You Know Your MAC's have no Baffel Material When.....

[YellowJacket!]

...you FINALLY get the bugger out with copious amounts of PB Blaster, gravity and brute force. Just for kicks, I started YJ with the MAC's off.  Just header pipes, and it sounded the same.  It all started today when Lucky and I were getting YJ back in shape and I noticed we noticed an exhaust leak.  Decided to take the pipes off and paint them after the big fall so I gave it one more go to get the baffels out and this is what I found:



Yup, I'm pretty sure that clump of burnt up fiberglass is really doing its job well.  ;D  ;D  ;D

David

[motorcyclezen]

YJ,

I kind of like the straight pipe sound. My neighbors would slay me, though. I saw a CB750 with short pipes and that insulated glass wrap that's become trendy for bobs. Great look and a sweet sound. Once, in the course of detailing my Vulcan and changing a front tire, I "bobbed" it for a couple of days (minus front fender and baffled megaphones). It was huge fun.

Do you still need a turn signal? There's an '82 a couple blocks away that is mine for the parts-picking. Let me know and I'll do the appropriate turnsignalectomy. It was a right, right?

Ed--

[YellowJacket!]

Thanks Ed, Lucky came by today with a new turn signal for me.

The funny thing is, with the MAC pipes off, you can pretty much adapt any kind of slip on system to the headers.  Gears are turning but wallet is empty.

On another note, the second baffel is not budging.  It is rust welded in place.  Generous amounts ao P Blaster have not budged it and I can't hammer it down or pull it out without inflcting any damage to it.  I contacted MAC performance about selling me a rear pipe only.  I hope maybe they will.

David

[motorcyclezen]

Did I mention the '82 has Macs?

Don't know what kind of condition they're in on the inside, though.

Ed--

[YellowJacket!]

Did I mention the '82 has Macs?

Don't know what kind of condition they're in on the inside, though.

Ed--

If the front cyl exhaust pipe is in decent shape, I'm interested in it.  I have exhausted my resources for getting the baffel out of it.

David

[Lucky]

no you haven't, i have a torch...

bring that muffler to my work tomorrow, i'll bring it home & get it out, no worries. 

i'll try to remember to bring the stainless steel wool tomorrow, you'll have to pick up some tie wire to wrap it with.  if i don't bring it tomorrow, i'll bring it when i bring the muffler back. (i have to get up/be in early, i might not have time to grab it...)

[YellowJacket!]

OK dad.  ;D

David

[h2olawyer]

That packing you show in your photo is a lot more than my MACS on Tractor have.  I found they were much quieter after the carbs were properly adjusted & synched.  They are still loud, though.   :D

H₂O

[YellowJacket!]

Well, It aint moving.  Generous amounts of pounding from the end and sliding a pole down from the front have failed to looden the baffel up.  Looking at it, it appears to have a rust weld between the baffel and the pipe.  P Blaster looks like it seeps in but has not loosened anything up.  I still have some phosphoric acid left over from my tank cleaning so I may try soaking in that next.  Lucky has the heat method to try as well. (is PBlaster flammable) :o  :o
My other thought was to cut the last two inches off the pipe and take the baffel out that way.  The baffel should still be able to slide back in and I could tap another retaining screw hole.  Any thoughts on that?

David

[QBS]

Your phosphoric acid idea sounds like an excellent Plan B.

[Tiger]

(is PBlaster flammable) :o  :o

:o In a word, YES...!!!

[YellowJacket!]

Soaked it in phosphoric acid most of the day today and banged on it with a hammer some more and its not budging.  Rinsed it out good to make sure there is no more acid or PBlaster in it so I won't blow Lucky up when he puts the torch to it.
The other option is to cut the last 2" off the end and slide it out that way.  I measured it on the other exhaust and it looks like it will work.  I'll make some more precise measurements before I attempt that.

David

[Tiger]

 :) Soak it again in P B, (both ends), and after several minutes, soak again.......and then, using a block of wood on the end of the MAC, tap it back into the can a wee bit to break the hold...soak again and try to remove ;)

                 8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Shop Rat]

That packing you show in your photo is a lot more than my MACS on Tractor have.  I found they were much quieter after the carbs were properly adjusted & synched.  They are still loud, though.   :D

H₂O

When I looked inside the Wolf "mufflers" on the Honda, there was no sign of packing at all.  I got some fiberglas muffler packing from the bike store and did a nice neat, by the book job of installing. Didn't make a db of difference. Good thing my neighbors are motorheads.

Frank

[YellowJacket!]

I now have a 5 x 8 REALLY clean place on my garage floor.  I had the end of the MAC soaking in  a gallon bucket of phosphoric acid and it somehow managed to tip over.  Don't know how but it did and a full gallon of the stuff spread out over my garage floor.  So, a couple tons of kitty litter, baking soda, water and towels later, I have a really clean spot in my garage and still have a stuck baffel.  Tried tapping it inward to no avail.  Since its the front pipe, its straight, and  I was able to slide a steel pipe down in it from the front end and tap..and nothing.  Ok, so I banged really hard...nothing.
I think I'm suffering a chemical inhalation like Tiff now.  Heh heh..my story kinda sounds like one of hers too.  I'm not gonna let this darn thing beat me.  I will remove that baffel yet!

;D

David

[Lucky]

i'm off Sunday

[YellowJacket!]

Well, I took a study break today.  Next week is finals week and in addition to my physics final, I still have 2 other tests to take for physics and two psych exams.

I needed a study break and a way to vent some frustration.....So, I took it out on my MAC.

I took Lucky's advice and applied a generous amount of heat and after that banged on it some more and the baffel moved inward.  YAY!

I let it cool down a bit and got a 3/4" PVC pipe and stuck it in the other end and started banging on it and the baffel moved forward.  After going at it both ways with a break to add some heat in between,,,,and using my pliers to straighten out the curved lip on the end of the MAC, the end of the baffel popped out.  I proceeded to wiggle and tap it until the other end popped out and I almost tumbled backwards over YJ, but its out.  Funny thing about it is the vents (see the first pic in the post) are not in as good a shape as the other one.  I'm going to try to straighten them out a bit and get some of the crud out of them.

The heat trick worked....THANKS Lucky!   :)

There was also a token amount of packing...even less than the first one...in this muffler.  So, next week, I'm going to grind the ends down a bit to straighten them out, get some SS wool packing, and put them back together.  Hopefully by then I'll have my new windscreen and can get YJ on the road with her fairing.

If anyone is interested, I contacted MAC and spoke with their parts manager and they do sell just the mufflers as replacement parts.  The one of the front cyl is $84.00.  The only problem is they dont have any in stock right now and won't be doing a production run for a few more weeks.

David

[Night Vision]

how about ceramic wool as packing material? used for insulating kilns

[YellowJacket!]

how about ceramic wool as packing material? used for insulating kilns

Dunno..

Isn't that what they wrap high performance exhausts with?

In any event, the "stuff" that was in mine remorely resembled chunks of fiberglass insulation that had been burned in a fire.  Apparently it at one point in time been backed with some sort of foil because ther was a bit of it vulcanized to the baffel tube that I scraped off.

All in all, the baffels are in fairly good shape.  There are some rust holes in one of the end caps that I'm gonna fix with some muffler repair putty.

David

[YellowJacket!]

Took a study break today and fixed the baffels with some Permatex exhaust repair putty.  Filled in all the little rust holes and used it to patch some of the rust areas on the outside of the pipes.  Sanded them down good and patched them.  Going to let it cure a couple days and then sand and paint them with Gloss high temp black.  Gonna pack them too.

David