Neat trick for Mac headers

For a couple years now I've been getting by with shoving a tractor muffler into my tailpipe which definately quieted the thing down, but also had way too much back pressure. Had a serious bog at WOT.
Well I finally discovered a decent solution. I was lookin around an Autozone, and they have these glass packed muffler tips that people put on their trucks. One of them looked like it might fit my header. Bought it, took it home and sure enough, it slid right in. I left half of it hanging out before I drilled and bolted it. Didn't seem right to hide all of that nice chrome inside my ugly black pipe:

Still fairly loud, but not near as obnoxious as an open pipe.
And the part number is: www.amazon.com/dp/B00029J0MI?smid=ATVPDK...auto-20&linkCode=asn

Don't know how long the glass packing will last, but they're cheap enough. If you do this, bend a fender washer to fit the inside radius, use a steel locknut, and don't tighten it all the way down, so you don't crush the packing. A nylon locknut might melt.

Hey that looks good!

Looks great and adds a nice touch to the black muffler. A little bling
That rear brake caliper looks good also. Tell us about it.

It definitely add a nice touch. As far as the sound, is loud on the downshift, or is just as nice even tone as you're riding? You also didn't mention if the WOT improved.

Well I rode it to work this morning, and I opened her up on a stretch by some bluffs along the river. I can hear the echo along there.
I noticed that if I stay off the throttle at low speeds, (as in cruising out of the neighborhood) it's nice and mellow. But at WOT, it still screams. Just not as harshly as with an open pipe.
Has deeper tone.
I also noticed an absence of that burbling noise it makes when I come down the hill with the throttle closed (as in a down shift). No backfiring, nice and smooth.
But like I said, at WOT, all bets are off. It's loud. At partial throttle at 75mph and above, I might as well be running an open pipe. And there is no bog at all at WOT. But at 55-65mph in top gear, I can hardly hear it echoing off the bluffs.
If I remember correctly, I'm running #17 pilots and 115 main jets, on Emgo pods.

As far as the polished caliper, not much to it. I just used some citrus spray on paint remover and some beartex, went over it with 400 grit sand paper and WD40, switched to 1000 grit, then 1500, then a final polish with a die grinder with a buffing wheel and some Mothers aluminum polish.

Not too bad! Your bike looks a lot like mine, except mine is a little beat up If you thought your open exhaust was loud, mine is even worse. It has a megaphone tip and I currently have nothing installed to quiet it down. You can hear it from miles away, literally

How often are you down In Grafton? I don't get down there too much, but when I do I see nothing but Harley's.

Hey Toadson! Long time no hear!
I live right here in Grafton, so I'm here pretty much all the time. And you're right. On the weekends Grafton is Harley city. Lots and lots of noisy slow tractors roaming around.
One of these weekends you should go riding with me, Steve, Bob and Jeff, (Bob has a police KZ1000). Steve says there's some more KZ riders, but we just haven't been able to get everybody together all at once. Wife/family obligations etc.
And last time I heard about you, you were trying to get an oil filter to function as a baffle? Couldn't get that to work? I measured a few filters myself, but couldn't find anything to even come close to matching my pipe.
Yeah, my pipe is loud like that. Wife says she can hear me coming up the river road, and she's way up in Graftron Hils where we live! LOUD!!
But this exhaust tip works great, as long as I don't get on it. But I never do that in town anyway.

Might have to take a look at one of these. The baffle in my pipe is almost cracked all the away around. Cheaper than a new baffle....chris3

I've tried using a few different oil filters, and at one time even had two inside of it. I used a smaller filter down inside the megaphone, where the tip was its smallest, and a larger one right on the end of the megaphone. The bike seemed like it was running even worse than before, so I checked the timing for the first time ever since owning this bike and it turned out that someone set it as retarded as it could get. I removed the oil filters before I advanced the timing, but the bike has been running so much better ever since! You wouldn't believe how good the oil filters stay in place once you hammer them in. I usually have to cut them in pieces to get them out. I may stick one in the end again, just to quiet it down a little bit.

Toadson, swing by Autozone and see what they have. They have different styles and shapes, but you might get lucky and find something that won't require too much modification.
But if I remember right, you're a farm boy right? So I know ya gotta have a welder or two sittin around. You could easily drill some holes in a piece of exhaust pipe and weld a couple circles or sheetmetal onto it and wrap that with fiberglass.
Another way would be to pick up one of them straight through tractor mufflers up from Farm and Home, cut the outer can off of it and gradually trim the circumference of one end of it til it slides in far enough to install. Then run a bolt through it.
OTOH, between all of the trucks and tractors and Harleys around here, I doubt you'll ever get any complaints about your noise. I never did.

Have you guys seen these V&H baffles for $22? Competition type is only $6 more. Maybe you could get one of these to work a little easier?

fiberglass wrapped baffle

I have this type of baffle so I'd be glad to take some measurements if it would help anyone. Just an idea...

Wow thanks 79MKII, that's the lowest price I've seen.
That would probably work for Toadson's pipe, but I kinda like my chrome muffler tip in my Mac pipe. Sounds good. That baffle looks like it's tapered, and I'd still end up having to fab something to make it fit.