'Ghandi' my 'Indian Takeaway' Royal Enfield 500 had the original silencer replaced with a UK manufactured after market one that looked and sounded the part a bit more than the original item....

However, only 5,000 miles later the baffles were disintegrating making it sound like a handfull of tin tacks rattling about in a bucket and the body of the silencer was beginning to delaminate and fall apart...Not brilliant quality really taking into account it was supplied by the countries main Royal Enfield dealer...

Anyway, a quick session of measuring things up and I concluded I could fit a civvy M20 silencer with a little adaption to brackets etc....Ideal...

So, not wishing to have any further corrosion issues I ordered a stainless steel M20 silencer from Armour Motor Products....That arrived this morning and a couple of hours work saw it fitted successfully to the bike...

However, on start up (despite the lack of 'rattling tacks in a bucket') the volume of noise was substantially greater than that made by the silencer I had taken off due to baffle failure and rust...
Frankly, the baffle arrangements in these silencers are totally inadequate....The tubular pierced gauze tube with some absorbtion material wrapped around it and a hole through the middle like a telescope just isn't up to scratch...The only answer is for me to look at modifying it to get a better result...Not something I think anyone should have to do after purchasing a new silencer....

The purpose of this rant, apart from the desire for me to vent my annoyance, is to point out to any forum members who are considering an Armours exhaust for their WD bike, they should realise sneaking up on any German troop positions, or anyone else for that matter, just isn't going to happen and ear defenders should be worn at anything over tick over....

Oh, come back the mellow tones of Burgess silencers (as opposed to Armours amplifiers).....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ian you know that they copied an original WD silencer that I supplied them and have made in the 'Tipped Up' version. The picture below shows all the baffling that is in an original. It is noted of course that Stainless resonates differently to mild steel, but I'm happy with mine. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I have one of those for my M20...

However, the civvy M20 silencer is smaller in diameter, doesn't have the 'tip up' and doesn't have an original baffle layout, along with all the other silencers Armours produce I assume...

Although the silencer cost £117 including delivery I'd rather have paid a bit more to have one that silences the bike better, without having to re engineer the baffles.....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Hello all.
Whats the opinion of the forum regarding Stainless Steel wire wool as a baffling medium? Im partially deaf & live in a rural environment,however i was amazed when riding my WM20 in built up areas how loud the exhaust note really was.My muffler didnt have the rear baffle as shown in Rons post but did have the blanked off 'pepper-pot'protruding into it. Would loosely packed stainless steel wool placed in here have any effect on the exhaust bark or "performance" (😅)

email (option): Fuzzyempire@hotmail.com

I tried this quite a few years back with one of those new nicly chromed poxy silencers that you could buy from auto jumbles. This was so loud it was irritating after a while. I cut it up and made a long peperpot with a blanked off end that ran near the whole length of the silencer. Wrapped it in steel wool and welded it back up. it was really quiet with no loss of power but soon got louder as the wire wool broke up. This was years ago and i should have given it another try as maybe the steel wool i used was not stainless. Well worth trying again, I remember my pepper pot was the same size as the inlet pipe with a full blank at the end and loads of 1/4" hole drilled around and down its length. I welded this to the inlet side but maybe i should have welded it to the outlet end and making it length around 3/4 length of the silencer.
Nice to know how you get on as my XM33 is staring to irritate me a little in built up areas. That's when i get the chance to ride it again.

email (option): t.j.walker@btinternet.com

The first SS silencer I bought from Armours many years ago for my M20 was that type with wire wool around the central baffle. It got louder and louder as the wire wool disintegrated and disappeared out the tail pipe. I mentioned this to Armour's when I was in there one day and they offered to repack it with SS wire wool by cutting off the end cap and re-welding it. They didn't charge me anything.:+1:

But I've since replaced that silencer with one of their proper WD copies and I'd say the note is not a lot different. I'd say that improves as it warms up.....If that's possible? Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ron, If the Armours one is an exact copy of the one you supplied it really must be the material, SS vs Steel, or maybe the thickness of it what makes the difference....

Can you notice if they have rolled and welded the tube from sheet, like original or is from a standard tube ?? I can imaging this also can make difference...???

I have an original one fitted and it is very quiet, it is amazing how effective a plain hollow tube with 2 simple bafflers can be.

