Did I ruin my Qlink XF200 exhaust?

[The Thinker]

Hey everyone,

So I have been doing as many free things to my bike as I could to get any extra gains in performance out of it. The last thing to do was gut the cat, which I decided to do today. I broke out the air hammer, 8 inch chisel bit, and my drill with some drill bits. Based on what I have read, it is a very easy job to do, however that was not the case for me. Instead of breaking apart, the cat started compressing into itself like if you crunch up aluminum foil. After many hours of trying to get that thing out, it is now 8 inches down the end of the pipe, and is completely blocking the pipe. I do not have the money for a new muffler, nor the money for any fancy tools, so I need your guys' advice big time. My only thought would be to take the muffler to some metalworking shop and see if they can get it out with some magic super tools that I cant afford .

Any help is GREATLY appreciated, as I am stuck right now.
-TT

[zingshoen]

is it in the header or the pipe? bent or straight, i e just stuck or hard to get to, only from one side?
did you take the header off the bike? if so it should be possible to drill it to smithereens with a long enough drill. maybe a neighbour has a concrete drill bit? they are long...

[The Thinker]

It is in the muffler http://www.telecable.es/personales/a.../catalyser.jpg

That is a pic of the inside, and what I am talking about. My neighbors don't have anything like that, but my local home depot does. The thing is I might be able to get a fabrication shop to cut the muffler in half, then remove all the material that is shown in the pic. If I bring it to a fab shop and they cut it in half, I can also ask them to shorten it by 6 or so inches so Ill have a shorty pipe. Do you think its worth doin that vs buying a giant drill bit and drilling it out myself?

[zingshoen]

it looks like a straight piece of pipe - a long bolt and force should do the trick, i d bang it on concrete or sth. a few nabs with a sledgehammer and it ll come out! or in, which would require opening the muffler, so if i understand you, the shop is a good choice.
getting the cat out is one thing, shortening the can another. i would do one thing at a time, coz you want to control how loud she s going to be. you could shorten the flute and widen the passages in the baffle plates, too. shorties tend to be way too loud.
if you want a shorty, around here i can get one for 60 A$, so you probably can too.

[Weldangrind]

I ran into the very same issue, and the cat won in the end. The cat I was trying to remove was within the muffler, and it was such a poor design that I junked the whole thing. I welded another muffler onto the pipe and called it a win.

[The Thinker]

I have a 1 yard length of 5/8 inch steel rod. I would start bashing on it but the thing is if I hit in it further I can make it worse. I tried putting it in from the other side, but there seems to be baffles in the way so thats a no go. I will hold off on shortening the pipe since you are right, I want to control one thing at a time. I am very low on funds (side affect of being a senior in high school), so I can't afford a new muffler, at least not one from Qlink.

I'm bringing it by a fabrication and welding shop tomorrow as I am sure they will be able to do something for me. If I had the tools I would just cut it in half, bang the cat out with a sledgehammer and metal rod, then weld it back together. A coat of matte black spray paint and its good as new.

-TT

[zingshoen]

alright, that s a plan. you d want to know the design of the muffler before you decide how to modify it. better flow and a good sound is what you want, but for that you ll need to open the flow passages where they are most restrictive. maybe some of this becomes clear when they take the end piece off in the shop.

[The Thinker]

So today I called up at least 10 shops, none of them wanted anything to do with me, so I took it to a place called Phantom Bikes (I purchased 2 motorized bikes from them a while ago) and when I told them the problem they immediately got to work figuring out what to do. First they took off the end cap, but it appears that piece is just for looks, as the pipe is welded together behind that. They told me they will cut the pipe near the bottom and pull out the end piece, the bang the cat out of it and weld it back together. When I asked how much it will all charge they told me not to worry about it. I am going to pick it up tomorrow and of course will pay them something whether they like it or not. All I know is they are by far the nicest business I have worked with in a long time.

I will post pics of the finished product tomorrow, and will probably upload a small video for how it sounds.

-TT

[SpudRider]

Thank you for reporting the excellent customer service from that business. I truly enjoy hearing such reports.

We eagerly await your photos and video.

[Weldangrind]

Wow! That's my kind of shop.

[The Thinker]

I have gotten the pipe back, sorry for the late update. They cut it at the original weld, then removed the cat and sealed it all back up. They even took the time to paint it In my opinion it looks cleaner than before it was modified.


Outside:






Inside:




It doesn't really seem to sound any different, which is understandable as the majority of the sound dampening hardware is past the cat. It does feel like it has a bit more kick throughout the rpm range, but who knows, that may just be a placebo




On an unrelated note, there is a noticeable ticking sound coming from my bike while it is running. It has done this since I bought it. The first thing I did was remove the EPA emissions junk since people say the valve in that can cause ticking, however it did not stop. I then adjusted my valves to the proper clearances, but it still makes the sound. Any ideas?

Thank you guys,
-TT

[SpudRider]

They did a beautiful job on the muffler, and it sounds great.

It's normal to hear the valves ticking. Slappy valves are happy valves.

[The Thinker]

Originally Posted by SpudRider

It's normal to hear the valves ticking. Slappy valves are happy valves.

That's what I thought, glad to hear its normal! And I agree, the muffler job was astounding, I'm glad I took it to them. All I need now is a jet kit and I'm set.

Happy Riding,
-TT

[Weldangrind]

The muffler looks and sounds great! Did they really try to do the job for free?

Once you jet the carb, you may find a power increase, due to the minor increase in air flow.

I have a rear fender just like yours (with the LED tail light) that is going cheap; interested?

[zingshoen]

i m glad you got that sorted out! i think the bike would truly run slightly better, that s not a placebo. it s like the difference between a narrow header pipe and a wider header pipe.

also good confirmation for the fact that the main thing is to shop around until you meet someone who knows and cares.

speaking of which: i got stuck w/out petrol last night and in the second house where i asked (coz someone was outside) the guy gave me what he had left in his canister and offered me a lift to the petrol station in case it wouldn t be enough...that was nice. pushing the dr400 up a steep hill was a good workout, too.