Supertrap = bad?
Supertrap = bad?
Long story short: My Harley had a supertrap style muffler on it when I got it. The headers glowed for the first foot while idleing one night I took the Trap' off, and it stopped doing it. Now, I see alot of these "tuneable" mufflers on buggies, and I would like to know the reasoning for them. Who likes them and why? Who doesnt like them and why?
The bennys of a SuperTrapp is the tunability of the muffler to the size and usage of the engine, not to mention it also serves as a US Forestry approved spark arrestor. Engine timing, valve overlap due to the cam, cam timing, carburetor jetting, thin exhaust tubing and exhaust leaks can all cause the exhaust to glow. I would say there is/was a jetting issue with your bike. Was the jetting changed to match the exhaust system when the exhaust was modified? I have been running a SuperTrapp on my buggy for a few years with no issues. 
I am a harley mechanic and supertrapp exhaust is a torque pipe. Personaly i think they sound like crap unless you take all the plates out. but they do look pretty cool. I would suggest getting a thunderheader and using that. the sound good and look good to. you can order just the end of the thunderheader. I plan on putting one on my buggy.
[QUOTE="dirtydeedss"] you can order just the end of the thunderheader. I plan on putting one on my buggy.[/QUOTE] well, I havent gotten a replacement yet, but you can get the thunderheader in ceramic black, so I think I will go with that. This was a question for the buggy's though. Is the supertrap good on an aircooled engine? does it let all of the heat out? The only plus I see is a size advantage.
I added a 3" Supertrapp to my Manx Sidewinder exhaust for the reasons Jerry stated, along with the fact that it cut the noise level in half. When I put the fiberglass hard top on before the Supertrapp, my ears would be ringing after a short drive due to the amount of noise reflected off of it. I made a headliner for the top and put the Supertrapp on the end of the glass pack, and it got MUCH better. After a while I cut the 90 degree elbow off the end of the glass pack and had Rob (Speedee) TIG weld the Supertrapp in its place. This allowed me to remove 10 of the disks (!), bringing it to a total of 7, which made it even more quiet. I also had to reinstall the stock main jet (I had gone up from a 127.5 to a 130), as the now straight-through configuration proved to be more efficient (note how Jerry's setup is also straight-through, but with a larger glass pack). I wouldn't even consider running without the Supertrapp. The engine has more punch throughout the entire RPM range, it's half as loud as it used to be, and I picked up a couple MPG in the process. I have a CHT gauge, and I didn't notice any change in head temps in any of the above mentioned configurations. The exhaust pipes don't 'seem' hotter, but I have not measured to see if there was a change.