Just spend the money and do a stage one upgrade. You are guessing with a $6K motor.

 

Unless EPA gets involved - aftermarket exhaust systems are still "CAT-less." Probably your best option vs. CAT removal b/c you never know if/when government mandate takes over & implements m/c noise & emission laws. This way you can revert back to stock...even if you elect to sell bike + sell aftermarket to re-coup accessory cost.

Most recommend a "three-upgrade-approach" by switching exhaust, breather & adding tuner. Depending on which are chosen - cost can range from $800 - $1500+ for this upgrade. Mine cost ~$700 ($150 Dobeck TFI tuner + $325 eBay exhaust deal + $225 breather) w/"0" labor (self) so $ave $ome ca$h & start planning your upgrades. Good luck!

 

I sent my head pipe to American Custom. They removed the CAT and refinished. It was fast and about half of what a new head pipe would be. Good people. An option to consider. I also picked up a set of FuelMoto Jackpot slip-ons from a forum member. I'll install this weekend and report back.

 

Lots of people here have gutted their stock head pipe with absolutely no issues including myself. The crosstalk some talk about is complete BS. Some of us are on a budget and gutting the stock head pipe is lots cheaper than buying a $450 head pipe. The gains with an aftermarket head pipe are minimal at best. The stock head pipe functions great without the CAT. It's a good design. It cost me $25 to get it welded back together plus the cost of new exhaust gaskets. So for less than $50 you have a great head pipe. If you have $450 laying around then by all means buy a new one.

 

Bike 2010 StreetGlide. I bought: 1) a Screaming Eagle Night Stick ($250) other slipons in that price range (louder and different looks); 2) a Vance and Hines Fuel Pack ($250) 3) a K&N stock Air Filter ($60) and 4) a used stock Air Cleaner (A/C) back plate on ebay ($20). I drilled a bunch of holes (3/4" and 1/2") in the A/C back plate, to let more air in, and it looks completely stock, but flows air like a typical upgraded A/Cr. So for less than $600 I did my Stage 1. Now I did the installation myself, inlcuding setting the Fuel Pack, but that's straigh forward with instructions. I would think a indy shop could do the work in 3 to 4 hours, so at $85 an hour, that would be about $340. So if you paid some shop time, it would still get your Stage 1 for under a $1,000. If you don't have the tools/skills/time to drill out the A/C back plate, I'd just go with an inexpensive A/C upgrade, unless you want the stock look, which was part of my goal. Might not be the best, but I have an EPA stamp on the muffler, and the A/C looks stock, so if Johnny Law does a quick look, I appear stock/legal, and the bike runs/sounds good to me.

 

In the spirit of the original thread - Didn't remove the Cat.

 

I bought a new take off headpipe from a 2011 bike on Craigslist for $100, brought it to a muffler shop that gutted and rewelded it for $30 in two hours. Kept my stock headpipe just in case I needed it. Made a world of difference in performance and sound with my 103 w/255 cams upgrade.

 

i don't get the 'cross talk' issue. the sensors are placed in the collector in front of the catalyst.

and just to make sure that bluesmbl is not disappointed, i'm gonna add that i gutted my stock headpipe very early on and have had no problems at all. ran it stock for while, then added a nightstick and ran it like that (now have the v&h twins slash slip on). actually got a tax refund last year so went with the powervision (which leaves the o2 sensors connected btw), and se air cleaner.

so not only did my bike not run like ****, it ran great. continues to get great gas mileage, sounds good, and runs cooler than with the cat.

 

Lonewolf just happens to be a very respected tuner who was trained by the best, seems like he is the one I would listen to. I wonder how many are happy with how thier bike runs because they don't have a perfectly tuned bike to compare it to.

 

For the newer pipes with the O2 sensors mounted down low in the catalyst chamber, the cross talk issue is not BS. You have two O2 sensors, one for each cylinder, If they are both reading the same mixed exhaust gas in the now empty catalyst chamber, the ECM loses the ability to discern which cylinder cylinder needs the AFR adjusted. You can always weld new bungs further upstream to mitigate this real issue. The only way this is not an issue is if you disable the O2 function as previlously mentioned and go back to a strictly map based AFR control, or if you are of the "good nuff tune" persuasion and willing to accept less than optimal performance. If you are modifying your EFI induction system on a budget, then you get what you pay for; disabling or distorting the function of the O2 sensors by any method then you might as well be running a carburator.