Hello all- I have a 2008 Sportster that I have installed Samson Street Sweeper pipes and a HD Heavy Breather air cleaner on and need ECM advice please.

The air cleaner instructions read "ECM calibration required" BUT I contacted my local HD dealer and the Service Manager told me: "the Harley download is for Harley style slip-on mufflers with stock head pipe and Screaming-Eagle high flow air cleaner. I will install the download on your bike if thats what you want. With the experience I have had with aftermarket exhaust and the download sometimes are not the best match".

So then I contacted Samson and was told: "We would recommend that you change the settings of the EFI as per the instructions with your air cleaner. They would know best what is needed with their product and we would suggest following it in order to get the full
advantage of the product. And since you are installing our free flowing
exhaust system it makes sense to change the settings".

I've searched this forum and there seems to be many different opinions on ECM calibration ranging from Sportster ECM's are not programmable at all to calibration change is not even required because the ECM and oxygen sensor will automatically adjust for the modifications.

The bike seems to run just fine but I'm concerned about causing damage or missing out on some peformance gains.

Can anybody help set me straight and tell me what I should do?

thanks

 

You need to get some sort of tuner for your bike. Take your pick of the many available. I'm not trying to sell you something here, just letting you know if it were my bike I'd get a tuner for sure.

Drew

 

From what I have read, if you do the pipes and air cleaner, the bike WILL run very lean and besides damage to the motor, wont make anythink like the power it should.The system can only adjust over a small window, and at some load and rpm ranges.Dont ask me what to get, its all very expensive (and confusing), and there are a LOT of options out there.I just bashed out the baffles, so I don't NEED to do anything, although I could get lots more power out.I am not about to drop all that coin when the motor seems strong enough to get plenty of speeding tickets as it is...Brett

 

Get the pro super tuner off of ebay and have your dealership fine tune it. Then get the results and post em here : )

 

Your dealer was right in that the HD download only works with specific HD upgrades.
You do need to get some kind of a tuner ASAP now that you have done pipes & AC.
I did a lot of research on here and other sites and decided on a Power Commander V from Fuelmoto, they will program it for your specific set up and it will be just a plug & play for you. They will also send you new maps for free if you change to different pipes or AC or do cams or something like that in the future. You can also make changes by attaching a laptop with the supplied program but I have had no need to do that.

 

Here is an updated email from my dealer and its not good- BIG MONEY!

"if this was my bike I would have it tuned with a Screaming eagle race tuner and have it tuned on the dyno, heres why. 1st the bike will be mapped for the set up you have. It may cost a little more but will save you costly repairs on the long run from driving a motorcycle that is no prpoerly tuned. As for the o2 sensors adjusting for the change thats bs. They can olnly adjust for slight changes in enviroment, like temp and how far away from sea level you are. They can not adjust for changes made to how the motorcycle flows air in and out. 2nd is harley would not provide a tuner if it was not needed. so with this said I strongly urge you to have it done correctly. Heres what it will take. $460.00 for the tuner this alows my technician to enter the computer on your m/c think of it as a key. This tuner does not stay on the bike but you will recieve it after the tune is finished. This "key" looks like a computer chip and you vin is burned into it the first time a download is made so you cant use it on another bike. This "key" will also be able to be reused if you ever decide to go with any kind of motor work in the future. The last part of this package would be the cost of tunning $320.00 for my technician to tune the m/c on the dyno"

 

$460 is msrp for the tuner, check out ebay, i got mine for less than $300.

 

Just get the stage 1 download. The bike runs lean because you're getting more air in from the less restrictive intake. The cure for a lean condition is more fuel. The Stage 1 download just tunes the bike for more fuel no matter who's intake is on it. It's a canned tune but that's okay because there's not a huge amount of difference between the upgraded HD A/C and anyone else's A/C, it's pretty much just the looks of them. They all use some sort of K&N filter.

Harley Davidson could give their bikes away free and still make money selling parts. This is just another way for them to sucker you out of $800 when the $150 download will work just fine. The SERT (Screamin Eagle Race Tuner) is designed for the individual wanting to get every available HP out of it.

If you really wanted to do it right you'd get one of the Auto Tune tuners that allow you to set your A/F percentages and tune the bike as you ride 24/7 365 days out of the year or how ever much you ride.

 

I added the Mastertune TTS instead of the HD SE Super Pro Tuner because of cost, and it's a better and less expensive product (although I suppose the HD name on a product is why it costs more...). M-TTS is made by the same team that used to make the SE Racing Tuner for HD but they didn't get the latest contract from HD. You can fine tune your engine (or the dealer can) for every 100 rpms. Personally, I stayed away from the auto tuner which is available on top of the price of the tuner--simply because of price, it's another $250, and once the bike is dyno'd and tuned it shouldn't need tuned yet again unless you make more mods to the bike or ride in such different varying atmospheric conditions (elevation, temp, humidity, etc.).
My concern with your bike would be the fact it's going to run so hot, and prolonged heat causes engine damage. Either the PC-V, TTS, or HD SESPT would be my choice.

 

thanks for all the info- now I just need to decide on a tuner.

I have a scheduled ride this weekend and will not have a tuner installed by then- should I not go because of the possiblity of running lean?

I pulled the spark plugs last night and they actually look pretty good. I've ridden about 75 miles since I installed the Heavy Breather AC.