Replaced original muffler and cat due to corrosion, suspected it was causing idle vibration. I now intend to take the head off and if that's all good I'll check out the timing chain and guides.

My first purchase was a Bosal muffler (now replaced with Walker SS). The Bosal droned like crazy and its welds leaked. I removed it and its piping, cut the muffler out, and today finally cut the muffler open. These are the guts!


Sectional divider was bent. Could move it with some force by hand, but I'm not sure if that would have been possible had I not removed a large section of casing.






The sectional dividers were welded to the internal pipes and crammed into place. No welds connecting them to the body of the muffler. I'm not certain if that's necessary for this method of construction, but regardless I see it as potential for vibration/noise
All in all I'm not certain why this muffler sucked so much. Resonance stuff, I guess. Not thick or sturdy enough.
Walker's offering sounds great, so I won't be cutting it open. I will say though, its piping is prone to rust just as the Bosal's. If one should purchase an aftermarket muffler/piping from either, I'd recommend painting it before doing the install.

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Interesting. I was under the impression that mufflers contained some sort of fiberglass insulation (sound deadening), but maybe that was in the old days.