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BAFFLED BY BAFFLES

Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 8:18 am
by MartinB
I have just bought a Gold Star silencer for my Electra X from our hosts who are now of course closed for the holiday.Does anyone know how to adjust the short baffle which bolts in to the end as i find the noise too loud for for my old ears!

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:05 am
by PeteF
If it's the type I think it is, you bend in the tangs to restrict gas flow.
Having said that, you won't get a Goldie type "silencer" to be anything but loud.
Another option is to wrap the baffle in glass fibre cloth (not the stuff for GRP, proper woven cloth)

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:15 am
by apparently lucky eddie
When I tried to adjust the baffle in my silencer it made not the slightest difference. The cattle still stampeded across the fields and old men still dived for cover in ditches.
In fact the noise was so stupidly loud that I took it of again and replaced the ugly original silencer.
However, as I had also replaced the highly restricted down pipe, removed the pav and re-jetted the carb. at the same time, I still gained a much sweeter running motor. It just did n't make such a godawful noise.
I don't remember bikes making so much noise in the 50's and 60s, so where does "the 50's sound" come into it?

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:19 am
by Alan R
Hi guys--------you can get a longer version of that baffle on E-bay ( just type in}-- exhaust baffle ) plus the wool mentioned by PeteF. I seem to remember on this forum a while back somebody mentioned about fitting the baffle into the entry end of the "silencer"---- not the exit end as provided.The idea being that it mutes the sound before it has a chance to resonate in the Goldie expantion chamber itself. MartinB---don't forget you will need to re-adjust the carburation to suit the much-reduced back pressure now in place.

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:25 am
by PeteF
Eddie,
A case of failing memory methinks.
We did have some insanely noisy bikes back then.
I had anyway. I ran a Tiger 90 on open pipes for some time!
A Gold Star with no baffles at all, as was usual, could be heard miles away.

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:31 am
by Alan R
Hello again good people of the realm !!! (God, don't he go on ??) Yes, me too A.L. Eddie--- One "old-timer" thought it was the German V1 doodle-bugs come back to get him !! So I dumped it and tried shortening a standard "torpedo" silencer by removing 6" from the rear section and brazing it back together. Result is you have a nice "Thump" without the neighbour watch going into overdrive. It looks balanced and run with the Tea Caddy and VM28 jetted as standard (needle in position 4 from the top) is returning 80mpg overall. If someone can tell me how to put pictures on this forum I can show you how it was done.

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:42 am
by MartinB
Thanks for the posts.I've just ordered a longer baffle and some wrapping material from Evilbay so hopefully that will do the trick.If not yes it looks like its back to the original silencer.I'm already running our host's exhaust,Amal carb kit etc so i'll re-check the jetting when it's all sorted.

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:45 am
by Hemant
Hi MarinB and all, yes this post came up last year... I had same problem, the short baffle is not restrictive enough. To close off the "triangular holes you need to push them out with a wide metal rod from the exit end. Having said that,even this is not enough to quieten it down. Wapping with fibre glass make some difference. In the end I ended up having a longer baffle made, so as iAlan says,t reaches deeper inside the chamber and less chance to resonate, Alan I think one way to get pictures on here is to post them on "Photobucket" website and paste the link within the post.

Hemant

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Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2012 10:51 am
by Alan R
Cheers Hemant----will give that a go later in the week. Have a lot of photos to take etc so can combine it in with that lot. 'er indoors has said--- "Alan, can you just do--------------------------------" See you later

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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2012 11:21 am
by ChrisD
Hi Guys
I too have the shortie silencer and with one of our hosts baffles its too loud. So I had bought another of our hosts baffles and had the two welded together - still too loud. So I bought a third one and added that to the the first two, so now I have an 8" of baffle. Still too loud!
So now I am planning to do what Alan R has done and cutting off the end of the torpedo, remove as much of the innards as I can, and fill with silencer cloth on a perforated tube with a monel-riveted end so I can replace the cloth as I need.
I hated the muffled thuds from the torpedo and I hate the bark from the shortie, but I can't keep on buying silencers to test - at a cost to me of some 40% above Hitchcocks price (because of customs, shipping, duty, local tax). So if anyone has a better idea, like a hardley exhaust, then I will proceed to attack the torpedo to make a bodged one.
Cheers, Chris
PS, I note no captcha. has it finally been accepted that didn't work?