Can a hole in muffler be repaired?

[Krooozn]

I was wondering if there was any way to repair a muffler? One of mine has a couple holes in it, one is a fairly large one. I don't know what to do about my muffler situation on my bike.....I really want to put aftermarkets on, but don't know anything about rejetting the carbs or anything else that may be needed to get the bike to run with non stock mufflers.....so if anyone could offer me any suggestions I would really appreciate it......I wish I knew more about bikes then I wouldn't have to ask so many stupid questions on here.....but unfortunately....my knowledge is very minimal.......

Thanx...Anita :dancing:

 

[chuck hahn]

I am pretty savy with my MIG welder and welded my left pipe on my 750..It was on the inside where it wouldnt be seen from the side of the bike. Depending on where it is and just how bib BIG is, maybe a local shop could at least look at it and see if they wanna bother with it or not. got a pic of the damage?? My local auto parts store has a putty type muffler welder kit.. supposed to plug the hole and harden in there..dont know if it works cuase i opted to mig mine...

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Ms. Krooozn,

As long as you use the stock intake system (no pod filters), you may not need jetting changes if you bolt on a new exhaust. It may depends on what exhaust your considering.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[gert du prez]

Basscliff,

If you would keep the stock air filter but only change 'after' the engine, like from a 4-2 header/pipe into 4-1 header/pipe setting, would that be OK without changing the needles ?

maybe just checking spark colour and adjusting these settings would be OK ? Same 'fear' I'm having, not wanting to touch inside the carbs...

thanks

G

 

[Guest]

I used JB-WELD to fix some cracks and small holes and it is holding just fine.

 

[teddux]

i used jb-weld to fix some cracks and small holes and it is holding just fine.

lmfao!
Ftw!

 

[TheCafeKid]

FWIW, MOST irresponsible aftermarket exhaust companies (MAC, to name one for sure) suggest in their sales "pitches" on their products that "re-jetting is not required in MOST applications". Im not sure what they qualify as MOST applications, but, in most of OUR applications, whether or not you stick with the stock intake set up, you SHOULD rejet. Suzuki, especially so from 1980 on when the US cracked down on emissions regulations, jetted even a factory stock bike to the lean side. Depending on where you lived, often times the dealerships shop would have to do "sale prep" which may have included some adjustment to the mixture settings for altitude, etc. Either way, likely, your bike is/was lean a tad from the start, not dangerously so, but lean nonetheless. Its been my finding, and likely many others, that to get even a STOCK bike to perform at its optimum level, some small carb tuning is required (ie, shimming the needle to get rid of that 5-6K RPM flat spot, adjusting mixture screws to settle the idle...etc) If you change the set up, IMO, in ANY WAY, you're going to have to change the carb set up, even if slightly, for optimum response.

In your case, A new 4-1 header, if you wanted it to run properly, would likely require a bump in main size (from the stock size to one step up perhaps) and some mixture screw adjustment. Thats just my finding

 

[Krooozn]

Basscliff.....I really haven't done a lot of research on aftermarket exhaust because I was scared of the rejetting issue. I know I don't have the skills to do the rejetting myself or the tweeking and I don't have the money to take it into a shop for this to be done......so if anyone knows of an aftermarket exhasut that I could take a look at that wouldn't require the carbs to be rejetted I would really appreciate.....I just don't know enough about all this to make an educated decision......:-k I thought about contacting some of the manufacturers and ask them about the rejetting thing, but figured they would just lie to me in order to make the sell.....

Thanx for any help..... Anita

 

[Clone]

:-k
Well, you could always put a couple of megaphone slip-on mufflers on your stock headers. They would run you anywhere from $70-$100 a side.
Then you would not need to do any playing around with the carbs.

 

[teddux]

On a 450?
I saze I rUn mine without!
You'll be fine, just seal the intake cover (AKA "RESTRICTOR PLATE").
And, if that still NOT enough, throw your friend's T-Shirt in there, too.

