New exhaust for softail

Picture

I have been so busy riding I forgot to post a picture. I like the Bigshot longs but I really want something a bit different so stay tuned...

guess

I'll be goin against the grain with my Deluxe. Getting it at the end of the month (march)

The two-tone chopper blue/pearl white with Big Shot staggereds (i cant spell).

I know, I now, the big shot longs do look awesome, but for me it has to be the staggereds.

back to my beer

Exhaust

Go with Vance & Hines , but get a Power Commander if you do the Stage-1 upgrade (noticable power increase). Use the "quiet baffles"; louder but not annoying. Be advised, you will have popping from the exhaust and this may be a distraction. I have 3 Harleys and while the upgrades are nice, stock does rock.
Jack

not to burst your bubble

I have worked on many bikes in my day. I have seen more problems with the power commander, than any other brand. I would rather install the SE Race Fueler or SE Race tuner instead of the power commander. It seems to do funny things all on its own. I also have long shots on my 2004 Fatboy, they are a great sounding pipe, and looks great too. My neighbors don't like it though.

Bubble

Thanks to DP I have a stage one installed on my 05 FXSTI. I have read that the security upgrades on the bike do not work well with the race tuner. In 05 you cannot use the race fueler.

My set up rocks. Kerker 2 into 1, big ness sucker, and a power commander III. It is a new bike and the power commander was easy to work with. Plus PC always adds software updates like the accel pump and soon to be the rev limiter unit. Can you say that about the race tuner?

W

First things first.
1. The PC's failure rate is negligible. We sell over a thousand PC's a year and I'll wager the failure rate is less than ten units.

Now, since I have been involved with the PC's from the beginning, I do have extensive knowledge on the history and some insight as to what the typical MoCo dealers and some indy shops response was in the beginning. The majority of "failures" in early units for the Magnetto Marelli EFI was not the PC but the cheap cam position sensors used until 01. The fact that the connectors were located just outside the cam cover and were not water tight at all combined with them being the low bidder specials caused the signals from these sensors to be easily washed out. Adding a PC in line with the ECU in many cases would completely wash out the signal causing a no start, codes that were not accurate etc. If the PC were disconnected and the bike started that PC must have been bad right? NOT! Now, add in the fact that during this time the techs knew more about picking their noses than them dang EFI bikes and would look for anything or anyone to blame for failures and you get the whole urban legend thing going on. PC's are bad, they'll fry the ECU (total B.S. btw), they'll void the warranty (should read the consumer protection act sometime) ad nauseum and you get the drift.

There are actually just a few ways to slice the EFI tuning pie. Brands difer but, the methods used are the same.

1. The technoligically best way IMHO is the H.R.T. Why? Because you are writing directly to the ECU eliminating external inputs. Downside is that you either have to become pretty familiar with it or have a local tech that is good. I also hear that H-D is now charging for maps.
In the next year or two max, look for other sources that will do the same thing only for a lot fewer $$$$. Some of these are rumored to interface with the Dynojet Dyno systems.

2. Full replacement of EFI with a closed loop system. Expensive, but closed loop is in the future. Not enough units in the field to know about reliability yet.

3. External devices that allow you to adjust the fuel curve by adding fuel. DFO, TFI, and the SE boxes all will either splice in or plug in to the EFI. All work in the same basic way, they allow you to add fuel to the EFI by altering the pulse of the injectors. Notice I said add and nothing about decreasing fuel. Depending on your configuration you may actually need to add fuel at some RPM's and pull some out at others. Pretty limiting isn't it?

4. V&H has announced another external device but I have very few details as yet.

5. External devices that allow you full control of fuel and timing curves. The Dyno Jet Power Commanders have evolved into a very reliable tuning aid that allows you adjust the fuel curve, timing curves independently and an accelerator pump feature. The ability to directly interface with the Dyno allowing an extremely accurate map is another plus. The HRT has more bells and whistles and can be used on the Dyno but in the long run it takes some serious experience with it to get the same results you can get in three runs with a PC on a Dyno.

With the new EPA (gonna get them nasty bikers of the road) standards coming beginning in 2006 look for many more of the bikes to have EFI and by
2010 the carburetor may well be a history lesson. Closed loops, catalytic convertors, anti tamper ECU's, reporting codes locked in and dumped during annual inspections... Orwellian as it may sound, but 1984 just may have been about twenty years postponed is all.

I too have a 05 softail deluxe and went with the VH bigshot longs. I also bought the supersucker stage 1 kit. Instead of taking my bike to the shop to have the parts put on I did the work myself and put a powercommander on and got the map of their site for the package I put on.

My Question is did you have a dealer put your parts on and did you have them flash your bike or did you use a power commander. A good friend of mine is buying a new springer now and the dealer told him that if he goes with the same combo that i have his bike will run too lean.

To me my bike is running and sounding great, But Im no mechanic so I'd like some imput to see if the harley part guy is just pushing screamin eagle parts or if I need to change something on my bike.

Thanx

06 pipes available.

Hey the following pipes are available for 05/06 deluxe. |I know as I have one. I think the SE2 pipes are still a way off. However if you are going down the cycle shack option and have efi (as I do) it is wize to ask if a download is available for reset your fuel mixture.
Go to http://www.cycle-shack.com/products/4.html to view pipes.

