Repro Mufflers

[AustHaflinger]

I need to put a new muffler on my Haffie - the current one is a home made setup that comes out in front of the back wheel.

I have a new repro muffler (the round cylinder one) and it does not fit. Went bolted top the standard mounting bracket the exhaust tail pipe does not clear the swing arm and the inlet pipe does not clear the swing arm. If I lower the muffler by about 1 1/2" it will clear but the engine manifold pipe and the inlet pipe does not line up vertically - offset by about 1 pipe width - the inlet pipe is 1" too long which I have now trimmed - looks like I will need a small 30 degree bend extension to make it all fit.

Has anyone else had this problem when fitting a new muffler?

Cheers

Garry

[ogdenenterprise]

The only slight problem I had was I had to adjust the bracket fixings on the muffler by about 25 mm sideways as they would not bolt to the muffler bracket without spacers.
Dave.

[heinkeljb]

Sounds like the original one used to make the pattern ones was it self a pattern one which was poor at that!

Looks like you will be making an exhaust system after all! At least you have a solid base to work from. Obviously alter the brackets on the silencer box rather than the ones on the body work. Same with the pipes if you can.

I wish you luck, Take some pictures of before and after.

John

[AustHaflinger]

Thanks Dave/John

I can lower the muffler by about 1 1/2" by using a strip of metal bolted to the chassis mounts and bolting the muffler to the strip of metal lower than the original holes - that way the mounts on both parts remain unchanged.

I piece of 3" long exhaust pipe bent to about 30 degrees should do the trick in joining the muffler to the exhaust manifold. Also the tail pipe does not point to the rear but across at an angle under the engine - I will cut it off at its bend and weld on some pipe so the tail pipe exists straight out the back.

The issue will be getting exhaust pipe that small.

The old system was nicely made - all in stainless steel with quite a large bike muffler that mooted the sound. With the new muffler on it is a bit louder and has quite a bark and cackle on training throttle - the new muffler sounds a lot better.

Oh - my exhaust manifolds are all stainless - were they originally that or mild steel?

I tried to take some pics today but I only have two hands - both were needed to hold the muffler and I didn't have any spare to take pics. I will try when I get the bits to put it together.

Garry

[heinkeljb]

What you mean you don't have a time delay setting on your camera? Most only delay 10 seconds or so, you would have to be quick to get everything back in position!

My manifolds / tubing is mild steel. Stainless is definitely after market! You could allways make smaller tubing. Get as small diameter as you can, then cut a slot down the length and then weld shut again - lots of work for very little gain, but if you can't find the right diameter tube maybe you will have to do that.

John

[HaffyHunter]

Hi Garry,
Since your exhaust manifold is definitely not original it may be contributing to the fit problem.
I had an all stainless exhaust set up (round muffler) from Haflinger Technik that fit quite well. It was nice to have stainless but I decided to change it out to get more originality in the project and got a Steyr-Puch NOS manifold from Haflinger Technik and a very true repro oval muffler from Robert Prokschi. Everything fit up perfectly and would recommend either option depending on whether you want the durability of stainless or the original equipment look.
Cheers,
Steve

[Rick K]

Hi Garry

In my experience it pays to get the exhaust manifold and muffler from the same supplier, as I have found they dont align very well if you mix and match. I've purchased them from Haflinger Technik, Autoquariat and Robert Prokshi on different occasions ( depending on availability), and whilst all are of a very high standard,they are not readily interchangeable. For example different pipe diameters used. I realize this ups the cost, especially with freight, but it makes life easier.

May I ask where you got your repro muffler from?

Cheers

Rick

[AustHaflinger]

I have come to conclusion that the alignment issues I have are a combination of a different exhaust manifold that hangs down about an inch lower than it should and the brackets on the repro muffler need to be about 1/2" higher on the muffler so the muffler just clears the swing arm when on its lowest position. As it is the inlet pipe to the muffler touches the swing arm at its normal right height position when the muffler is bolted to the bracket.

Here are some pics with the muffler bolted to bracket.





You can see misalignment between the manifold and the exhaust and you can see the muffler touching the swing arm - at max extension the swing arm would go another 1/4" lower impacting the muffler.

Here are pics of the muffler in my revised position. The first shows the muffler bolted to the correct bracket but about 1" lower. The second shows the 30 degree bend extension I have tack welded on in place.







My vehicle did not have the protection plates in place so I did a test fit of the rear one and with the exhaust a little lower than normal it is a tight fit but it does go. However I cannot see how the rear of the protection plate bolts to the brackets on the bottom of the engine - the shape is all wrong. The rear of the protection plate is very flat and does not go up anywhere near the brackets.



