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Marco's Muffler Mod For The VS 1400 Intruder
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Cruiser

When I bought my 1400 one of the first things I noticed was that the bike was not real fast. Actually it was damn slow. I figured anything with this large an engine ought to have more punch. So I started looking for a solution, and one of the first things I noticed was the nickel sized hole in the end of the mufflers. No way can a cylinder that big breathe through a little hole like that. Also the bike sounded anemic. So…looked at aftermarket pipes and the only one I found that didn’t leave the left side of the bike naked were the Vance& Hines for $300. At the time I didn’t want to spend $300 on this bike, so this is the solution I came up with. I have to say it worked out amazingly well. The bike sounds great – even the Harley guys like the sound – and it’s not as raspy as drag pipes. Actually its fairly mellow until you crack the throttle and then it’s a deep booming bass that will really set off those damn car alarms. But if you’re careful you can still ride through the neighborhood without pissing everybody off. Since you will now effectively have a 2” open exhaust, these pipes will flow LOTS more air than the stockers. The bike will run lean – you will need to re-jet. This is not difficult…if you can rebuild these mufflers you can surely re-jet your carbs. The end result is well worth it – my bike now has LOTS more power. It woke up.

I recommend the “Factory” brand jet kits – they come with an assortment of Mikuni jets. Some of the other kits are $80 for maybe a drill bit and some bailing wire?? Anyway – get the “Factory” jet kit, install as per instructions. I set my fuel screws at 2 turns. The one thing that I intend to do when I get a chance is to drill a bunch of holes in the airbox lids to give the bike more top end. I didn’t want to do this until after I had the carbs and pipes done to see how the bike ran.


Here’s what you will need:

1. Arc welder (your garden variety buzz box works fine)

2. 25 large diameter welding rods – 1/8” or 5/32”, plus a few small ones (1/16”)

3. Electric angle grinder (4” hand grinder) with a cutting disc attached

4. Two 28” long X 2”ID Cherry Bomb glasspack mufflers from the local discount auto parts store

5. One tube of High-Temp metalized Epoxy putty (similar to JB Weld) for an industrial supply store

6. Some extra muffler packing if you can find it – call your local muffler shop or just use fiberglass insulation around the outside of the packing that came in the glasspacks.

7. Duct Tape (quack!)

8. 5 gallon bucket or a square office – sized trash basket full of water


9. Flat black Hi-temp spray paint

 
The basic idea here is to gut the factory mufflers, leaving only the hollow casings, and then replace the guts with those from the glasspack.

Step 1:
Remove the mufflers from the bike and save all the little clamps and such as you will replace it all.

Step 2:
Drill the four rivets out of the rear baffles and slide them out of the mufflers.
Fling these in the trash.

Step 3:
Cap the inlet and crossover tubes with duck tape and then sink the muffler into the water bucket as shown.



Step 4:
With the arc welder set on about 120 amps, load up one of the big rods and carefully use the arc to cut the aft baffle retaining ring out of the back of the muffler. Leave about ½” of the ring as this is what the glasspack will seat on. Cut approximately as shown below:
 
Step 5:
Continue this process with the next baffle, this time trying to cut the baffle back to about ¼” from the outer casing—otherwise you will heat up the outside of the casing and blue the chrome. However – it’s a little bit forgiving since the muffler casings are double wall AND there is cold water outside the muffler keeping it cool.

Keep working your way down inside the muffler cutting out as much as you can. There is one baffle with a little tube welded into it and you may have to bend this down so you can cut around the tube. You’ll see what I mean.

Step 6:
After you have cut as much as you can from the rear, remove the muffler from the water, dry it off, and cap up the aft end with tape. Stick this end into the water and reach down the inlet tube, cut the last baffle away and trim back the crossover tube where it protrudes into the muffler. This completes the gutting process. Set the muffler casing aside

Step 7:
Clamp a glasspack muffler in the vise, and with your 4” grinder remove the outer portion of this mufflers casing as shown below

Slide the cut casing off the inner perforated tube. Be careful to save the glass packing and set this aside for later use. When you finish, the muffler should look like this:

This will be the core for the new muffler.

Step 8:

Test fit the new core into the gutted Suzuki casing. It should slide in and the perforated tube should jam up into the forward end of the casing _ just before the “bell” on the aft end seats on what left of the baffle retaining ring in the back end of the casing.
If it fits like this, pull the core back out and wrap the glass around it. I would wrap as much glass around that thing as I could, and then secure it with a couple of wraps of stainless safety wire. Now slide it back into the casing, and then stand the casing on end and tap it into place with a hammer and wood block until it’s seated.

Step 9:
Using the small welding rods and with the welder set on about 70amps, weld a couple of small tack welds in the front and back of the muffler to secure it into the casing.

Step 10:
Using Acetone or some other such cleaner, wipe as much residue from the back of the mufflers as possible. You may want to clean the “bell” on the core and the inside back of the casing before hand, as the epoxy which will seal the core into the casing needs clean surfaces to bond to. Roll the epoxy until mixed thoroughly, then roll into “worms” about 3/8” thick and lay into the back of the muffler around the “bell”. Press it down into the gap until it is packed in and seals the gap. Touch up the ends with some flat black Hi temp spray paint. Go have a beer – you have earned it!

Step 11:
Re-install the mufflers on the bike, but allow the epoxy to fully cure before you fire the bike up.

Step 12:
FIRE UP YOUR BIKE!!!! Notice how GOOD it sounds now??? Also, notice how LEAN it sounds now? Time to re-jet. If you don’t your bike won’t run Strong and you’ll dork up your pipes. A word on that below.

A WORD OR TWO ON RE-JETTING:

When you dig into your bike, don’t EVEN remove the throttle cables from the carbs or change their adjustments in any way. You can just get the carb loose from its rubber boots; pull it away from the bike and then work on it. Also – when you put the carbs back on make sure the throttle cables are all the way down in their seats.

And when you remove the gas tank there is a fuel shutoff at the back of the tank where the lines come out. You will close this with a screwdriver before removing the fuel lines. This petcock has the following positions: closed-open-closed. So when you re-install the tank – be sure that you turn the valve to the MIDDLE position and not just twist the thing al the way back to the other closed position, otherwise your bike won’t start and you’ll be horrified.

Anyway – that’s enough typing for me for a while. Good luck and let me know how it turns out if you decide to do this.
Marco

 

A Final Note From Night_Wolf

This muffler modification was created by an Intruder Alert member Marco. A lot of people wanted the information written above, so I created a page for all to use. If you decide to add a similar page to your personal site I ask that you mention Marco and Intruder Alert.

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There is a lot of useful information on this site, but errors are possible
All Images/external links open in New Tab
Helpful answers are $1.00 each dumb looks are still FREE
These Tips come from many people, on the various
motorcycle forums I frequent.
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Note: "VS" Intruders & "S" series Boulevards
I started gathering this information in 2002
Some of it has been collected since 1985

Some information (parts & part numbers/suppliers etc...) are no longer
available or have Changed. The Information contained in these pages,
should be considered to be a
GUIDE
, on where to start YOUR search if information has Changed
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If You Attempt Modifications & Ruin Your Motorcycle

It Is Your Problem.
If You Are Not Mechanically Inclined,
Get Help From Someone Who Is

I Am Not Responsible For Use/Misuse Of These Tips & Tricks
Use @ Your Discretion

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© 2002-------> Intruder Alert.Ca