If you are going to 95 ci, then go to page http://www.cycle-shack.com/products/3.html for pipes that keep the staggered look.

AS in New Zealand had to do some research. Ride safe and keep the black bit on the road. Screaming eagle do not offer a download for their pipes for 95ci yet. Frustrating but way it is.

I just put v&h stepped draggs on my bike. They look great but are way TOO LOUD. I ordered the quite baffles, any one have any experience with how quit the quit baffles are.

Check out Rush mufflers. You can retain the stock header pipes setup. I don't have Rush's web site. Just search in Google.com for Rush mufflers. I've got set ordered for my wife's '05 Softail Deluxe.

06 deluxe

here is the training wheel again folks. ..... all you are talking are new to me and have no idea what to do on my bike..i like the v&h big shot staggered. What is a power commander? what does it do ? can i program it by myself & installed all of this with my little knowledge? What are the stages? any one can help me you could email me personally or I'll just drop by here. RCR, i like your saddle bag. how much was it? and all you guys here, how much will i spend with all these aftermarkets? where can i order this parts? Training whheels oscar softluxe....appreciate all advice

I just ordered the V&H pro-pipe 2-1, PC III, and K&N's RK-3909 air kit... I was going to go with the BSS but the dbA (noise loudness) made me chose the latter. The power commander III or better known as PC, is a piggy-back computer module that lets you down load maps for fueling/timing to your specific set-up or close to it. When you go stage 1, 2, or 3. You are modifying the fuel/air ratio and thus need to compensate for your new set-up. The PC III does this without re-writing the original map software that came with your ECM. If you don't know what the ECM is then I suggest that you take your bike to a local tuner for proper adjustments/installations of your choice... Remember, you paid alot for your scooter, you don't want to F** it up! Hope this helps shed some light for ya.

I ordered the Big Shot Staggered for my 2002 Heritage Softail Classic along with Ness Big Sucker Air Cleaner and the Power Commander III USB. I put the pipes on myself with not too much trouble. Installed the air cleaner and uploaded the map for the Power Commander that is for my pipes and the SEII Air Cleaner (that was the closest map that I could find). When I started it up, I was a little surprised at how loud it was (I've been riding the stock set up for 4 years). I rode it a couple of time and then I ordered the quiet baffles and put them in this afternoon. Changing the baffles took about a half hour. Now the bike is perfect! Just the right rumble, nice idle, loud but not too loud. It really sounds like a Harley should. I am so tickled with my set up. And I saved about $600 from the quote from the dealer. Paid $800 plus change, dealer quote was $1,400 and change and did include the SERT instead of the PCIII, but I went with the PCIII so I could do it all myself. I plan to get a dyno tune before I leave on any long trips, but it runs very well now. Just a rumble when I back off the throttle. V&H BSS with quiet baffles are great!! BTW, I ordered the parts from Direct Parts.
Tnicean

I also ordered from Direct Parts, they have the best prices so far, and am hoping for great customer service to keep me as a "full time" customer!

Go with the V&H Big Shots Staggered, awesome looks and sound. Your in luck, they are the Hot ticket item on Direct Parts list, $429.00. Check them out.

V&H 2-1, K&N rk-3909 kit, PCIIIusb

Alright then, this past weekend I recieved all my goodies from direct parts with the exception of the K&N kit, I had to go directly to K&N to order them cuz no one had them??? Here are my findings of all the items I installed:

1) removed the stock exhaust first and found out that removing the right floor board was the ticket. I did not have to separate the mufflers nor did I have to separate the two from each other, I just rotated them together upward a bit and they both came out without scratching any of the fins.
1a) installing the V&H pro-pipe HS was a breeze... Follow the directions with the exception of installing the aft heat shield. Keep this off and the pipes will line up and you'll be able to get the head pipe collars on without any fuss. Once everything is torqued down, install the aft heat shield. Also, after my first4-5 hour ride, I re-torqued the exhaust header nuts and found that the aft heat shield rides hard against the socket, you can elimiate this by trimming the shield down a bit, I didn't and just used a 1/4" drive small socket and let her ride against the shield and used a needle nose to remove it once I was done with the torque.
2) K&N, this was also a breeze to install and is very straight forward. follow directions and don't worry about the velocity stack coming off when you are tightening the screws down, it slips right back in easily, you'll know what I'm talking about...
3) PCIIIusb, this was straight forward as well, the only problem I found was getting the seat back on to where I can screw both sides of the seat screws... Heres what worked for me; I screwed down one side only and road the bike around for two full days after that, the seat self adjusted and I was able to push down far enough for the second screw to go in...
4) best part of all.... The sound was music to my ears!!! Not too loud, but definitely not stock and had the "potato, potato, potato" sound unlike the staggereds...[/IMG]

Exhaust Change

here's what I would do. I would get a set of 07 stock mufflers and just swap the 05's for 07's. the 07's are pretty decent and not too loud. Otherwise, you will be unhappy with a louder exhaust. Also, you will not need to chane anything else as it will just swap out. You should be able to "tip" the service guy $50.00 and he will get you take offs from an 07

Jack