I thought I would share some of my experience with the infamous Stage 1 upgrade. For me it was V/H BSS pipes, SE intake and filter, and the PCIII. I bought the pipes new off ebay, the intake kit from a local dealer, and the PCIII from Fuel Moto with a preloaded map.

Pipes - The stock pipes and exhaust bracket came off pretty easily. They are pretty heavy with that large steel bracket attached to them. I figure I just shaved off about 20lbs. I followed the service manual procedure and pulled the shields first. In retrospec I am not sure if it was really necessary. One thing the service manual fails to mention is the passenger foot peg also has to come off. I am impressed with the fitment of the Vance and Hines pipes...they went on pretty easily. I also reinstalled the O2 sensors eventhough they are not being use with the PCIII. The V/H instructions were pretty good and the quality exceptional.

Intake/Filter - Most of the hardware was precoated with loctite where necessary, hopefully the filter does not fall apart.

PCIII - The PCIII is a royal pain in the *** to install....at least it was for me. I had to partially remove the rear fender in order to gain the clearance to route the connectors up between the seat and fender to the area under the seat. The next issue was removing the relay bracket. The battery has to come out for this. Pulling the fuse boxes from the relay bracket was the biggest pain for me. Once that is done, the fuse bundle drops about an inch providing the clearance for the two fat connectors, which rest nicely between the fender and battery. One of the forum members claims to have installed this without removing the relay bracket. I do not see how that is possible, I tried to do it. It is pretty tight under there. From what I have heard the fatty is the tightest. I also had to reroute my rear signal running light wiring behind the mudflap, it actually sits above the mudflap so I wrapped the black box in a baggie. I secured the PCIII above the siren tray. There are some cables and other stuff there you can secure it to. I plugged the USB port and plan on keeping the cable off the bike...less crap under there. I have some pics of the wiring result under my seat and the PCIII behind the mudflap I will post later.

Fire it up - Ok now the really fun part. First I calibrated my throttle position and downloaded the map to my laptop which took all of about 30sec. I only had to calibrate the closed position and it really was not that far off. Wide open was at 99% so I left it alone. I fired it up and what I heard sounded like a loud symphony...really WOW. Ok it gets better. I took it for a test run...long enough to warm it up and it ran fine. Performance is fantastic. Really runs strong and has great throttle response. Definately notice it when you open up the throttle. I also took it on a 100 mile roadtrip yesterday to test the engine temps and gas mileage. The engine did not miss a beat. I consider this a heat stress test for the PCIII....passed. It does not seem as hot sitting at idle. The oil temp are a little cooler but not much, after the ride it was sitting at 235ish. The air temps were about 100 degrees. I have not calculated the gas mileage yet, but it appears to be lower based on the fuel gage. So at this point I am very pleased with the results. My only real complaint is with the PCIII installation instructions which could be more complete for the fatboy. Did I say this bike sounds awesome!!!

For follow up I will probably get the dyno tune to ensure it is fully optimized. I do believe the map I received from Fuel Moto is pretty close based on the performance. I also need to say that their customer service is exceptional. Everything with them has been as advertised or better.

Hope this was useful. I know this kind of info helped me.

 

Here are some pics. Hope the links work.

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...indMudFlap.jpg
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...derSeatPic.jpg

 

Great looking bike, thanks for the info.

 

Looks pretty much like I HAD mine installed. Make sure you check the PCIII after a few miles. Mine was taken a beating from the mud guard and suspension travel. I moved it to the tray under the seat.
MikeM

 

I moved mine back under the seat, too. I don't like the idea of water and chit splashing it.

 

I did the same not long ago, power better, sound better, milage down(still double what my truck gets) I agree I don't see how the connectors could be installed with the fuse bracket installed.
My differences are that I have the Rush 1.75 slash cuts, with Heritage head pipes, and a Screaming eagle air cleaner to come later.

Also great choice in color

 

Congrats, I have the same setup, pipes, se a/c, and pciii on my 08 Fatboy. I did manage to install the pciii without removing the relay bracket. I just removed the 2 bolts holding it down to make enought room to run the connectors in there from underneath. I tried to remove the relay bracket but I was having a hard time taking it off the slots that I just said F&^k *t and left it in.

 

I would love to see some pics of running the connectors or cables under the relay bracket. I just did not see how that was possible. Removing the fuse boxes from the relay bracket was painful. I actually called Fuel Moto and they said they pull the relay bracket on all the Fattys they do so it must work. I am pretty happy with the way everything it sitting under there. Now if the HD battery was just about 1/2 the size the PCIII would sit nicely under the seat.

My PCIII seemed to have plenty of clearance from the mud guard, but I agree it is probably worth checking. My real concern has been with heat. I gave it a pretty good stress test yesterday riding about 50miles in 100+ degree heat.

 

I would like to see a picture of the bracket being left on. I helped install a pciii this weekend on a friend's 09 fatboy and I didn't see any way to leave the bracket on. this isn't the first one I've installed either, I guess that's why I get calls from friends to help them...lol. There are two little tabs on the bottom side of the bracket that hold the fuses in place. They are hard to see so that's why people have a hard time removing the fuses from the bracket.

 

I'm at work right now so I'll take a pic tonight of the PCIII installed with the relay bracket in and post it. BTW, how did you remove the bracket. I tried to push it off and it would not slide off. I didn't want to just cut it off where it's connected in case I ever need to put it back in.