Mufflers with some rusted through spots question???

Hi there,

I'm looking at picking up a set of CB160 original mufflers off of craigslist for $40 which is the best price I've seen for a set of these, but the guy said on the phone that one of them has a few small rusted through parts on the bottom of the muffler. He said that both are in working order and have the baffels in them. Is it possible to solder the small rusted holes closed on a set of mufflers. I won't know till I take a look at them exactly where the rusted through parts are, but if they are out of site, this seems like it might be the way to go...

any advice?

thanks in advance

Great price, but could be useless garbage unless you want to weld them yourself or pay someone. Have a look. Most of the time, a few rust holes is evidence of huge patch of rust that will crumble at the touch. Poke at 'em a little, if they give, they're toast. You might be able to get away with patching them, but they won't last long... CB160 mufflers are tough to find in good shape, similar to other Hondas of that period (and later) the exhaust was made cheaply.

The holes are just a small indication of what the inside of the pipes is doing. They are cheap because they are throw aways. If you solder the holes more will pop up shortly. I'd pass on that deal.

Thank you both for the replies on the mufflers... I agree, if there is too much or if it gives at all, I bet they are toast... I'm probably going to take a look at them, since it can't hurt to do that, but if they look pretty bad, then I will just walk away.

Carnivorous... Can I ask what kind of pipes you ran on your CB160 that I see in your photo? I have looked at some aftermarket pipes, but almost all I find, have an inlet of 1 3/4" and the smallest the reducers go to are 1 3/8" which is not quite small enough... The header pipes are 1 1/4" OD as I'm sure you know... Any advice? Also, how much will I have to rejett if I go with any aftermarktet?

Thanks in advance!

Hey Penguin -- I lucked in to a set of pipes from a seller in Ohio (I was in AZ at the time), who threw them up on craigslist for $40 (magic price, I guess). I wrote to him paid for them, and he sent them. I don't know what brand they are, but I believe they were period alternatives, possibly for racing. They have a cap on the end with holes drilled in it that is removable for straight pipes -- I only run them with the caps. This was about 5 or 6 years ago, but the same deals on others are still up on Ebay -- mostly the ones from Vietnam and I think Thailand. Don't know much about them.

I bought another CB160 today -- with a spare engine, spare front and rear fenders, spare speedo, all sorts of bits. The exhaust are cool looking but aftermarket, with an old auto store reducer into a JC Whitney silencer (for VWs).

Running same diameter straight pipe with some kind of silencer (JC Whitney, e.g.) would probably work well.

Rejetting or resetting the carbs will depend on both exhaust and air filters -- wait until you have a set up and see how it runs, then go from there.

Here's what the CB160 I got today looks like, with cobbled together exhaust (that kind of looks like a home made cocktail shaker exhaust).

Thanks again Carnivorous

Nice find on the CB160... another project bike?

When you say straight pipe, do you just mean running a metalpipe off of the header pipe and then putting a silencer in the end of it? I've never done anything like that, so I'm not sure how that would work exactly... does that effect the power very much in your opinion?

Thanks again for the insight... I love the set up you had on your old bike with it open underneath... did you hide the battery in the seat bump?

Yep, another project, got this today and 350F last week, so my garage is full for the summer -- until the next deal comes along.

Yeah, that's what I meant. straight pipe, same diameter, with some kind of silencer at the end. I have to be honest, there are people here way better than me about maximizing power from exhaust (or what simply works best), but on a little 160 like this, I imagine a straight pipe with decent length and a muffler would work.

Battery on the one in the photo is in the seat bump. One or two people on here rant and rave about what they call the "open triangle" look, but I'm fine with it on some bikes. Do want to keep your rear mudguard though.

Thanks again...

I wish I had garage to keep adding projects to... I actually had a 5 x 5 storage area at my last apartment where I took the frozen motor apart and put it back together, but now in my new apartment, I'm having to do any kind of work I can in front of my car in the community garage.... hahaha...

Yeah, I was planning on keeping my rear fender and I'm actually looking to modify my original seat to look somewhat like the old CYB racer seats on the CB77's, so I'm probably going to keep my battery in it's spot and figure out a way to fabricate some side panels (maybe out of wood or something) and give it a different look, or run a battery eliminator on it, but...

I'm having to get it inspected at the CHP (California Highway Patrol) as it was a junk yard find and they have to do an inspection on it... so I have to buy a battery anyway just for testing purposes... and that is why I'm trying to figure out the muffler situation pretty quickly... I was looking at those ones from China that are replicas of the originals, but the shipping is stupid expensive, and it would take between 6 and 8 weeks to get here... crazy... so I'm running into quite the lost as to what to do on the muffler right now...

Although the head pipes are different -- the CB160 and the early CB175, and the CLs, are slopers, with the engine being a stressed member (part of the frame), I bet keeping the head pipes and using a muffler from a CB200 or CB175 would work (the former likely easier to find than the latter). Dunno if anyone has tried it, but similar displacement, likely same or similar diameter exhaust, would just require rigging up a mount.

I'll jump in. I had a set of rusted through cb160 mufflers so I went the emgo dunstall route. They will fit. What I did to make up the difference was use the original red colored rubber gasket to make up the difference and tighten the mufflers down onto that. You will have to rejet for 3/4 to wide open throttle though. Cost was abut 130 and they still shine.