I assumed there must be some sort of spacer there but I do not see anything in the parts manual. Can someone post up a close up pic of their rear (a Haffie rear) so I can have a look.

Thanks

Garry

[heinkeljb]

Gary,

Thar's weird! I bought a replacement sump guard as the original one's tubes are almost flat with repeated use...

Put the new one on and have exactly the same problem, it either fits on the front or on the back, but not both together! I was going to wait for better weather and after I have got it back on the road before I start working out how to get it to fit. One thought was to fix it at the rear first and then make a couple of short brackets to fix the front. Obviously that will mean the front being lower might catch on things rather than deflect them, so maybe that is not the best solution.

I hope you are going to improve the top mounting bracket, I can see vibration causing fatigue failure with only one bolt holding it - other than needing the bolts to allow removal, could you weld up that joint?

John

[AustHaflinger]

I hope you are going to improve the top mounting bracket, I can see vibration causing fatigue failure with only one bolt holding it - other than needing the bolts to allow removal, could you weld up that joint?

John

That single bolt arrangement is just to hold it in place while I tacked welded the 30 degree bend to the bottom end of the muffler and to see it all fitted with appropriate clearances. I have since bolted a strip of aluminium vertically between the two holes on the diff bracket and then the muffler bolts to the aluminium strip - the top bracket of the muffler bolts to the strip in about the same position as the bolt in the pic above and the bottom one is just below the diff bracket - seems to works Ok.

I will not put it in properly until I have put in the rubber boot on the swing arm when the parts arrive. While I am now getting used to putting in the split boots I think I will need the exhaust out of the way to do it properly.

Like you I am not going to sort the bash plate just yet as I was just making sure it would clear the slightly lowered muffler. However the rear end of the bash plate seems to be quite flat where it needs to be bent up a bit, even to align with the brackets on the bottom of the engine.

Just waiting for parts to finish my work then hopefully we will be fully operational.

Cheers

Garry

Cheers

[AustHaflinger]

Hi Garry

In my experience it pays to get the exhaust manifold and muffler from the same supplier, as I have found they dont align very well if you mix and match. I've purchased them from Haflinger Technik, Autoquariat and Robert Prokshi on different occasions ( depending on availability), and whilst all are of a very high standard,they are not readily interchangeable. For example different pipe diameters used. I realize this ups the cost, especially with freight, but it makes life easier.

May I ask where you got your repro muffler from?

Cheers

Rick

The muffler I have came from Haflinger Technik - I think most of the issues I had were mainly as a result of my exhaust manifold hanging a bit lower than it should. The only issue I have with the muffler is that the swing arm would hit the inlet pipe when fully depressed - otherwise is certainly well made.

Garry

[pathfinder700ap]

Garry,

I think your skid plate is quite bent, it should normally look similar to the one in this picture:
http://tdc.haflinger-4wd.com/types/bild ... navy18.jpg

Hope this helps a bit.


Kind regards,
Constantin

[HaffyHunter]

Hi Garry,
I think your exhaust manifold is causing almost all your troubles. It is hanging far too low and its crossover tube is much too large in diameter. Both these factors cause the skid plate to not reach its attaching brackets. The skid plate may also be bent slightly but its mounting brackets appear to be bent upward too far as they look very tight to the engine bay's crossmember. Also, the manifold outlet angle is wrong and causing the muffler to be rotated such that the muffler tailpipe is positioned to far out in relation to the swing arm. The tailpipe should be much closer to the engine's crankcase thereby allowing the swing arm to travel without interference. The origininal muffler also has elongated mounting holes that permit a little bit of adjustment to muffler height.
Cheers,
Steve

[Rick K]

Hi Garry.

You are welcome to borrow a skid plate bracket to use as a template for re-bending efforts. Just PM me your postal address if you like. Cheers. Rick

[AustHaflinger]

Thanks Constantin and Steve for your links and pics - sort of confirms what I was thinking. The actual tailpipe clears the swingarm no issues but it is the inlet to the muffler that was the issue as it is larger in diameter and does not have a large bend in it to clear the swing arm. I guess I should replace the exhaust manifold that I have but it does work with a little modification so will stay with it.

Rick - thanks for the kind offer but I think I will be OK. I am not wanting to modify original mounting hardware so will either use a spacer or make something up - I need to get every thing fitted up and see where I stand.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Cheers

Garry