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Modifying the 2012 stock exhaust

32K views 41 replies 23 participants last post by  supernac 
#1 · (Edited)
Ok, I admit it. I am a compulsive modifier.

I decided that I has to do something about the stock exhaust. It's quieter than an electric bike.

On my 04 DL650 I had completely removed the pea shooter from my bike. Despite this radical modification, it wasn't very loud, but it did sound a lot better. It was about 93dB. My mates stock Yamaha MT01 was 94dB.

I attempted the same thing on my 2012 G-strom. I thought it would be quieter, as it has a catalytic converter which normally does a good job of muffling sound by itself. So here are the pics;









The exhaust is a similar design to the old one. The end plate is much more painful to remove, as it is welded on. I was very very careful and managed to grind away the welds with the exhaust still on the bike.

The sound comes from the front, and goes throught to the back chamber by the first of 3 pipes. It then goes forward into a middle chamber through what some call a resonance tube (2nd pipe). It then finally goes from middle chamber into the pea shooter which brings it out the back.

By removing the pea shooter you make the exhaust a lot more free flowing, it basically just goes through the first pipe and then out the back of the bike.

I did this mod on the 2012 G-strom and it strangely was a lot louder than my 2004, despite the catalytic converter. It also made a crappy farting sucking noise when you released the throttle and let the revs come back down. I am a little puzzled as to why the 2012 does this, when the 2004 didn't. Anyway, this is how it is.

Do I had to remake a shortened pea shooter. I need to take some more pics of these next stages. But what I did was make a short pea shooter mounted to a round flat plate which sits inside of the outer pea shooter pipe. The short pea shooter added a little restriction, but still allowed the exhaust gases to bypass the middle chamber. I started it back up and it still made the weird sucking farting noise when releasing the throttle.

So I removed my shortened pea shooter (which I have made attached with a single bolt) and put a 45 degree bend extension on it. My aim was to make the exhaust gases come into the rear chamber and have to turn a little before coming directly out the back of the shortened pea shooter. I started it up and now have a pretty good comprimise on sound. I re-attached the chrome end cap with a couple of rivets near the bottom, where they can't really be seen.

Cruising along there is almost no difference in sound. When accelerating hard it makes a little more noise. When idling and cruising below 40kph you can hear it's a little deeper and a little noisier.

It will do until I get around to buying an aftermarket exhaust that I like the look of. If only the Akro had a catalytic converter to make it legal...
 
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#2 ·
Interesting read. And if you're going to get an aftermarket exhaust anyway then no harm done.

Strangely enough, all my previous bike i've added really loud exhausts to as I love to be heard. But i'm determined to keep this bike quiet lol. It's nice to be able to go for a ride without bursting my earfrums for one :). However, I do miss not having it loud when in busy cities or when accelerating hard.

Make sure to let us know what exhaust you get and how it sounds!
 
#3 · (Edited)
Hello, my name is Dave, and I'm a compulsive modifier...

I did this mod on my SV and it sounds pretty good. Not quite as nice as the Yosh exhaust sound, but if I save $700 it was worth it. Who wants a V twin that sounds like a sewing machine! :thumbdown: You can probably get a used stock exhaust off of fleabay in a few months for cheap too.

I was wondering about how to do this on the new wee also. If I sell my SV I can get the Akra Ti exhaust system.

This farting sound you mention, must be from the catalytic converter? :confused:
 
#5 ·
Has anyone tried to cut off the end and completely and re-weld after gutting?

I am unfamiliar with the innards. Would hate to pop the top just to find it was put together in some fashion that would make it impossible to salvage the exterior can. I built the muffler for an SV1000S that I used to have, sounded amazing. I would like to put the same guts into the stock DL650 can. My plan is to just replace the innards with what I used before.
 
#22 ·
gutted stock pipe



sure have Huli .use a 1 or1.5 mm thick cutting disc just outside the line of the chrome endcap ,mark & then remove it.
you should be able to withdraw the whole baffle unit ,
I cut the mesh just adjacent to the baffles to gain access to the tubes
used new woven fibreglass mat to replace budget stock wrapping,held in place with 3 wraps of elect.tape [ends & centre]
after re-assembly weld & grind back ,virtually invisible after hi temp paint.
good luck JB
 
#7 · (Edited)
Bingo......why some waste their time and effort doing this, makes zero sense to me. Pony up and get the real thing, or leave it stock.
Personally, I don't have $700 for a new muffler, but I do have time and skill to better what is there. Will probably only cost me about $100. Here is what I did for my SV1000S (yes that is a 1000 with a 2 into 1). Full stainless, mandrel bent. Sounded great and the full system was less than $300 and took only a few hours to fab, muffler included.

 
#8 ·
My experience with smaller and larger capacity bike engines suggests there can be a fine line on performance benefits when massaging exhausts. Too big a muffler exit diameter and the outcome can be more noise and a loss of torque. Without knowing the average valve seat diameter and the ID of the exhaust port it's a fair bet the original header pipes are pretty close.

The diameter of the collector pipe as it enters the muffler is a good guide to the maximum exit diameter on a muffler but the exhaust gas is continually cooling so the cross sectional area of the final exit can be reduced (~ 75% - 80%) The most restrictive components are the muffler internals.

It's "horses for courses" - if tractable power and torque is required from low revs then chopping the daylights out of the std muffler may not provide the desired result - just more noise.
 
#12 ·
My experience with smaller and larger capacity bike engines suggests there can be a fine line on performance benefits when massaging exhausts.

...................blah blah blah.................

if tractable power and torque is required from low revs then chopping the daylights out of the std muffler may not provide the desired result - just more noise.

Whut a bunch of hogworsh.

