Vance & Hines SS2r slip-on cans. Stainless end caps with aluminum oval canisters. They are the glass-pack type, so you can "adjust" sound and backpressure. I use fiberglass cloth. I pack the outlet half. really tight and leave in inlet half open.
(https://iili.io/Hs1SsZx.jpg)
I got these in pretty rough shape and spent some hours cleaning them up. Started with 800 grit, then 1000,2000. Final polish was with Mothers' aluminum polish and a felt disk on my grinder. I think they came out pretty well. I replaced all the rivets and screws. I was able to find the SS screws at a local nut and bolt store.
They are almost identical to what I have on my 900F; the only difference is that these have the mount attachment on the top, so much better for fitting on the GS500F.
(https://iili.io/Hs1SQCQ.jpg)
(https://iili.io/HQeeyKB.jpg)
Install complete. We were not able to copy the original angle of the stock exhaust due to the length of the V&H can and the location of its mount without modifications to the frame; and I like all mods to be reversible. (I still have the stock exhaust system that came with the bike)
(https://iili.io/HQekHS1.jpg)
It's hard to beat the upswept look of the original; but on the other hand, it gives the bike a longer stretched out profile.
(https://iili.io/HQekjiQ.jpg)
Once again Domingo comes through with some nice welding: steel to stainless to steel. Haven't decided if I'll paint it or not.
(https://iili.io/HQkCdDN.jpg)
In order to use the original mounting point he made some bends in this thick aluminum dog-bone, sourced from spare parts from my R6 shock install. I'll probably paint this part black, and find some nicer looking fasteners.
I've been riding around without my side fairings for a while now. I sourced an NOS K&N drop-in complete with instructions and restrictor from a Canadian shop (about half price delivered). So I'll need to do some re-jetting soon. But the bike runs well with this can and the stock air filter. The off-idle power gap that always bothered me is almost completely eliminated, might be the added length giving a bit more low-end torque. I'm hopeful that I can tune it out completely.
very nice welding!!!
How's the sound? The V&H full system for the GS500 sounds like an unbearably lowed and angry lawnmower. Was not my cup of tea with a tone higher pitched than stock.
Armandorf, yeah he's pretty good. He knows his stuff and I was impressed that he can join stainless to regular steel so well, as some people struggle with that. I was talking to him today and showed him a pic...he said to come by when he's not so busy and he'll try and correct the angle to match the angle of the rear fairing, more like the original. I don't see it as a huge problem, but he offered to do it for no charge because he wants it to look good--cool guy.
Bluesmudge, I think the full system V&H had a round steel can with a mechanical baffle. This is an aluminum oval glass-pack. There is no baffle or obstruction, just a straight-thru perforated tube wrapped in fiberglass insulation to absorb the high frequencies. Back in the day when they were new, this was a top-of-line product, an expensive upgrade for the Ducati's and other high-end sport bikes.
I had it half-wrapped which worked very well for my other bike; that is I wrap the output side of the tube, first with layers of fiberglass cloth and then with a thicker layer of the regular non-woven fiberglass--the inlet side is unwrapped to the halfway point so you get an expansion pulse using the open half as a resonator. Again this sounds great on the 4-cylinder Honda but I felt it was too loud and percussive on the GS--even though it's a similar displacement per muffler.
Riding home I felt conspicuously loud, it's a really "punchy" sound. So the next day I pulled the baffle tube and packed the inlet side with a copious amount of Rockwool. I don't know why the sound is so different between the two bikes: 243.5cc vs 225cc per cylinder, both with 9:1 compression. I came to the conclusion that 2 large valves vs 4 smaller valves must have something to do with it.
Anyhow here's a short clip. The camera has auto level for audio, I tried to place it in a similar position. I didn't rev too much because I was trying to spare my neighbours, but it's enough to give you an idea. It's definitely sounds louder than stock when riding, but it's mostly a bass-y low-end increase. At about 100km/hr the wind noise in my helmet drowns it out, but when riding at lower speeds where you can hear it has a very satisfying "motorbike" tone...punching it of a corner will make you grin every time :D