Lawnmower to a Harley

[sevenbucks]

Hi everyone, time for the newest "What is this noise?" question...

In the past week, the bike's started putting - LOUD. The thing is starting to sound like a stock Sportster, I swear!

There's been no change in the performance - the bike rides just as it always has...however, it sounds more like ass than before...

Any ideas before I take it to the shop, where they'll keep it hostage for 2 weeks in prime riding weather?

[jiggersplat]

have you checked to see if there are any holes rusted in your exhaust?  are the exhaust collars bolted in tightly?  is your airbox still connected?  and most importantly, why aren't you coming on the the md/dc/va ride on sunday?

http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11683

dan

[sevenbucks]

Dan-
Please excuse the inexperience with my bike's layout but...I'm playing the newbie card    but...where's the airbox? As for the exhaust, it's not rusted through. But listen to this pissa...I recently sandblasted the pipes and repainted them w/ black grill paint as suggested here...and they're rusting again! Time to repaint. But I will tighten up the collars tonight and see what happens...hope that's it!

[dgyver]

Probably just the exhaust header bolts. They are known to come loose.

[Kerry]

If you're lucky you won't have to replace any bolts  

[sevenbucks]

Thanks guys - both of the right pipe bolts were inexplicably loose. After some tightening, the bike resumed its usual Lawn Boy purr and lost the Sportster nonsense. Back to dodging soccer moms on 495!