Author Topic: What did you do to your RE Continental GT today?  (Read 385637 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Otto_Ing

  • Guest
Reply #15 on: February 06, 2016, 08:15:46 am
Hi, can the lifters compensate for that amount or will the push rods require some shortening?

I don't know. I plan to put the ACE head on and that has adjustable screws in the rockers. With the stock head I would assume the pushrods need to be shortened as well.


Otto_Ing

  • Guest
Reply #16 on: February 06, 2016, 01:52:14 pm
...made the attachment for my highly "tuned" exhaust.  :) This for sure will make the law enforcement and similar sort of good people happy.  ;D
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 04:19:15 pm by oTTo »


ace.cafe

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,457
  • Karma: 1
  • World leaders in performance/racing Bullets
Reply #17 on: February 06, 2016, 02:03:33 pm
Hi, can the lifters compensate for that amount or will the push rods require some shortening?
3 options:
A) Preload the pushrods .9mm deeper into the hydraulic lifters.
B) Adjust the screw adjusters on the Ace rockers to get the preload you want.
C) Get different length pushrods.

« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 02:14:09 pm by ace.cafe »
Home of the Fireball 535 !


Guaire

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,981
  • Karma: 0
Reply #18 on: February 06, 2016, 03:45:31 pm
Hi Guaire,
     I noticed that you have a sportster muffler mounted on your bike. Do you also have the upswept pipe section available from the site host, and did you need any sort of reducer/spacer kit to make the pipe fit. One more question, did you remove the baffle plate from the middle of the muffler? I have always thought that those sportster mufflers were a classic shape, and they can be found dirt cheap too.

GB

Hi George - Yes, that's a Sportster muffler. I got a pair for free. I'm using the parts from CMW = the size adapter and the upswept fitting. Add an extra clamp. I have the 'cover' to hide the plumbing, but I haven't installed it yet. I had a welding job done to cover the hole for the balance tube on the muffler.
  I'm away from my home computer. I printed instructions from this forum on prepping the HD muffler with three 3/8" (?) holes in the baffle to open the flow a little bit. Otherwise, check the Search here. There was a long posting by one of our members here on adapting the Sportster muffler. I'll post it here after I get home.
  Eventually, as things become clear from dyno work and progress with Ace's Fireball, a best performance pipe will be sorted.
  This pipe is a bit of weight, probably lighter than stock though. As you know, it's thick and it is double baffled, so there's plenty of metal to make it heavy. It's not too loud, but it sounds good with some revs. It has excellent build quality with very good chrome. All in all it's a quality pipe.
ACE Motors - sales & administration


Guaire

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,981
  • Karma: 0
Reply #19 on: February 06, 2016, 05:09:10 pm
https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php/topic,14714.msg156993.html#msg156993

Look for Arizoni's post on July 1, 2012. I followed his instructions. Here's what I saved in a document from my files from Arizoni's posts:

Harley Muffler Drill out

"After riding it a bit you might want to think about drilling the internal plug to free up the breathing.

I used a 3/8 inch "Aircraft length" drill bit and drilled one hole thru the plug. These aircraft length drill bits are about a foot long so reaching the plug to drill it was no problem.

Adding the hole thru the internal plug resulted in a noticeable gain in acceleration.

I also found a Harley wrecking yard and bought a chrome heat shield for about $10.  It came with stainless hose clamps that attach to the inside of it so it can be firmly clamped to the exhaust pipe without the clamps showing.

Covering up that Royal Enfield welded tab and silver paint improved the looks of the installation a lot.

The heat shield also keeps me from melting the bottom of my shoe.


https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php/topic,21663.msg245508.html#msg245508

https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php/topic,19830.msg217958.html#msg217958

I used my 3/8" aircraft length drill to poke a hole thru the baffle that separates the front and rear tubes.

Today on my ride I found that the old torque and acceleration was "almost" back to the pre-swap condition.
Still no sign of any backfiring on deceleration, even when I shift down a few gears to try to force a backfire.  

It still could use just a 'bit' more 'opening it up' so I'll look around and see if I can find a 1/4 or 5/16" diameter drill.
These "aircraft length" drill bits are about 12" long and not every store carries them.

Adding the 3/8" hole to the baffle did not add much noise to the sound at idle speed.

When cruising along at a constant speed of 45-50 mph where the old silencer was almost silent I can now hear the purr of the exhaust.  Far from loud but definitely more than the OEM.
  During acceleration however the loudness increased probably 20-25 percent.
Still not really loud but definitely louder than the OEM silencer while coming up to speed.  

https://forum.classicmotorworks.com/index.php/topic,14714.msg156857.html

The latest news on my new Harley muffler is I rode down to BOBs used Harley place and bought a slightly used heat shield.   It's about 8 inches long and covers up the discolored pipe and that ugly welded on RE heat shield retainer. 
The lady at BOBs must think these things are made of Platinum and charged me $20.  She said Harley parts are overpriced and a new Harley heat shield would be over $150.
At least I got one with the previous owners screw clamps still installed so I didn't have to buy those.

So far no signs of backfiring so rather than spending money for a 1/4" aircraft drill I got out my 1/8" version and added one 1/8" hole thru the center baffle.
Later this afternoon I'll take another ride and see what the effects are.
So far the total area of the two holes thru the baffle are equal to a single 0.395 hole.

My new used Harley muffler now has one 3/8" (9.5mm) and four 1/8" (3.17mm) holes thru the internal plug that separates the inlet and outlet.

