Annoying noise

not mad at all. you guys have been great and very helpful. I'm suspicious of one connection I have on the bike. Going to try working on that. thinking about another exhaust set up. possibly a 2 into 1

hey chucktx,
I noticed the helmets on your page. Did you paint them?

Depends entirely on which engine & what it's used for

Yes, sir. 2-1 systems for Harleys are limited to an rpm range about 1500 rpm wide - usually 3000-4500 rpm. Which is fine for anyone who normally rides in that range & wants their best throttle response & power to be in that range.

But a 2-2 exhaust, especially with crossover pipe, kills a 2-1 on the low end & will also do better on the top end. No 2-1 pipe maker would accept my challenge to go to the dyno with their 2-1 against my 2-2 on the same engine & in posts I'd have to go back to look up, I really got into this, dyno charts & all. And if you want me to bore you with a dissertation on why exhaust systems work the way they do, I can do it again

But the key with a Harley is the "odd-fire" nature of the V-Twin design - firing order = 315-405. Take an "even-fire" 360-360 engine like some Honda V-Twins, a British bike like an older Triumph, etc. & it's a different ballgame. There a 2-1 setup works over a wider rpm range.

The exhaust directly affects the intake & the whole idea is to get one cylinder to help the other. Yep, that you can do, but in which rpm range? Can't do it idle to redline, unless someone convinced God to change the laws of physics & didn't tell me :roflmao:

The exhaust directly affects the intake & the whole idea is to get one cylinder to help the other. Yep, that you can do, but in which rpm range? Can't do it idle to redline, unless someone convinced God to change the laws of physics & didn't tell me .............oops forgot to get you that memo................:roflmao:

Baffle problems

Sounds like V&H has a little quality control issues...

Hey I'm back. I had a hard time logging in. The site didn't seem to like my password for a couple days.
Now, back to the annoying noise. I took the bike to Charm City Choppers in Baltimore. They did a great job building my cousins Sportster. He's a big guy and that bile hauls ass.
They told me because the bike was a police bike it has had headwork done to it. He told me that sound was more air going threw. He cranked up another bike that had headwork on it and sure enough there was that sound. It does really run good to. I put V&H true duals on it. It sounds pretty good. I had the computer reprogramed when I put the header on that I took to the machine shop to get the crossover blocked off 90 percent. So the tuning is pretty close for the true duals. When I let off the throttle it growls instead of popping so that's good.
I have that modified stock header and some heat shields (a complete set and some extras) I'm thinking of putting on ebay or possibly trade for a vivid black left side abs saddle bag 04 road king.
Anyway, that's the latest. I would like to thank everyone for their responses. You guys rock!

I had this problem. The knocking was at first intermittent, then constant. HD looked at exhaust, changed baffles, changed the lifters, still knocking. Finally, they changed one of the heads and the noise stopped. It was a manufacturing defect. Harley had made the holes too big and things were rattling around inside.

Hellboy,

Do you have any more specifics as to what was rattling around?

my noise wasn't a rattle it was like exhaust leak-spark knock sort of sound I think the best description was curping. But I like Tomflrhci98 am curious as to what was rattling around in yours.

My rattle was from the rods (or is it lifters, I'm not sure what the part is called) banging against the sides of the head where the hole they run through was bored too large at the factory. So, it was tapping the insides of the head, causing a rattle. The sound was difficult to locate though. It seemed to be the exhaust or something loose on the bike, very hard to locate. It was like someone rapidly tapping a small hammer against a pipe