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Holesaw Mod and Holy Crap!

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Holesaw Mod and Holy Crap! Empty Holesaw Mod and Holy Crap!

Post  simpleman77 Fri Jul 10, 2009 7:40 pm

Special thanks to Steve-O for bumping the other thread.

I finally got the balls to take a drill to my Shadow VLX yesterday. First I had to loosen the muffler bracket. Jeez, that thing had seven nuts and bolts holding it on, but I did find a rattle that I had been chasing for about a month. Very Happy Borrowed a 1 3/4" hole saw and a fairly powerful drill and commenced to drilling. I immediately stopped, went inside and got a pair of foam ear plugs for the incredible noise that the drill was making. Then I drilled and drilled. The bit that I used was evidentally not the sharpest in the box (the story of my life) so it tended to grab and twist my wrist, arm and shoulder each time it did. Seemed that I could not get the right angle on the lower pipe (I started there 'cause it looked to be the hardest to do) so I stopped and took a small screw driver and hammer and beat out the remaining metal from around the baffle. Needle nose vice grips and some creative use of the english language and I finally got the baffle out.

Repeated on the upper pipe, washed my hands and got the keys. Started it up and WOW. What a Face Sounds incredible. I'm hoping that its not too loud on the road. I won't know until late next week when I get my seat back from Mean City Cycles. Thats right, I can't even take it for a ride because I don't have a seat. I was tempted to throw a boat cushion over the fender and take it around the block, but thought better of that.

Downside is that I owe my friend a new 1 3/4 inch holesaw and bit, and maybe a new drill since I might have burned his up. No worries though, he's a great guy and the mod was worth the cost.

Eric
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Post  jedishon Fri Jul 10, 2009 8:47 pm

Let us know how loud it is when you get her out...

Jerry
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Post  horseman8m Fri Jul 10, 2009 9:34 pm

here is whet yo do ,,, set up your video cam on a tripod or other stationary object, then set up cones in 20 foot increments and when you drive past your camera you can tell how loud it is at a certain distance .
Three cones = 60 foot away and so on.
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Post  simpleman77 Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:10 pm

Well, got my seat back from Mean City Cycles today. Installed it and told the wife I'd see her in an hour or so. Fire the bad boy up and took off. Now keep in mind, I am near modification overload (for me) as I adjusted the rear shock to a softer setting, hole sawed the exhaust and have a newly restuffed seat under my ass. And its my first ride in a week. Shocked

The first thing I noticed was the comfort of the seat. My goodness, this is what its supposed to feel like. Next was the exhaust. WOW. Shocked Shocked The sound borders on too loud for me. My first thought was that I made a mistake. Keep in mind that I am very sensative regarding my hearing, as I took in too many Hank Junior concerts in my youth. I have tinnitus and, at 45, feel like I have substantial hearing loss already. So the question may be asked, why the hell did I do this? Because I love the rumble of a V-Twin motor and wanted to have that sound for myself. scratch

Anyway, I rode for about 20 minutes to a gas station near I-4. I stopped and filled the tank, popped in some foam ear plugs and took off again. I rode to the interstate and merged on eastbound. With the earplugs, the sound and feel were awsome. I accelerated to 70 and fell into traffic, which was not very heavy. I rode from County Line Road to the Turnpike and headed south on the Turnpike. I was glad that I was moving as the air temp was between 95 and 105 degrees. Riding south on the Turnpike I slowed to 60 to 65 m.p.h. and just enjoyed being in the saddle with no butt burn.

Exited at Shady Lane and headed toward the house. 15 minutes later I was inside, sweat soaked and happy with the mods that I have made so far. I will give the exhaust a couple of weeks to grow on me and then, if I still am not happy, will look at putting some kind of glass pack in the pipe. I saw a write up, either here or on HondaShadownet about doing your own glass pack for these stock pipes.