Ever buddy nose that any badass dude like me wif a powerdrill, a case of Coorslite, a modems, & and dull quarter inch bit can out-do Suzukis engernearing deportment stroke 4 strok.

You cannot deny the awsum-nis of my bike.

Some dude sed it was so bad it soundid lik it had flat 2 lens.
 
#14 ·
I was browsing ebay for 2012 Vstrom accessories when I came across a seller offering a shorty slip-on for the 2012 and it is $89. I would try that before I cut the stock pipe.
but... in order to fit a slip on, you must cut the stock pipe... :confused:
 
#11 ·
Nine years on a Harley with Screaming Eagle pipes actually made me appreciate that my V-strom doesn't sound like an unmuffled tractor. I kind of like that it's quiet (as I'm sure my neighbors do too).

Though I can still understand the appeal of making a little bit of noise.....
 
#15 · (Edited)
2012 dl650 exhaust mod

I recently cut the end of the stock muffler and withdrew the mesh housing
that carries the baffles and restrictor tubes ,cut out the tubes and
welded in oversize tubes and a larger tail pipe [pea shooter]
that just fits inside the chrome end cap.
end result snappier acceleration ,I can hear the exhaust note now.
and faster top end.
I guess the engine can breathe better .
I'll post some pictures of the process on the ausy /nz side one of these day's
 
#23 ·
First i have to say, DON'T CUT OFF THE PEA SHOOTER!!!

I was so stupid and did it, first just half, then all of it and hated the sound. It was not like people wrote on forums, but just loud fart noises... So after driving around like that for 2 weeks, i remembered seeing this thread on the forum.
I didn't drill holes at the side, but just cut off the welds on the sides, then you can move the pea shooter to the side and hammer it out like said on the pictures.
After that just pull it out and you get... a great sound that is so loud everyone WILL hate you :) Oh and driving like that around is nuts, you get deaf in a few minutes... :)

So what i did then is take a metal tube that's fits exactly into the exhaust and is around 10cm long and hammer it inside, but not to the edge but slightly more so that its around 13cm inside the exhaust. Then i just welded it on the sides to the exhaust and!!! you get a nice growl sound, more bass and not to loud to get deaf... it sounds kinda like my friends Ducati with aftermarket exhaust :) not to loud and not like a electric lawn mower or someone farting...

i did make videos before every change and will posts it on here, so u can hear the differences from stock, half cut,full cut and then the last operation i just described, so u can hear what u have to do to get the sound that you like :)


sorry for my bad english, im from SLO :)
 
#25 ·
Love that final sound! Do you have the steps you took to get the bass up on that sucker?
 
#26 ·
i can try and describe them and make a picture of how the inside looks

the bike now is a little bit louder, not really much when measuring the noise, but a lot deeper sound note


to explain my professional picture :)


The green lines show the pea shooter how it goes into the exhaust and u have to remove all of it.
U just drill around on the outside of the peashooter and try to grind off the edges so u get a nice round hole.

After that, u have to take a long screw driver or something like that and hammer off the welds on the left and right of the pea shooter inside the exhaust. I marked them with blue.
After that u can just pull the whole thing out.

I then made a bigger "pea shooter" that is around half the length of the original, but wide as the outer pea shooter marked with red, so it just fits tight inside.
The new peashooter is marked with yellow.

Then just weld it to the outer peashooter so it cant fall inside the exhaust.

I made mine so tight that i had to hammer it inside and there is no way the thing could ever fall out and do any harm.

Tomorrow i will repaint the whole exhaust with black exhaust spray colour so there will be no signs that something is modified.

Hope you understand what i mean :)

If u got any questions, just ask
 

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#28 ·
Well i can't get a Akrapovič exhaust since it is not street legal here, because it's without a Catalytic converter.

I actually live a few kilometers away from Akrapovič manufacturing. It's a Slovenian company :)

I did a longer ride today with my "new" exhaust and its perfect when it comes to noise level and depth of the noise. If anyone would like more videos of the sound, i can make them.
 
#29 ·
Ok, I admit it. I am a compulsive modifier.
I feel your pain. As I age, I seem to be getting somewhat better at resisting taking things apart to make them better.

I'll guess the "crappy farting sucking noise when you released the throttle" is really a mild lean condition that results in a small bit of mixture making it out of the exhaust port before finally igniting due to less back pressure to hold it in. Just a guess.
 
#32 ·
the diametere of the new pea shooter is a milimeter less then the outer original pea shooter, marked with red on my picture. Just look at my sketch and the pictures in the first post.

I just used a metal tube, around 2mm / 0.08inch thick and around 10cm / 4 inch long. The diameter is around 4.5cm, but measure it on your bike before doing anything since u can do it easy.

When riding the sound isent any louder, just deeper. If u want it loud, just dont insert the new pea shooter, but for me it is just too much...

i will make a video today or tomorrow so u can hear it on-board and pass by
 
#34 ·
ha, funny, I just checked this earlier today to see if the video had been posted. Eagerly awaiting. :mrgreen:

I know life is busy and you can't go around doing whatever a bunch of weirdos on the internet are wanting, but... hurry up, will ya?!? :biggrinjester: (I keed, I appreciate all of the info already)
 
#38 ·
I am actually surprised at how nice my stock 650XT exhaust sounds, I think it is quite throaty in a very subdued way. Sounds much better than the 1st Gen 650 Strom, at least that is how I hear it. ;) I may go with an Akra or Yoshi one of these days, but not when I can spend money in better areas IMHO.
 
#41 ·
Yes I know it would need opening then welding, that wasn't my question....
FWIW, I think the oe exhaust fits & looks the best but is just a tad quiet. Any bikes that I have heard where someone has modified the baffles, just sound crap.
As for weight, I'm 16st so any weight loss programme should start there, maybe I need to remove my top box, crash bars & centre stand too....

Phil
 
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