Started Rune Exhaust Mod

9960 Views 54 Replies 27 Participants Last post by wing67, Aug 15, 2011

dirk989

Discussion Starter · Aug 10, 2004

Last night I pulled the exhaust off the Rune. Fairly easy, straight forward job. The only really tricky part is pulling the exhaust out from under the bike after it has been removed. This CANNOT be done without lifting the bike. As we all know, lifts that work with the Rune are very scarce. I ended up using a floor jack and a long board.

My plan was to cut open the resonance chambers and remove all of the internals and then weld them back together. I'm a pretty decent welder for a lawyer, having grown up on a farm. I've been welding since I was about 10 years old. I am way out of practice though and the job looked like it could be tricky. So I decided to take the exhaust to a local welding shop and pay them to do it for me. I should have the exhaust back on the bike by the end of the week. I'll post my observations about sound and performance.

I know a few of you are greatly opposed to making any mods to the exhaust. Keep in mind that there are some of us who believe that sound is a part of the enjoyment of a bike. I also do not believe that the performance of the bike was optimized by the factory settings. I do not expect improvement from removing the internals of the mufflers, but do not believe that I am upsetting some delicate, perfect balance either. A few tenths of a second one way or another is something that will be completely un-noticeable from the seat.

I saw where a performance exhaust is in development. That's great. I wouldn't do anything that would compete with someone who is spending time and developing a new Rune product. I fully expect to buy one when/if it gets finished. In the meantime, I'll be testing out my short term solution to the Rune's less than impressive audible presence.

Dirk

1 - 20 of 55 Posts

ELP_JC

· #2 · Aug 10, 2004

Hey Dirk, would you mind taking a photo of your exhaust system from the top when you get it back? I'm curious to see it.

Maybe you can answer my question in the mean time. One of the initial Rune reports I read said the exhaust was designed to mimick the V-twin sound, achieved by joining cylinders 1, 3 and 5 with 2, 4, and 6, which means one of the opposite cylinders have to join 2 of the same side. On an exhaust photo somewhere here there's a back shot where a 'crossover pipe' is visible, but I can't see if it connects the collectors (after the 3 pipes on each side become one), like the wing, or if they're connected in the fashion described above.

Thanks man.

dirk989

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 10, 2004

Yes, one cylinder from each side crosses over to the cannister on the other side. I was trying to figure that one out. If they were trying to mimmick a v-twin sound they did a poor job of it, and frankly I'm glad. The flat 6 has it's own beautiful sound. Unfortunately the stock exhaust tries too hard to hide that. It still remains to be seen whether scraping out each cannister will uncover that sound.

Dirk

E-Z Chuck

· #4 · Aug 10, 2004

I started my mods almost a year ago starting with a 1/2 in sharpend rod and working up to a 5/8 rods were 2ft long . the center exhaust hole was very easy to break through top and bottom were not as forgiving . My sound is double that of stock., but Im also looking for a little more . The exhaust port outlet 3/4 in I think should be at least 1in or more because there is only so much sound your going to get out of that small of a hole.

ELP_JC

· #5 · Aug 12, 2004

Thanks Dirk.

Thanks Dirk. I couldn't figure it out either; we buy F6s because we don't want a Harley look-alike, and then these guys want to make it sound like one (Geez). The idea was pistons 1,3 & 5 are at TDC at the same time, just like 2,4 & 6, but they DON'T fire at the same time, obviously. I'm GLAD it didn't work out :wink:

A true 6-into-2 system with glasspacks would sound awesome for my taste. When I had my Valkyrie, I hated how low the stock pipes were, so I put the cobra pipes back then (only ones available), but never warmed up to the sound of straight pipes. The stock pipes sounded much better IMO, but were too mellow for the 'beast'.

Cheers.

dirk989

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 16, 2004

Exhaust Mod finished. Not on bike yet.

I have my exhaust back now. The insides have been removed and everything is welded shut. I'll be reinstalling the exhaust tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to post my impressions concerning any change in performance or sound.

Looking at the parts that were removed and the quality of welding needed to put it back together, I'm glad I decided not to tackle this one myself.

The exhaust came from the engine into 1 pipe at the entrance of the larger chamber. It then went into a rear chamber through 2 small muffling devices. These were each about the size of a thumb. The exhaust gasses then go to the outlet at the end of the exhaust where it has to pass through 3 of these small muffling devices again. You can see the exit for these as they are the 3 holes in the end of our exhausts. These 5 little things were tubing or pipe about 1/2 inch in diameter and 4 or 5 inches long, slightly bulbous and larger on one end with a perforated sound muffling end.

The exhaust seems to be far more restrictive than I had thought. It also seems to be a very well thought out, hi tech bit of engineering.

I hope that the ecu can make adjustments to compensate for the new far less restrictive exhaust. I also hope I haven't made a major mistake. I'll bet the stock exhaust is costly to replace. Again, this is just temporary until we can order a performance exhaust from one of the fine vendors on here.

Dirk

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RuneSki

· #7 · Aug 17, 2004

Dirk 989,
Waiting for your reply on how the exhaust sounds.
Good luck, you don't want to know how much the exhaust system costs!!
Rich K ( Rune Ski )

dirk989

Discussion Starter · #8 · Aug 17, 2004

I have the exhaust back on.....

