Need noise

[butch3r]

I go on the Freeway and it's so dangerous out here in L.A. I need to somehow get something onto my scooter that will help it make noise so that people won't cut me off or crash in to me by changing lanes...they'll actually know I'm behind or next to their car.

I was thinking of loud music on speaker but that isn't my thing and won't help. My horn is not constant and I think that would just be annoying. I heard something about the muffler. I don't know too much about the muffler thing but I'd rather keep my scooter in warranty.

Any ideas?

[MikeP]

I put a Malossi exhaust on my bike. My daughter says she can hear me coming from a block away. It has been a great performance upgrade as well. I did a little review on it at http://www.scooterpappy.com with a sample of the sound.

[maddiedog]

Despite what all the pirates tell you, loud pipes don't save lives. You can typically only hear pipes on the highway or road when the bike is already past you; it doesn't make a difference at speed in projecting noise forwards.

Investing in some better lighting will go a long way. I ride with my highs on, and these ridiculously bright Kawell LEDs on:



Here's them from the side, in the garage:

[ScooteringAbout]

I just would love an exhaust that has a bit more of a purr to it, over the stock exhaust which sounds like a muffled fart in a bean can through a walkie-talkie.

[sendler2112]

It's easy and free to drill your exhaust if you want to make it a bit louder and get the slight performance upgrade that an aftermarket muffler would offer without wasting money. If you are lane splitting or riding beside another vehicle, they will definitely hear that you are there. This is the one place where a louder pipe will make a difference. It won't help in other situations such as someone turning left in front of you.
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I missed the first couple holes so you won't have to. And mine is a bit larger than it needs to be but the location is correct. This way you retain the cat and all of the initial front to back pipe and muffler volume and baffles and only eliminate the long, skinny last section of pipe that goes from the front of the can to the outlet. Mine is pretty loud at full throttle. I would recommend starting with about half that much area. Under low throttle. much of the gas will still use the original path.
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Also, removing the snorkel will add some performance and let some more intake noise out.
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[maddiedog]

Sendler, mind taking pics from further out? Also, what hole was the one you were aiming for?

I'm genuinely curious from a performance perspective.


The airbox snorkel removal is a good call too, I forgot about that. I took that out of my PCX, it definitely adds some low-pitch noise.

[you you]

Sendler, mind taking pics from further out? Also, what hole was the one you were aiming for?

I'm genuinely curious from a performance perspective.


The airbox snorkel removal is a good call too, I forgot about that. I took that out of my PCX, it definitely adds some low-pitch noise.

Aiming might be right. Good group apart from the pulled shot

[sendler2112]

Sendler, mind taking pics from further out? Also, what hole was the one you were aiming for?

I'm genuinely curious from a performance perspective.

You can see the front weld of the can. 3 inches back is the right spot. I looked at the cutaway drawing that Honda posted and it looked like it is all wide open in there but I hit the side of a baffle with the first three test holes. The hole isn't visible from further out since I got under the bottom side of the can as much as I could without lifting the bike. This is a very easy mod that can be done in 15 minutes and save $200 for an aftermarket muffler. And you get to keep the really nice, oversized cat so it doesn't smell. The exhaust path enters through the cat and is routed through a large diameter pipe to the back of the can where it still can't get out until it travels back to the front of the can through some baffles and then enters another , smaller, full length pipe that ends at the outlet. Drilling the hole just bypasses this last skinny section of pipe where half the gas still exits the tail pipe and the other half of the real high pressure peaks come out the extra hole under large throttle openings.
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Start with a smaller pilot hole and then open it out to a single 1/2 inch hole. I have 3 half inch holes clover leafed together and it is a bit loud at the curb under full throttle.

[relic]

always worried about necessary back pressure on these tiny engines
any thoughts?

[sendler2112]

Any flow inertia is tuned by the header pipe which we are not touching. Once you make it to a muffler (on any engine) there is only trade offs of power vs noise. The louder, the more power/ less pumping loss

[butch3r]

Despite what all the pirates tell you, loud pipes don't save lives. You can typically only hear pipes on the highway or road when the bike is already past you; it doesn't make a difference at speed in projecting noise forwards.

Investing in some better lighting will go a long way. I ride with my highs on, and these ridiculously bright Kawell LEDs on:

I like the lights. What's the power source?

[maddiedog]

The battery. They're LEDs, so they draw a whopping 18w each.

[butch3r]

The battery. They're LEDs, so they draw a whopping 18w each.

Where'd you get these LED's from? Have you had problems with it? Are you sure they're not knockoffs. I've seen some amazon reviews of kawell's that seemed like knockoffs. How did you install from mounting and from wiring to battery?

[MikeP]

There is some good info on the lights and pictures of install at the link below.
Cheers!


http://www.hondapcx.org/viewtopic.php?f ... 1&start=20

[relic]

maybe travelling with this guy
will help people notice you
<img src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/646627 ... 40x627.jpg" alt="6466274-3x2-940x627.jpg (940×627)"/>

[relic]

let's try this link
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/646627 ... 40x627.jpg

[Mel46]

I have those led lights that Dave has installed on my bike also. The only drawback is forgetting to turn them off after you have stopped, or accidentally turning them on while it is stored. My solution is that I drilled a small hole through the switch and I have a safety pin that hangs from the handlebar that I put through the hole once I have turned off the engine. The lights are connected directly to the battery, so I had to make sure there were no accidental ways to turn it on. I was at the service shop once and they accidentally turned them on and ran the battery down. Now they can't.

I also added a Bad Boy air horn. When someone cuts me off, I let them know it. Yesterday we were riding through a town in the mountains and some guy was on his cell phone, not paying attention to who was around him. He cut my wife off and was moving across multiple lanes, forcing us into oncoming traffic. I honked twice but he ignored me, so I layed on the horn and kept my finger on it until he woke up from his daze and noyiced us. My wife only has the normal pcx horn and she had been trying to get his attention before me. I could hardly hear hers. Mine is an air horn. You can hear it! You need one of these! They will wake anyone up. I bought mine at Harbor Freight. I used a relay that is connected to the horn button, which is still connected to the regular horn as well. Air horns take a second to wind up. The regular horn beeps for a second before the air horn kicks in. Great little horn. Dave helped me install it.

[Jge64]

There is a good solution to the lights on and off, it is a harness that we use to light up LEDs when driving, (DRL) avail on Amazon for cheap. It works like this: the harness connects directly to the battery and when the battery being charged (engine running)! it will light up the lights for a relay. Once the engine shuts off and the battery is no longer being charged, it shuts the lights off. I have used several of them and they work perfectly fine. Here's the link

http://www.amazon.com/LED-Daytime-Runni ... l++harness

On the noise, several people up with a Honda Civic have replaced the beep beep horn which looks identical to the one here, with in a normal car horn accord one ,it is remove and replace, plug-and-play. Available at College Hills honda.com

[itcaptainslow]

Removing that intake snorkel in my experience makes the engine bog down and introduces an annoying reverberation. Not good

[Alibally]

I took the snorkel out to try it but after a week or so put it back in due to the noise. The air box was full of muck as the weather was wet at the time so I'm glad I did.