All of the original low end power is restored.  In fact, it might have a little more than it did with the OEM torpedo.

The sound now is a quiet heavy thump at an idle and a healthy deep throated moderate roar when accelerating hard.

IMO, none of this loudness would be enough to upset the neighbors or the law and there is no reason for wearing ear plugs at all.  At least if your wearing a full face helmet.

There is no sign of backfiring when decelerating from any speed or while shifting gears.

I'm happy with the current situation so I think I'll stop frinkling with it (for now).

If you own a similar Harley muffler and want to modify it to get a similar performance and sound increase you could do as I did or you could save a few bucks by buying only one 12" long drill bit.

If you use a 1/4" (6.35mm) drill you will need to drill 3 holes.
If you use a 3/16" (4.77mm) drill you will need to drill 6 holes.
If you use a 1/8" (3.17mm) drill you will need to drill 13 holes.

I should mention again that this Harley muffler does not have a catalytic converter.  It is basically a straight thru design with a centrally located plug that forces the exhaust to pass thru a number of holes in the pipe into an outer cavity.  There are a smaller number of holes aft of the plug that allows the exhaust to pass from the outer cavity back into the tailpipe.

I have no idea what the internal structure of the catalytic mufflers looks like so I don't know if this modification will work with those or not."
ACE Motors - sales & administration


mevocgt

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,020
  • Karma: 0
Reply #20 on: February 06, 2016, 10:04:15 pm
...made the attachment for my highly "tuned" exhaust.  :) This for sure will make the law enforcement and similar sort of good people happy.  ;D

What did you decide to use as a head pipe?


Otto_Ing

  • Guest
Reply #21 on: February 06, 2016, 10:13:28 pm
What did you decide to use as a head pipe?

I already had the motad header which is slightly bigger dia than the exhaust port. If I didn't have that, I would have considered carpys header. To improve mine I pushed a 3,5" sleeve in at the port and got it approved by Ace.   ;)
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 10:25:04 pm by oTTo »


Otto_Ing

  • Guest
Reply #22 on: February 12, 2016, 09:34:55 pm
Off topic:

Waiting for bits and pieces to arrive for my GT. And while the waiting is so boring I've made a cigar box guitar.

https://youtu.be/lOUlgYCX_Uw

God I love this guys skill, natural talent.   Until my GT head arrives I might be able to play it little bit.  ;)


« Last Edit: February 12, 2016, 09:38:28 pm by oTTo »


mevocgt

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,020
  • Karma: 0
Reply #23 on: February 12, 2016, 11:15:49 pm
If you get really board, make a pickup for it with some copper wire, a refrigerator magnet, and one of your wife's lipstick tubes....????


Farmer_John

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,098
  • Karma: 0
Reply #24 on: February 13, 2016, 12:18:27 am
Off topic:

Waiting for bits and pieces to arrive for my GT. And while the waiting is so boring I've made a cigar box guitar.

https://youtu.be/lOUlgYCX_Uw

God I love this guys skill, natural talent.   Until my GT head arrives I might be able to play it little bit.  ;)

Now that looks like fun!
"It's not what you know, it's how well you reference what you don't"

"Ain't no hill too high for a mountain climber"

Words to succeed by...


mattsz

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,525
  • Karma: 0
  • moto-gurdyist
Reply #25 on: February 13, 2016, 12:46:47 am
...I've made a cigar box guitar.

https://youtu.be/lOUlgYCX_Uw

God I love this guys skill, natural talent.

Continuing the hijack... that DOES look like fun - and sounds great, too!  I saw Richard Thompson play last night, a nice performance in a small local hall.  There was an opening act, a fiddler who ran her signal through electronics and looping boxes multiple times to create a wall of sound.  Richard came out and got the same amount of sound from his guitar, but without any of the looping - just unbelievable skill and dexterity!


Farmer_John

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,098
  • Karma: 0
Reply #26 on: February 13, 2016, 01:10:48 am
Continuing the hijack... that DOES look like fun - and sounds great, too!  I saw Richard Thompson play last night, a nice performance in a small local hall.  There was an opening act, a fiddler who ran her signal through electronics and looping boxes multiple times to create a wall of sound.  Richard came out and got the same amount of sound from his guitar, but without any of the looping - just unbelievable skill and dexterity!

Now I love Del's version and recently Robert Earl Keene's...but you can't beat the guy that wrote it.

http://youtu.be/j0kJdrfzjAg

I love the tonal variation and harmonics open tunings add.

Yes, I'm a music geek...

"It's not what you know, it's how well you reference what you don't"

"Ain't no hill too high for a mountain climber"

Words to succeed by...


mattsz

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,525
  • Karma: 0
  • moto-gurdyist
Reply #27 on: February 13, 2016, 01:23:18 am
Now I love Del's version and recently Robert Earl Keene's...but you can't beat the guy that wrote it.

Agreed.  Although, I did hear a funky bluegrass version on the radio recently - I didn't catch the group's name.  I knew it was coming, and I was dreading hearing it, but I had to listen.  It wasn't bad - they made it work!


dginfw

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 880
  • Karma: 0
Reply #28 on: February 13, 2016, 03:28:30 am
Otto, I've been putting off my build...hopefully I'll get to it soon
Dave in TX:   '01  W650- keeper
                    '12 C5 military -sold
                    '14 Continental GT-  sold
                    '06 Iron Barrel Bullet- Ace Clubman mods


Otto_Ing

  • Guest
Reply #29 on: February 13, 2016, 07:36:36 am
Cool! Nice neck, hope to do some fretting to mine too...