Source of buzzing from exhaust

Greetings everyone! Since I've bought my Silverwing, I've been bothered by several different sources of plastic/buzzing noises. This particular buzz is one that you're not really sure it's there, but you 'think' you hear it. It's best to take a listen while the scooter is on the center stand, running, and not hot yet (so you can poke around on the exhaust). I heard the buzzing, and discovered that the plastic/chrome decorative piece around the exhaust tip was the source of the noise. So I'm thinking perhaps the allen head bolts are loose. It turns out two of them were. You see, the 4 on the long sides of the oval are the only ones that actually bolt this piece to the exhaust, the top and bottom ones are only decorative. Those are the two that were loose. The problem is, you can't tighten them because they've got nuts on the back of them. Okay, fine. I removed the other four bolts, and commenced to tightening, only to discover that for some reason, on my scooter anyway, they were as tight as they would go, but were still loose. Perhaps something is missing from mine, I don't know. I added a thick washer to both of them, used some loctite, and locked them down. Voila, no more loose bolts rattling against the plastic! (That plastic really amplifies the sound.) I also went ahead and used loctite on the remaining four bolts just for good measure. Anyway, the buzz is gone now. Maybe this is common sense for everyone, maybe nobody else has this problem, but I thought I'd pass it along in case anybody is hearing a buzz from the exhaust side of the scooter, it might be worth a look.

Perhaps they are loose to allow for thermal expansion?

Oh Lord, I hope not! I'll find out soon enough!

Admittedly, one of them had some resistance when tightened. The other one was still just flopping around in the hole with no tension at all. That's the one that was causing the buzz.

Excellent! I checked mine and it was one of the causes of rattling that i i am on a quest to fix.

My huge rattle right now is the right mirror. Even with earplugs in, it buzzes very loudly in the plastic housing.So i found a flat rubber plug and drilled a hole underneath the plastic housing, filling it with Styrofoam packing peanuts till it pushes the mirror against the rim enough to stop the loud rattling, but not enough to warp the image, used the rubber plug and voila! more quiet!

Sounds good, Tagg. I'm glad I managed to help at least one person out. Man, I hate the plastic buzzing/squeaking/rattling sounds. I'm pretty well buzz-free at the moment, though.

Well the scooter is, anyway.

Well you helped me out! BTW i spent all my life in Tulsa til i was 25. When i left, riverparks, and riverside drive ended at 61st!

Lab Rat, thank you for the great post. Mine were loose also. J.R.

J.R.- glad to help! By the way, my sister-in-law used to live in Watertown. Been there several times! Nice little town, Minnesota is really nice.

Tagg- I was born in Tulsa, but we moved when I was 6. I came "home" on Jan. 1, 1984 to go to Spartan School of Aeronautics, then got a job at American Airlines. Tulsa has changed a lot in 27 years!

Small world...