BR Michiel

['But I've since replaced that silencer with one of their proper WD copies and I'd say the note is not a lot different...']

That's depressing....I already had a noisy stainless silencer for the M20, now I have two....More money out the tailpipe..:grin: ..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Michiel I can't feel a seam so it's probably bought in tube. I know they roll their mild steel silencers, I've watched then doing it. It's quite probable that the SS is thinner than the mild steel and I think I remember them telling me that. Undoubtedly these factors will all have a bearing on the exhaust note. I don't find mine overly noisy and no one around me shows any signs of disagreement about how it sounds. Unlike the WB30 that Ian Restored and fitted an Armour's short SS straight through silencer to. I don't know if Ian can recall how noisy it was/is?

The new owner of that B30 rode with us for a week in France 3 years ago. It was so annoying to be behind him, that we insisted he rode at the back for the whole week:smiley: As it happens, he loved the sound it made!

I still have the cut up remnants of the original silencer and could always ask Armours to make a faithful copy in the correct gauge of mild steel if anyone wants them.

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Had a similar experience with an Armours silencer on a 500T Norton. Firstly the silencer was the wrong design, instead of the inlet being offset to one side of the silencer OD it was central. It still fitted the bike though as the pipe could move outwards at the head joint to compensate, but nevertheless it was wrong. Secondly, on starting the engine the racket was hideous, much nosier than the battered original item, a terrible tinny noise that hurt my ears. I also had to make up a new baffle from a drilled bit of tube pushed down the outlet and held with a tack weld inside the pipe. As it did the job, after a fashion, I didn't contact Armours but would be wary of their products in future.
Tony

Hi, is there a manufacturer in India that makes the right silencers for our Bsa's. 😂

By the way, I had the same topic May the 4th.

John 👍

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl

I took the bike out for a spin today...Not good at all.... I find it hard to believe that Armours haven't had any complaints about this and if they have it's a problem they should address.... The 'silencer' itself is nicely made but doesn't work!!!...

Next job is to take it off again and start modifying....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Hi. Where can I buy a correct silencer to military M 20 ( short inlet tube must have small angle)
Best regards
Maciej

email (option): cieply4@op.pl

This is exactly what we are talking about. "Armours Motor Products" Have copied my original silencer except that it is made from Stainless Steel instead of the original mild steel. It's the tipped up version (tipped by 7-8 degrees)

If you want to talk to them by email, mention my name (they call me "Military Ron") sales@armoursltd.co.uk

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

"They should realise sneaking up on any German troop positions, or anyone else for that matter, just isn't going to happen and ear defenders should be worn at anything over tick over...."

I don't know what all the fuss is about Ian, this German on his Norton wasn't worried about sneaking up on anyone with a noisy bike :-D

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

They probably thought the combined sounds of the rattly tappets and the exhaust would make the Brits think there was a Panzer division coming round the corner....:laughing:

I fixed my Armours silencer to my satisfaction with a couple of hours work and some extra baffles etc..Personally I still think Armours should be doing that though.... Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

What did you put in it Ian?

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Maybe soms pictures ? 🤗

John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl

I didn't get to the workshop at all today...I'll take a picture tomorrow....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Here it is, nothing too fancy...These baffle tubes are readily available on e bay...I had a couple of them left over from when I was tweaking the silencers on my Sportster....The major diameter of the baffle tube was too small for the tailpipe of the M20 silencer so I turned up a stainless adapter sleeve that fitted over that part of the tube and was a snug fit in the tail pipe...

Fortunately the smaller diameter of the tube fitted nicely inside the perforated baffle tube of the silencer...I worked out how much of the baffle was inside the silencer tube and wrapped the remainder with some exhaust matting, held in place with a wind of stainless locking wire...

I then drilled a hole through the silencer tail pipe where it wasn't too visible (lower rear when fitted to the bike) and a matching hole in the baffle tube sleeve...A stainless nut and bolt was used to hold the completed assembly in place...

I took the bike out for a good run and am pretty happy with the result....Later I'll look at modifying the WDM20 silencer I have to hopefully achieve a similar or better result...I'd like the M20 to be as quiet as it would have been originally if possible....Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Good news ! Feked sells silencers with baffles 😁. John

email (option): john.kater@chello.nl