Inside a 950 ADV muffler, the ultimate cutaway view...

By:Ganshert

I tagged along with Ned to Wayne's house to do some surgery on 950 ADV mufflers.

The goals;
1. De-Cat a couple sets of ADV / SM cans.
2. Make a luggage rack for the SE.
3. Figure out how to mate a set of ADV de-catted cans to my old VFR

I'm talking with Wayne about #3 and this is how the conversation went...

Me; I need to fab up a mid pipe to mount 950 cans on my VFR
Wayne; what year VFR?
Me; '87
Wayne; no way
Me; yes way
Wayne; do you want a stock set?
Me; uh, yeah
Wayne; I have a BRAND NEW set off of an '86
Me; NO WAY
Wayne; YES WAY
Me; Woo Hoo

Wayne had been hanging on to this set for years becasue he knew somebody would need them someday. Thanks for being a pack rat Wayne. I owe you big time, I'll come up with something

this is Wayne, he has mad fab skills


this is Ned, Wayne, and the new guy (whose name I can't remember), he came by to see the stich Wayne has for sale on this thread

Ned; "So we are modding a 92 Goldwing trike for this years Baja 1000"
New guy; "hmm really" while thinking, you're weird
Wayne; "uh, he said Goldwing, cool!"



exhibit A; stock 950 ADV muffler


The plan was to sacrifice this one for the greater good. We know you all want to see what's inside right????

uh, how do you turn this on?


Wayne demonstrating proper technique


half way there



pulling out the little bit of packing? / heat sheild? material that got caught on the sharp edges when it was removed. It was a big sheet of fiberglass or some similar type of cloth wrapped twice around the metal mesh inner layer


cutting out the inner layer of mesh (outer skin, heat sheild material, inner mesh)


almost there!


Wayne said; "looks like a bong"


Ned said; "note the flow pattern"

so we concluded that the best way to de-cat it was to cut off the mounting flange, remove the cat completely, and weld the flange back on...

"I weld good"


so how much does a cat weigh???


It was so light that Ned thought he needed to hold it on the scale so it didn't float away. After he let go of it... 1lb.

Hope the internal view helps somebody.

Couple of points to remember;

the cat weighs 1lb

If your going to drill / hammer it out without cutting the end off the can you stand the chance of the pieces falling down into the muffler and you will have a hard time getting them out

If you cut the can open the best place to do it is just behind the flange on the tapered part so that you get the entire cat out instead of just the end of it. This is debatable but what we thought after we cut the first one open.

ED: This proceedure is for informational use only and not designed as a how-to. Any muffler modified as described is for off highway use only. Not cats were harmed during the filming of this event. This proceedure was performed by trained professionals under controlled conditions. Do not try this at home kids.