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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2004 05:25 am | 1st Post |
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A few weeks ago I was in a dilemma. I needed a new exhaust for my ’77 GL1000. New one’s are no longer available from Honda, and aftermarket is still pretty expensive. Expensive to me because I’m a full-time student and money is certainly not a thing I have in abundance.
In abundance, however, is my ability (willingness) to turn a wrench. I was an Air Force aircraft mechanic for 21 years.
There sure are a lot of very noisy Harley Davidson motorcycles on the road these days. Most of them didn’t come from the factory that way – the owners took the stock mufflers off and replaced them with aftermarket pipes to make them belch even louder. They call them “slip-ons.”
The Harley model that is probably most common, is the Sportster. Sportster stock mufflers, with a little tweaking, will fit pretty well on a GL1000 (maybe others too). Since the owners of these Sportsters no longer have a use for their OEM stock mufflers, the mufflers end up on ebay.
I got a pair from a 2001 Sportster with 350 miles on them for $26 + shipping. When buying them, make sure that the original baffles are still installed – some Harley guys punch them out for more decibels. Also make sure they have mounting tabs welded on the sides… I think some don’t.
Here’s what I did.
The stock GL1000 header pipes are not an exact fit for the Sportster mufflers. I took stainless steel sheet metal .010” thick and made shims to fit between the mating surface of the muffler and the mating surface of the header. I used three .010” shims per side. If I were to do it again I would use one shim of .028”. Make sure the entire mating surface is covered (for a good air seal and clamping strength). The sheet metal can be found at art supply and hardware stores.
For clamps I used standard Harley parts. I got a pair for $5 from a Harley mechanic who had them sitting in his toolbox from all those “slip-ons” he installed. New they are $8.50 apiece.
To support the weight of the muffler, I used some galvanized steel ¾ inch wide and about 3/16 inch thick and cut and drilled to size.
Re-jetting… maybe. I re-jetted a little richer to compensate, but mostly to eliminate the off-idle glitch common with the early wings.
Attachment: Side View.jpg (Downloaded 383 times) Last edited on Thu Sep 9th, 2004 11:37 am by axelwik
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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Jason
Guru
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2004 03:25 pm | 2nd Post |
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| Thats brilliant Axel. I like to see people using their heads to get around problems and your is a great solution.
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Jason
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FitzAl
Guru
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Posted: Thu Sep 9th, 2004 10:06 pm | 3rd Post |
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| Very god thinkking axelwik, and the mufflers look very nice on the Wing as well. Well done on a good idea.
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Alan Fitzpatrick.
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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Fri Sep 10th, 2004 01:32 am | 4th Post |
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| Thanks
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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wingnut
Admin 1
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Posted: Sat Sep 11th, 2004 03:00 pm | 5th Post |
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| I'm a bit late on this but very well done axelwik. Nice to see a fellow Wing owner coming up with new ideas. Nice job.
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Steve Saunders,
Admin and Founder Member.
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BRowan
Guru
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Posted: Sat Sep 11th, 2004 07:28 pm | 6th Post |
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| Does anyone know if this would work with the GL1200?
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Brian Rowan
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Goldwinger1984
Senior Guru
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Posted: Sun Sep 12th, 2004 08:01 am | 7th Post |
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You could possibly adapt these mufflers to work on a 1200, but, since the 1200 pipes sweep up(1000's go straight back) you would have to fabricate an angled adaptor or cut off and reweld the back part of the head pipe.
Vic
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A place for GL1200's to gather.
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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 12:52 am | 8th Post |
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Hi all,
UPDATE;
After riding the bike for awhile, I noticed that I was dragging the center stand on the pavement while cornering more than it should. The Sportster mufflers were keeping the centerstand from retracting completely into its stowed position.
My solution was to add an s-shaped exhaust extention between the header pipes and mufflers. Any good automotive muffler shop can do this... I just took one of the header pipes and mufflers to them and told them to make the extention with about a 2-inch offset. Twenty dollars and 30 minutes later I had my extentions.
When mounting them, I rotated the mufflers and extentions to the point where the top of the mufflers were about where the top of the OEM mufflers would sit. Now the centerstand rotates fully up and out of the way, and no more problems with dragging.
Also, with the extentions in place there is no longer a need for the shims that I described in the first post.
The mufflers now look much better and are further back where they should be.
Marco,
Ashland, OR
Attachment: Side 0f bike.jpg (Downloaded 1222 times)
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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exavid
Top Poster
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 01:22 am | 9th Post |
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| Looks great, how do they sound?
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If you can't ride, fly or sail it, why bother?
Paul W.
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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 01:35 am | 10th Post |
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They're certainly louder than stock, but sound much better than most of the aftermarket exhaust systems I've heard. The mufflers are high quality and made with heavy materials which, I think, contributes to this.
It's very cost-effective because the Sportster mufflers can be found on ebay for $10-$50.
Marco
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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exavid
Top Poster
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 05:44 am | 11th Post |
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| Could you post a close up of your offset joint?
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If you can't ride, fly or sail it, why bother?
Paul W.
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Renegade
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 01:01 pm | 12th Post |
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Sweeeeett!!! 
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Old Nam Vet
LZ English 66 - 67
New '08 Titanium Nav
I'm old and wise, but was once young and stupid.
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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 03:49 pm | 13th Post |
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| As requested, here's a closeup of the extention/offset Attachment: Closeup.jpg (Downloaded 1192 times)
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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FitzAl
Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 04:51 pm | 14th Post |
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| That's nice work axel, well done.
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Alan Fitzpatrick.
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exavid
Top Poster
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 05:15 pm | 15th Post |
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| Thanks axelwik, that looks good. I might give that a try.
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If you can't ride, fly or sail it, why bother?
Paul W.
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axelwik
Senior Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 05:49 pm | 16th Post |
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If you do it, as with any exhaust work, be certain to balance the carbs afterwards and take care of any tune-up issues.
I don't think re-jetting is necessary, but I re-jetted a little richer mostly to get better throttle response.
Marco
Last edited on Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 05:54 pm by axelwik
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Marco,
Albuquerque, NM
'77 GL1000 (sold)
'08 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
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corneo
Guru
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Posted: Tue Nov 23rd, 2004 08:29 pm | 17th Post |
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Nice job thinking out side of the box
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Take baby steps first when checking a problem. Check the fuses first then go to the big stuff.
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jimchristiansen
Member
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Posted: Wed Nov 24th, 2004 12:55 am | 18th Post |
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Really nice looking... I could have saved a ton of money going this route!
Jim
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Budegan
Very Active Member
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Posted: Wed Nov 24th, 2004 08:09 am | 19th Post |
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| Thats what I call using your head Jim. Nice work.
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Martin Egan.
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Heffo
Very Active Member
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Posted: Sun Nov 28th, 2004 09:47 am | 20th Post |
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| Its great to see another old Wing saved from the scrapper by using your head to adapt other parts. Top marks for your efforts.
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Dave Heffernan.
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