Thread: Car Chemistry Header Baffles

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I have a pair of the Car Chemistry baffles in my megaphone headers, and they can be configured three ways with the caps for the center pipe, plus the area between the baffle plates can be wrapped with high temp fiberglass and/or stainless steel wool to tone them down "...2 to 4 decibles." Mine have the three baffle plates plus the solid cap on the outer end, which forces all of the exhaust through the tube and baffle plates. It was still pretty loud for town, so I first wrapped "Chore Girl" SS scrubbers around the baffles, four to a side, and it did not do much - too coarse I believe, so I called a local motorcycle shop to see if they had any muffler packing material. They sold me a a couple of sheets of high temp fiberglass and said it would work great for any performance muffler It was better, but seemed to be getting progressively louder and I noticed a few bits of fiberglass blown out when I blipped it so I ordered a couple of Car Chemistry's stainless steel wool packs. Got the package yesterday and they had sent me the two SS wool packs I ordered, plus another package that had six SS mesh split "washers" to cover the baffle holes to help prevent blow thorugh, and a package that had two sheets of quite dense fiberglass mat, about 12"x14" or so all at no added cost. Ken Mullinex is a great guy, and knows his stuff!
Took the first baffle out and busted out laughing - every scrap of the "high temperature fiberglass" was gone, blown out through the six 1/2" holes in the baffle plates, leaving four SS wires rattling on the tube Following the CC instructions I put a tight wrap of SS wool around the tube between the baffle plates followed by a couple of layers of the fiberglass mat, all wired tight with SS safety wire. It toned it down some - always going to be a bit loud in the car with the exhaust right at the leading edge of the doors, but now I can point to bikes that are louder than my car I expect this packing to last more than a week, too...

I am having the same problem with the same cc system. My cure, I am machining up mounting plates to run 5 inch supertrapp disk and shields.

Originally Posted by Bruce lee

I am having the same problem with the same cc system. My cure, I am machining up mounting plates to run 5 inch supertrapp disk and shields.

I'd be interested in seeing your finished product or the details for the supertrapp disk system. Without seeing your approach I am not sure I can take having something hanging on the end of my megaphones - they only clear the door edge 1/4" now, so anything added has to be inside or more shortening of the pipes... With the ss wool & glass wrap mine is significantly quieter, but I don't know how long it will last.

I looked at their system on line, and then decided to try to build my own set first to see if I could duplicate the results they were getting at a lower cost. I made a set for the Limefire headers in my 23, and used no packing, only a perforated tube. It knocked down the sound to an acceptable level, so I quit there. I took the baffles out temporarily a few times, just because I thought I might be getting old and that the open headers really weren't all that bad, but I quickly put them back in each time.

I think we are going to have to wrap Dans baffles with some of the steel wool, because even with them in his headers, his car is LOUD. He is using Sandersons screw type baffles, and it is hard to tell any difference with them in or out.

Interesting to read about your experiences with the CC ones.

Don

I think it is the nature of those muffler to lose their packing. Mine did, as well on the '29 roadster I had some years ago. My solution was to build a new collector that I could stuff a glass pack into. A buddy and I welded them up and I sent them to JetHot for coating. That was 1997, and they are still functioning fine today for its new owner.

Originally Posted by rspears

I'd be interested in seeing your finished product or the details for the supertrapp disk system. Without seeing your approach I am not sure I can take having something hanging on the end of my megaphones - they only clear the door edge 1/4" now, so anything added has to be inside or more shortening of the pipes... With the ss wool & glass wrap mine is significantly quieter, but I don't know how long it will last.

For the supertrapps to work you need a 5 inch flang at the end of your megs

Originally Posted by Bruce lee

For the supertrapps to work you need a 5 inch flang at the end of your megs

Yeah, that's what I feared. My driver's side is 4" at the outlet and the passenger side is 3.75" due to the intake/exhaust configuration on the heads (heads interchange side to side, so intake is in front on driver's, in back on passenger shifting the header back). Mine is a LOT quieter with the combo of steel wool and dense fiberglass mat. Ken says you drop 2-4 decibles, and since it is a log scale 4 decibles is about 25% of the original sound as I recall from class many moons ago. We'll see how long this packing lasts. Has to be better than the motorcycle fiberglass that blew out in less than a week....