How to Remove Straight Shot Baffles

Vance & Hines makes Straight Shot exhausts for Harley-Davidsons.

Vance & Hines makes aftermarket replacement and performance exhausts for several motorcycle brands. The company's "Straight Shots "appear at a glance to be old-fashioned straight pipes, but the exhausts actually measure 1-3/4 inches in diameter by the engine and 2-1/4 inches at the tail. Baffles are a component in automobile and motorcycle exhausts that restrict how easily engine exhaust gases can escape. Engines need some exhaust back pressure to work efficiently, but baffles also restrict the potential power that can be realized in any motorcycle engine. All Vance & Hines exhausts come with replaceable baffles.

Things You'll Need

• Flat head screwdriver
• Allen wrenches
• Pliers

Instructions

1. Loosen the worm clamp screws on the heat shields on both exhaust pipes with a flat head screwdriver. Heat shields partially insulate riders and passengers from very hot exhaust pipes. Worm clamps are simple devices that are tightened or loosened by turning a screw.

2. Remove the heat shields. Some Vance & Hines exhausts allow baffle replacement by just loosening and turning the heat shields, but the shape of Straight Shot heat shields prevents them from turning.

3. Lay on your back and locate the two Allen head screws on the bottom of the exhaust, in rear of the seam where the header pipes and tailpipes connect. The rear screw is called the baffle screw.

4. Remove both baffle screws using an Allen wrench and save them.

5. Stick the jaws of a pair of pliers about one inch into the rear of each pipe. Close the jaws and pull the baffle out of each pipe.

References

• Classic Cruiser: Honda VTX 1800 Big Shots Exhaust System
• Vance & Hines: Sportster Straightshots HS Slip-on Exhaust system