Harley mufflers on a GS450L???

[jbayreaux]

I hope I can do this [-o<

Someone sold me some stock Harley mufflers off of a lowrider (Craigslist, $20). Brand new condition. In fact, below is a thread where another GS'r did exactly what I want to do with the exact same pipes. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...harley+exhaust

The only difference is he has a GS1000 and I have a GS450L. I dont care much for sound and performance (okay, maybe a little), I am just not that big of a fan of those megaphone styled exhausts. A master welder buddy of mine (works at a mufflershop, go figure) says this would be an easy job to cut off the old and weld on these harley mufflers. Should I be okay putting these on my GS450?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[spots25]

you shouldn't have to do any welding at all. They should just slip on, and then clamp. I've been wanting to do it to my GS400, but haven't been able to come across any cheap pipes

[bgmart450]

I hope I can do this [-o<

Someone sold me some stock Harley mufflers off of a lowrider (Craigslist, $20). Brand new condition. In fact, below is a thread where another GS'r did exactly what I want to do with the exact same pipes. http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...harley+exhaust

The only difference is he has a GS1000 and I have a GS450L. I dont care much for sound and performance (okay, maybe a little), I am just not that big of a fan of those megaphone styled exhausts. A master welder buddy of mine (works at a mufflershop, go figure) says this would be an easy job to cut off the old and weld on these harley mufflers. Should I be okay putting these on my GS450?

Thanks in advance for the help.

I have considered a similar job for my 450. I have some really odd mufflers on mine and I'd like to replace them cheaply (free even in some lucky cases). If you do this please let us know how it turns out!

[Scooter]

Been there, done that.

I'm pretty new here and didn't want to offend any diehard GSers,but I'm running dynaglide mufflers on my '78 gs400. It was't a bolt on job though. The stock Harley mufflers were a lot bigger in diameter than mine, so I went to the auto parts store and bought a pair of reducers that would fit the mufflers, and be some what close to the size of my headers. I installed the reducers into the mufflers, and tried to slip them onto my headers. The stock mufflers had dished out backs to allow close mounting to the swingarm, but the dyna mufflers didn't. The mounting location was about two inches off, so I made a pair of brackets to fix that. I then slid them around 'til I had them on at equal heights off the ground, total length(measured off of rear cam cover to muffler tip on each side), and distance off the centerline of the frame. Since I had shot blasted my headers to remove all of the chrome and rust, I then tacked the reducers to my headers. I disassembled everything and welded the reducers solid. After cooling, I applied VHT 1200 degree engine paint. I then put on header wrap(don't forget the stainless zip straps!), and Themal-Tec header wrap sealant(all available from jeg.com). At long last I reassembled everything, and was quite pleased with the look of those mufflers on the old girl. The header wrap kinda makes it look like a racer too(also scavenges the exhaust stroke and keeps the heat in the pipes which keeps the exhaust gas velocities very high)! If I ever figure out this stupid camera, I'll post pics! I hope this helps.

[jbayreaux]

Well, this aint going to be a slip-on deal. Looks like a am going to have to fab-up something. I need to make an extension from the headers to the intake of the mufflers. If I do that, the harley mufflers can attach to the existing brackets.

[ruddy]

Here are the results after I installed a pair of H-D DynaGlide shorties on my wife's Kawasaki 440 LTD, which is a vertical twin about the same exact size as your engine.

Turned out that they were a perfect slip fit on the Kawasaki pipes (on Suzuki pipes, too), but there wasn't enough pipe left after cutting off the original mufflers to slide them on far enough for clamps. The crossover pipe stubs were too close to the end, so I ended up welding the mufflers on (I had to do this on my GS850 also.). Worked out well. I used 4" Stanley straps (hinge section at the hardware store) for the rear hangers after enlarging the end holes. In addition I used two 5/16 X 1" long carriage bolts with nuts and washers. The mounting provision on these mufflers allows a lot of leeway for adapting to different bikes. Total cost was $5.61, since the mufflers were free. That doesn't include the six or seven hours of work, of course.

The overall exhaust system ended up being about 1 1/2" shorter than the originals (these were shorties), but it looks great. Since the mufflers themselves are so slim, the bike almost looks like it's running drag pipes. By the way, I did not remove the baffles. The mufflers are stock.

On the road the pipes sound different than the originals, but they do have a nice tone. When you really wind up the revs, they produce a sharper note, similar to a typical sports car exhaust. At cruising speeds, they're quite mellow, so you won't need ear plugs. The engine seems to rev quicker than before, and I did not have to rejet.

[jbayreaux]

Hmm, cant wait to do this mod. I am working on removeing a broken bolt. 8-[ (Posted in technical info)

[akier]

jbayreaux, if you end up doing this, would you mind putting together a description of how the job was? - maybe even some pics of the process. those mufflers look slick on the GS1000, and if they look that good on a 450 i may want to take a stab at it. much appreciated. good luck.

[jbayreaux]

absolutley

I do not mind at all. I am going to do this mod and I will post a follow up with pics.