Doc