One thing I want to do is throw out a huge thanks to Mean City Cycles. This is the first time, since getting the bike 15 months ago, that I have ridden over an hour in the saddle and didn't have to stop. Usually was 15 minutes to butt burn and another 15 to stopping so I could get the feeling back in my rear. I spent $140 + shipping to get foam and gel inserts on this seat. I sent it to them and they returned it back to me two days early. Awsome service and product. May not be a Mustang, but sure as hell beats spending over $350 for a new seat.

I will also say that the louder exhaust gave me the impression that I was not working the motor as hard at 70-80 M.P.H. Not to say anything has changed with the bike, just my perception of how hard the engine runs at that speed.

Well, thats it for these mods. Will post when I do more.

Eric
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Post  Steve-O Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:19 pm

I saw that glass packs mod. Take pictures if you do it and post the instructions here. I'd be interested. And you can always JB Weld your resonators back in. I have mine and thought about putting some screws in to make them removable, but decided not to. I usually ride with earbuds in on long trips anyways.

Send the url for the seat and the final cost with shipping. Is the seat any taller? I was going to send mine to carolina butt buffers and have it redone for $160 including shipping.
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Post  simpleman77 Wed Jul 15, 2009 4:28 pm

Steve-O wrote:I saw that glass packs mod. Take pictures if you do it and post the instructions here. I'd be interested. And you can always JB Weld your resonators back in. I have mine and thought about putting some screws in to make them removable, but decided not to. I usually ride with earbuds in on long trips anyways.

Send the url for the seat and the final cost with shipping. Is the seat any taller? I was going to send mine to carolina butt buffers and have it redone for $160 including shipping.

Steve-O, the url for Mean City is www.meancitycycles.com. I have read numerous great reviews over on HondaSahdownet and, after my short ride today on the reworked saddle, I can swear by them. Their customer service is second to none. If you ship your seat, you will need to make an "appointment" for the date that they will work on it. They will have you fill out a form instructing them what you want them to do to make the seat more comfortable for you. I did and my appointment was July 13. They called me on the 12 and shipped that same day. My final cost was around $165, less than half the cost of a new, name brand seat.

As for the exhaust, I did keep the baffles and may consider putting them back in. I will keep looking for the glass pack mod and will post it here if I find it.

Eric
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Post  Painter D Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:51 pm

There's another mod you can do to control the sound level and it doesn't hurt the performance any.
Get a couple 1/4" bolts, about 3/4" long and weld a 1-1/2" washer on the end of each bolt. Then drill a 1/4" hole in the bottom of each mufflers (after the holesaw mod) Place the bolts inside the mufflers, thru the holes (tighten them with nuts or wingnuts work too) Now you can openor close the washers to control the sound level! You can also experiment with different size washers if you like ( I found 1-1/2" washers the best for me because of using a 2" holesaw on mine)
If your holesaw mod seems to sound a little hollow, just remove the rear muffler and plug the crossover tube with a round disc to plug it. That will elliminate the hollow sound and give your mufflers more of a "thump" sound to them. Much better!!

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Post  Painter D Sun Apr 04, 2010 8:27 am

UPDATE:
To add tothe holesaw mod (always experimenting with the sound) I found another trick that will make the holesaw mod alot better sounding!
I decided since most after market exhaust systems do not have a crossover tube between the mufflers, I'd block mine off and see what the holesaw mod sounds like. All I can say is WOW! Much better. Instead of the hollow sound, it seemed to seperate the sound into two separate notes and has a better "thump" and the hollow sound is gone. A little deeper and pernounced everytime the engine fires. I like it!! ALOT!
How i did it: Remove the upper muffler, which also separates the crossover tube between the mufflers. Then got a washer the inside diameter of the crossover tube and plugged the hole in it with a bolt , so I now have a solid round disc to put in there. Once installed in the larger half of the tube, when put back together, the smaller tube holds the washer in place so it can't go anywhere. Put everything back together and fire it up!
I can still use the washer inside the back of each muffler to quiet it down if need be too. PD

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