 

[Jagir]

I cut mine off at the end of the header/start of the megaphone and replaced them with slip ons. I had to fabricate a couple of brackets, but no need to re-jet.
The slip-ons I acquired were from the back door of the Harley shop for a case of cold ones and a little bit of cash.

 

[Jagir]

here is what one looked like next to the old can.

 

[Pete Logan]

I cut mine off at the end of the header/start of the megaphone and replaced them with slip ons. I had to fabricate a couple of brackets, but no need to re-jet.
The slip-ons I acquired were from the back door of the Harley shop for a case of cold ones and a little bit of cash.

Harley shops are a good source of stock HD mufflers as so many people take them off for aftermarket boomers, so they usually have a few lying around which they can't get rid of.

 

[Steve]

I cut mine off at the end of the header/start of the megaphone and replaced them with slip ons. I had to fabricate a couple of brackets, but no need to re-jet.
The slip-ons I acquired were from the back door of the Harley shop for a case of cold ones and a little bit of cash.

I like that. :clap: :clap:

The angles on that muffler really complement the lines of the bike.

.

 

[Jagir]

Harley shops are a good source of stock HD mufflers as so many people take them off for aftermarket boomers, so they usually have a few lying around which they can't get rid of.

Indeed.
I've rocked the same deal 3 times now (for other bikes).

 

[nutsandbolts]

weld them up

weld them up

I would take them to a muffler shop or welding shop. Both my mufflers had holes in them, one quite large (size of an egg) near the connection to the individual pipes. Thy were all on the hidden side so they oculdn't be seen.
They fixed them all (6 holes) for 200 CDN. and polished the welds really well.
I thought that was good considering aftermarket cans (mufflers) cost 250 each (have two), and would require modification to make them fit. A 4 into 1 one kit would have cost 400-500 but I'm not crazy about the look.
good luck

 

[Clone]

I would take them to a muffler shop or welding shop. Both my mufflers had holes in them, one quite large (size of an egg) near the connection to the individual pipes. Thy were all on the hidden side so they oculdn't be seen.
They fixed them all (6 holes) for 200 CDN. and polished the welds really well.
I thought that was good considering aftermarket cans (mufflers) cost 250 each (have two), and would require modification to make them fit. A 4 into 1 one kit would have cost 400-500 but I'm not crazy about the look.
good luck

Holy smokes, were you getting the gold plated slip on megaphones? I priced out chrome megaphones for the cheapest 70 and the dunstall replicas were 120. No huge modifications just cut off the old ones, use the adapters that come with them and clamp them on, the biggest consideration would be to the hanger location as most of the time you need to consider angles and all that geometry to get them bolted on.

 

[kcorbin]

I cut mine off at the end of the header/start of the megaphone and replaced them with slip ons. I had to fabricate a couple of brackets, but no need to re-jet.
The slip-ons I acquired were from the back door of the Harley shop for a case of cold ones and a little bit of cash.

Thanks for supplying a pic! I've seen others mention this for years now but I've never seen a pic of an actual Harley muffler on there (not in the thread anyways).

I showed this to a buddy and he's like "Dude, I have a pair sitting in the garage gathering dust."

Soooo, now that this project is closer to reality, how did you attach them to the pipes? I couldn't see this in the pic but it looks well done.

I'd prefer some type of clamp system since I don't have a welder and am hoping to avoid shop fees.

And, you didn't have to re-jet? I'm planning on re-jetting down the road but that's quite a ways off after electronic ignition, new intake, etc.

 

[Clone]

You should be either able to clamp them after cutting off the original mufflers, or failing that you will need to find a welder, or someone who can braze.

 

[chuck hahn]

I wasnt paying attention once and installed my axle bolt in the wrong way and discovered it had rubbed a hole in the inside of the left muffler..I took it off and set my mig welder on the lowest setting and dotted a million spot welds on and progressively worked my way to the center till it was closed up. Then i took my angle grinder and CAREFULLY smoothed it all down and unl;ess i told you to look behind you would never know it had been comprimised..a good welder with some skills can repair it i would think.