peashooters

wakeup said:

I was a draftsman at NV late 69 to late 70. I drew a so called "peashooter" silencer, and was peripherally involved in their development/testing. The silencer that I drew, had a tube running front to back, with three rows of pierced flutes, around that was wrapped some expanded metal, spot welded in place. On assembly something like 17 to 19 ounces of fibreglass wool was packed between the full length fluted tube and the external parts. It was then all welded together, cleaned up, polished and plated. The little insert piece, secured by a self tapper, was to get the noise down to comply with the incoming noise regs in California. Even with the insert in place you could see all the way through. The noise testing and development took several months, and involved riding past a noise meter at (very) specific speeds and in specific gears. The testing was done at an old WW2 air base, where there was lots of open space, as reflected noise from any buildings, trees, people, small furry animals could really upset things.
Of course the central fluted tube could rust out and blow out the back, rapidly followed by the fibreglass wool, at this stage they sounded superb but were probably not compliant with Californian regs!! I had a pair on my Honda 500/4, and once the insides had disappeared they really did sound magic.
cheers
wakeup

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htown16 said:

I have a pair of peashooters on my Triumph t140. I was suprised how different it sounds to the Norton. More of a bass note compared to a higher pitch sound on the Commando. Must be down to the different cams and cylinder head design, both being 360 degree twins. I also have a set on my Trident. The howl will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when you get above 6 grand.

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