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Hey guys, I was lucky enough to find some early Sportster mufflers for my 78 GL. They were non catalytic and non crossover. Easy breezy. But they are getting scarce and I find that most of those now available cheaply have the crossover holes that need to be plugged. What are some of the more ingenious ideas folks have used to plug those things? Freeze plugs? Welding required?

Here's what I did for the ones on my winter machine

I've even gone so far as to just cut 'em & then pinch them off very tightly.
seems to have worked well, but that was on FLH mufflers, I think.

Sidecar Bob wrote:Here's what I did for the ones on my winter machine
Blocking crossover.JPG

Won't the plugs melt?

The ones I used didn't have a crossover hole, I was lucky I guess.

The plugs are steel fender washers. The smaller outer ones are a good fit in the openings and the larger inner ones had to have the edges bent so they would fit inside the tube. The black around the edge is high temp silicone and they are held in with 1/4" bolts with ESNs. It has been together since fall of 2016 (almost 6200 Km) and shows no sign of coming loose.

Sidecar Bob wrote:The plugs are steel fender washers. The smaller outer ones are a good fit in the openings and the larger inner ones had to have the edges bent so they would fit inside the tube. The black around the edge is high temp silicone and they are held in with 1/4" bolts with ESNs. It has been together since fall of 2016 (almost 6200 Km) and shows no sign of coming loose.

Ak OK thought it was a simple freeze plug.

You could use a steel freeze plug if you could find the right size but I had the washers &c on hand. This is the first set of HD mufflers I've had with the crossover; It wouldn't be my first choice but they were free....

Sidecar Bob wrote:...It wouldn't be my first choice but they were free....

right?
nice ingenuity on the fab work.

Thanks. Here's what they looked like on the bike when I put that exhaust system together. Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying new reproduction headers from Silver's instead of having a friend on cx500forum send me a used set and they were almost completely covered with rust after the first winter. I now have a set of original GL500 headers waiting for those ones to rust out (they are fairly rough but I'd bet they'll look a lot better in 7 or 8 years than these do after 3).

I used freeze plugs. Tapped in until snug and tack welded to keep them there. Works fine. Wish I could get the center Blick back in but I welded mine to the headers. I can’t stand the loudness. Some Loud sounding bikes are pretty cool, but in my opinion, the Goldwings are not.

This year I bought some copper pipe caps, spread the ends a bit and drove them in to the center. The sound was so much better, but they only went 20-40 miles before pressure drove them out. I probably could pin them in place. Hmmmm

You could always try a lollipop baffle.

FWIW, I've had HD mufflers on Mr.H for 22 years and they aren't what I would call loud. Louder than stock maybe but once I'm doing more than about 65 Km/h I can't hear them over the wind noise.