Gutted Exhaust 04 vfr

Discussion in '6th Generation 2002-2013' started by hondawolf, Sep 4, 2007.

  1. hondawolf

    hondawolf New Member

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    Stock look, aftermarket sound! 4 hours of work and saved myself a bunch of money. I hack sawed the back caps off the mufflers, pulled the baffles and packing out (1 piece), and welded the caps back on. A very simple process. The only cost to me was $40 for renting the welder at Home Depot. Took 4 hours to complete. Now for riding, the bike did loose a little low end, not as resposive (hard to tell though), but gained quite a bit when the v-tec kicks in. The bike still cruises along well, even two up riding. didn't effect my gas milage at all. Still get 45+ mpg on the freeway. For sound, the bike has a deep idle, and sound up to about 3000rpm, then mellows off a bit for cruising. Still a very noticable sound. On the freeway cruising at 5000-5500 rpm, not much louder then stock. But once you hit 7000 and the v-tec kicks in, the sound returns. I have a video clip of the bike running, just need to get it off the camera. Will post a link for it.
     
  2. eddie cap

    eddie cap New Member

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    Yo Hondawolf; Did you gut the cat.converter or the muffler? I gutted my cat. converter on my 2000 and personally from a noise stand point, I dont think it got much louder,although the engine runs a little cooler and generally there is less heat in the engine compartment. eddie
     
  3. jurhip

    jurhip New Member

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    eddie cap (and others);
    just wanted to get some reasons why everybody is removing their catalytic converters.
    I am not going to preach to everyone, but personally I will give up a few HP (if any really) to help emission reductions. True motorcycles are small and many do not ride them often, but my vfr gets about 40 mpg overall and i ride easily over 10K/yr. That is not much more efficient than a good small car. Imagine pollution problems (especially in valley cities) if everybody gutted their car cats.
    My viewpoint is that with what we now know, and with driving populations around the world increasing, every little bit helps. Anyway, regardless of how many HP I may be giving up, 1) 99.9% of the time I am way quicker than the car next to me and 2) I will never be as fast regardless of mods as even a restricted sport bike

    just wanted to know what the main reasons are, so feel free to reply
     
  4. hondawolf

    hondawolf New Member

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    Eddie cap, I only gutted the mufflers. I would rather try and find a 98/99 vfr800 cat-less headers to install. The cat doesn't seem hard to gut, but would rather install some headers that would flow better. In regards to noise. The mufflers do all the work. Most have fiberglass packing that absorbs the sound waves and creates a quiet sound. By removing all this, there's nothing to absorb the sound, and therefore making the exhaust louder.
    Jurhip, I think many remove thier cats to gain less restrictions in flow and hope for more sound possibly too. For me, I was after the sound. Also, unless your racing your bike, and keeping the engine reved up high, there really is no HP gain. I do see your point and I too ride about 12-15k a year on my motorcycle.
     
  5. goinphaster

    goinphaster New Member

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    I'll never get how anyone can can buy into the idea that lower emissions with lower MPG is better for the environment. My dad's 82 Sabre routinely gets 52MPG. It's heavier, older, and slower. My 06 Interceptor gets about 42-43MPG. I have to use more gas to go the same distance. Not enough meat in my arguments? I got more straight from the Federal EPA website:
    "Without these further regulations, highway
    motorcycles would account for 2.2 percent of mobile source HC and 0.3
    percent of mobile source NOx by 2020"
    Did you read that last part? We (motorcycles) won't even bust 5% by 2020 of the most harmful emissions. There's more cows farting in dairy farms tearing holes in the ozone than motorcycles causing pollution. It's like saying you need to have catalytic converters on lawn mowers to help clear the air in L.A.

    Lets be a little more realistic, or I'm going to buy a Ford F-450 turbo diesel to take my motorcycle to a track day so there can be a real complaint to be filed.

    sorry to deviate on your thread... I might have to do this mod (AND gut my cat) to save a few bones.
     
  6. eddie cap

    eddie cap New Member

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    Jurhip; Thanks for your response,I commend you on your enthusiasm towards the environment. I removed the media from my catalytic converter because of the nature of the vfr's running coolant temps in the 210-220 zone. In my opinion thats just to hot for an engine to run especially where long engine life is expected. I believe if my bike is in a good state of tune and I
    ride conservatvely that I will be be making a minimal impact on the environment. Yes I can state the performance advantages but I dont think thats what you are looking for. I read an article,some time back,about how much polution lawn tractors and lawn mowers created. To the best of my knowledge, todays tractors and mowers come equipped without any polution devices on them. Think about these busy landscapers who keep 4 or 5 of these units running 8+ hours a day. Any way I could go on with countless other examples, did you ever pull into a truck stop and observe the number of tractors left with their engines running ? I believe none of us can turn our heads on these important issues ,I just think we need to go after the big polluters first. eddie
     
  7. hondawolf

    hondawolf New Member

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    Well here is the video of my bike with sound. Sounds range from idle to full on through 4th gear. A couple passes cruising at 5000 rpm and a pass accelerating by. To give everyone an idea what the bike sounds like now. If you listen closely to the clip, you can hear the v-tec kick in. Let me know what you think, thanks.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjD12nYM6ak
     
  8. jurhip

    jurhip New Member

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    First of all, I agree with all that has been said, motorcycles account for very little transportation pollution and are in general very environmentally friendly. I just wanted to know the main reason behind the mod. My viewpoint is that although small, this is something we are knowingly removing and it can't help.

    goinphaster - you touched upon a good subject. it is hard to say about emissions vs mpg. when studying combustion dynamics i remember a bit of research that shows for cars 15 year old and newer, emission levels tended to be based on quality of vehicle maintenance. The test was done by measuring exhaust emissions (unkown by the driver) on highway onramps and acquiring the make/model/year of the car via the liscence plate. I am certain that a modern car with the same gas mileage is better environmentally. Where the trade-off is, I don't know. Unfortunately it seems cars get less and less efficient.

    And I am not blameless - When not riding (which is rare) my other vehicle is a '74 (pre-cat days) porsche 914. I bought pre '75 to avoid the headaches associated with old emissions systems.

    we just need a way to fill up with your local cow...:wink:
     
  9. SLOVFR

    SLOVFR Member

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    You know that if you want more power, IE horsepower, and speed you have to give something up right.....in this case its mpg .....
     
  10. robj

    robj New Member

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    does any one know about gutting cat converter on a vfr 800 2008 and how to do it and does the bike run better with it done.
    I have stiantunes on it .also looking for a lowing kit for it/
     
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