holy crap! muffler removal unleashes beast!

i've been stripping the bike all day.....headlight, signal lights, gauges, mirrors, mufflers, rear storage box and tools, etc.
i've been working toward a rat/bobber/cafe look and made big progress in getting her down to a cleaner look.
was quite the job getting the exhaust pipes, collector box, and mufflers off. re-attached the exhaust pipes and collector box and fired it up.
damn, what a difference!
much deeper exhaust note, sounds closer to a v-twin ( i said closer, not the same). took a ride and wow.....talk about high end!
she winds up much quicker now and pulls hard up to.....oh yeah, no tach so i don't know. let's just say i went faster quicker than i ever had before.
okay, so now i'm back to earth. what is the downside of running the bike like this (no muffler but with collector box)?
thanks for your comments and advice.

 

Uses more gas too

 

I ran un-silenced with a collector box and a home-grown PVC mani and single pod before I sold my Max. I feel as though some comments were thrown around such as this causing a lean running condition which, while making the bike run like a flying rat outta heck, could lead to detonation/pre-ignition over time if proper jetting and tuning never makes it into the mixture. Someone more knowledgeable than me should chime in on this one.

Oh yeah, the other downside was not being able to take my bike to work for the sake of my neighbors b/c my commute started @ 7am.... :roll:

 

Bless you for being a considerate soul k.joel.porter, you are rare among the masses. Hope springs eternal...

 

You need to search for threads about plug chops and pods/exhaust mods.
And closely watch your plug color and condition - - too white/clean means too hot, and at some point you can blow holes in your pistons.

If you have 120 jets, you may end up needing 124, or you may want to put some kind of muffler on, and not need jets.

 

You could just put long, straight through pipes on there.

 

i noticed the inside of the mufflers is jet black as well as the exhaust pipes. looks like she's running pretty fat. i live at 5800 ft and wonder if the bike was ever jetted down for this altitude.

 

Can you post a vid to let us also hear it?

 

You'll need less fuel to go with less air in order to keep the mixture stoichiometric. Keep in mind this will change slightly as the ambient temperature decreases and you continue to ride.

 

yep, that's what i'm thinking as well. i have a lot of experience swapping jets on holley carbs for my drag car but not so much with a cycle. looks like the carbs are coming off again....ugh!

 

I wouldn't yank the carbs until you have a better idea of what you need to correct. The assumption was made you'd be lean, yet you're seeing signs of richness; I would do some plug reads/plug chops and figure out which way you need to go first.

 

great point fitz....
the inside condition of the pipes is not from the few miles i've put on the bike since restarting it from a 10+yr long slumber. i'll clean the plugs (new a couple months ago) and follow their lead. of course, with winter staring at me, i may have trouble putting enough miles on the bike to get good plug reads.
if removing the mufflers moves the mixture lean and the bike is jetted for sea level (meaning too fat for my altitude), i could be closer than i think. hmmmmmm
what do you and others mean when you say "plug chops"?

 

Find a big open space. Ride to the gear and RPM range you're looking for then reach over and hit the kill switch while pulling in the clutch. Coast to a stop and remove plugs for inspection. Adjust as needed, repeat.

This gives you an idea what it looks like under load.

In addition to the jets you can also shim the needles to get more fuel sooner if you needed to.

 

Here is a video of my bike with the pipes off, his should sound similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6NGzh9Uxog