Re: Mr.H: How a motorcycle evolves over time
Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2024 11:19 am
I've been out on Mr.H 3 times (total 140 Km) and the garage floor is clean & dry.
Most of that driving was related to picking these up.
When I put Mr.H together in '95 I connected a set of Harley mufflers to the original GL1100 headers with off the shelf car exhaust size adapters. That worked but they blew the exhaust onto the bottoms of the saddlebags.
By the time I added the sidecar those headers were starting to rust out; The best ones I could obtain at that time were better but not great so brazed up their (smaller) holes and brazed on straight pieces of exhaust pipe to move the same mufflers back a bit. This looks and probably works a bit better and the bags don't get quite as dirty.
Those headers have had growing holes for a couple of years and those mufflers are starting to show their age so I have been plotting replacing the whole system for a while now, including acquiring a couple of sets of headers that (I hope) are in better shape.
Holding one of these Tour Glide mufflers next to the bike it looks like if I connect it directly to the header the tip will be a few inches farther back than the existing system (hopefully just past the bags) so all they will need is basic adapters.
But at this point installing them will wait until spring.
I also picked up a nice set of pre-cat Sportster mufflers for Eccles. These ones will require mid pipes; The last time I bought a set of the ones Murray's Carbs sells for the CX/GL500/650 family of bikes and I'd buy another set except that between exchange rate and shipping to Canada they'd end up costing about $200 CAD. So I've been talking to a local car exhaust guy about making something a lot simpler than Murray's that will work for a sidecar outfit.
Most of that driving was related to picking these up.
When I put Mr.H together in '95 I connected a set of Harley mufflers to the original GL1100 headers with off the shelf car exhaust size adapters. That worked but they blew the exhaust onto the bottoms of the saddlebags.
By the time I added the sidecar those headers were starting to rust out; The best ones I could obtain at that time were better but not great so brazed up their (smaller) holes and brazed on straight pieces of exhaust pipe to move the same mufflers back a bit. This looks and probably works a bit better and the bags don't get quite as dirty.
Those headers have had growing holes for a couple of years and those mufflers are starting to show their age so I have been plotting replacing the whole system for a while now, including acquiring a couple of sets of headers that (I hope) are in better shape.
Holding one of these Tour Glide mufflers next to the bike it looks like if I connect it directly to the header the tip will be a few inches farther back than the existing system (hopefully just past the bags) so all they will need is basic adapters.
But at this point installing them will wait until spring.
I also picked up a nice set of pre-cat Sportster mufflers for Eccles. These ones will require mid pipes; The last time I bought a set of the ones Murray's Carbs sells for the CX/GL500/650 family of bikes and I'd buy another set except that between exchange rate and shipping to Canada they'd end up costing about $200 CAD. So I've been talking to a local car exhaust guy about making something a lot simpler than Murray's that will work for a sidecar outfit.