The exhaust tub

Pipes, mufflers, and mounts plus a bunch of clamps takes care of the exhaust.

I have dozens of these plastic tubs full of Iron Sportster part. I get them at the office supply store. The exhaust tub is full of mufflers, mounts, and clamps. I dug down to see what was in this tub.

As I went through it, I snapped some pictures to remind me what I have. That way I don't have to go dig throught the tub, I can just refer to these pictures.

You can do the same. You don't need a website, you can keep the pictures on your phone or computer.

Plus, if there is a hurricane, you will have proof for your insurance company.

I sifted through the tub and put all the mounts on the bottom.

I have 4 late-model Sportster mufflers. While everybody busts out the baffles or runs straight pipes, I find the real challenge is to make the bike quiet. It is also very hard to tune a bike with no mufflers or baffles since the reversion pulses off the end of the pipe bounce back to the valve and make the bike run crappy at some rpm or another. This muffler is part number 65699-90. This looks like a big-bike part so it might not be as quiet as I like. Here are the other three:

This -90 part is most likely the mate to the one above, but the picture is too crappy to read the part number. No, I am not digging out again to get the number. I am just learning so put up with it.

Here is a -87 muffler, once again, crappy picture means I can't tell the part number. A better picture but still not good enough to read the part number. Its the mate to the -87 muffler above. Hey, its hard to take pictures of chrome.

I had a bunch of bubble wrap laying around from the move to Tranquility Base and from my eBay auctions. I made a nice bed over the four mufflers. I dropped in a couple of cross-over heat shields and some Super-trap baffles like used on my 1980 show bike.

Then I toss in the crossover pipes. People think they suck, but Willie G. Davidson himself noted they got 5 more horsepower due to the crossover. I suspect the real reason they spent the money was to make the exhaust more quiet, but 5 horses is still 5 horses. There is also a heat shield from my XR1000. It was to replace the cracked one, but it is not chromed, so I just gas welded the chrome one. When I find a good chrome shop in Florida I will send this one out to be plated.

Here are all the clamps that were in the tub, as well as the 1970 dual exhaust for the "boattail" model I got on eBay. That should be really quiet, I will let you know. I just mounted a set on my 1979, and this one will go on my 1977. With all these clamps, I still didn't have the smaller diameter clamps for the 1970 setup, so I ordered two on eBay, 65519-70.

Some old factory clamps in thin sheet metal with the flange to give structure. Some big clamps that go around the old mufflers. I will study them later and see if I can tell the repop ones from genuine factor parts.

Here are some factory clamps, some new in the bag that they used on the pipe at the head. Sorry, I will get the part numbers next time I am in the tub. Some wider clamps used on the normal diameter pipes. The 1970 clamps look similar, but they are for a much smaller pipe.

Here are some aftermarket clamps like I have been using, including some in the bag. I would put anti-seize on the bolt threads and under the head. All fine until I fractured off the exhaust spigot from the head of my 1979 Sportster. There is a such a thing as too tight. Kenny Puccio welded a steel nipple into the cast iron head. I was impressed. I have since sold them on eBay. Maybe those factory flanged clamps are really the smart thing to use.

The bag of T-bolts and other fasteners. I have had so much trouble with the baffles rattling in aftermarket mufflers I am pretty sure I will just stick with factory mufflers or high-class reproductions.

Here is the tub after I re-packed it. I had two Super-Trapp mufflers that are going to the dump, I will never use them. So at least the tub is a bit lighter. Now I have a record of what I own, and that might come in handy if the house burns down. Now on to the next tub.

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The exhaust tub

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