I have it hung back on there. I fired it up and listened briefly. I have not yet had time to go for a ride or get a real good opinion.

From the minute or 2 that I ran the engine, it didn't seem to be a different sound. The sound was very, very similar - just quite a bit louder. Also, it seemed like the engine was idling faster than before. I hope that was just my imagination.

After work today I'll finish hanging all of the chrome covers back on and go for a ride. Hopefully I'll have a more detailed post after that.

Dirk

Vitki04

· #9 · Aug 17, 2004

Don't worry people,
This is exactly what I did for one of my customer, and I took it for a test ride and the HP is the same, the idle is the same and there is no worry about the ECU adjustment, it is just a little bit louder when accalerate,other than that at idle you can barely hear the difference,
I have recorded it on CD but don't know how to download it on this site.
So if anyone can help out with it I'll be glad to show of the Video with sound

dirk989

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 17, 2004

Thanks for the info. I had this sick feeling that I had made a big mistake. How is the performance exhaust coming along?

Dirk

dirk989

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 18, 2004

Well, I got it put back on and went for a short ride last night. The idle calmed down as soon as it warmed up. It runs as strong as ever. It sounds a lot better. It is deeper and louder. The exhaust on the right side seems to be a bit louder than the one on the left.

All in all this mod seems to have been a good idea and I'm glad I did it.

Dirk

KenCrawleySC

· #12 · Aug 18, 2004

How to do the sound file on the CD:

If you have a website - FTP the file to it and give us the link here.
(how big is the .wav file? Or, is it a .MP3 file?

If no website: email it to me, and I will post it on my website and provide the link here.

Do you have an unmodified Rune you can also record? Then we can hear the difference. If you do, I can combine the two files so you can hear the difference by alternating the playback (I can edit in my music software)
Ken

KenCrawleySC

· #13 · Aug 19, 2004

Guys: click on this link and you should hear the OhmygotIts AWESOME exhaust mod. WOW!
-- great job. Pls come to South Carolina and do mine!

http://ken.crawley.org/Rune-headers-protuning.mpg

(it is 1 Meg in size however as a movie)

Vitki04

· #14 · Aug 19, 2004

Thanks Ken,
To tell you the true, anybody with fabrication skills can do this but it does take all day to do one set.
Danny.
I will post the info about the hole saw trick, so that you can get just about the same sound out of it.

ELP_JC

· #15 · Aug 24, 2004

Ken, thanks a lot for the file buddy.

I don't know about you guys, but I can CLEARLY hear the V-twin emulation Honda (unfortunately) decided to achieve. I thought the blue bike was the modified one. The red sounds like a V-twin from hell (in a good way), but I dislike that particular racket. Mine will stay stock until a proper 6-into-2 comes along. The sound of my ex-GL1800 as loud as the Rune would be perfect for this bike IMHO.

We're weeks away from the big (and expected -he he) '05 news. :roll:

RedValk

· #16 · Aug 24, 2004

JC. Quit smoking whatever you are smokin' :wink: NO....i own two Runes....and can NOT hear any VTwin sound. Not CLEARLY...not even faintly! Nothing even resembling a VTwin sound. You need to go listen to a Rune in person. Or...better yet...you need to GET one. Then you'd see, they don't sound ANYTHING at all like a VTwin :evil:

oh...but you're waiting for the Phantom 05. Perhaps that 05 will sound like a VTwin. or perhaps a Diesel? I hear the 05s actually have a John Deer tractor engine in them. Honest....i keep hearing that............

No 05s. No VTwin sounds. JC....get you a darn bike, dude. Quit halucinating

Reactions: 1

G

· #17 · Aug 24, 2004

price for exhaust

what is the price for exhaust mod, and who else is doing?
and how about turn around time?
thanks guys :shock:

Vitki04

· #18 · Aug 25, 2004

I guess i can do it for you guys, but the problem is shipping, I 'm going to guess a lot of $ just for shipping, the actual job I can do for $200.00
( I charge my customer with the red one on the video, $300.00 for demount ,fab and remount )
I have no clue what shipping would be and it would have to be put on top of the modification.
But hey if you guys are interested I'm ready to go for it, as far as turn around I would say 2 days with no problem, don't forget to count the weekends into the shiiping , fabrication and shipping again.
Also if you want to go that way we can built a total new muffler for you also, meaby I should start on that tomorrow !!!!!!

Madroober

· #19 · Aug 25, 2004

Hey Tim I agree I don't understand how the sound of the Rune even can be considered close to sounding like a V-twin engine.
I think Honda did a good job with the exhaust it has a distinctive duel exhaust sound more like a Porsche engine I wouldn't change a thing but maybe a deeper throatier sound :twisted:
A large round chamber with the proper baffle and one large opening for each side I think would achieve the deeper sound I'm thinking of and definitely keep the original shape :!:
Ride safe!
Todd

abiggunz

· #20 · Feb 28, 2010

whats the difference?

woudnt it be a lot easier to drill the 11/2nch hole underneath exhaust like it was explained on the other exhaust mods. what the difference in doing the hole drill and gutting the inside of exhaust mufflers? other than you dont have a hole in your exhaust?

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