I've read so many threads, and I'm still confused.

I have a new Fat Bob with under 100 miles on it, everyone tells me that I should wait to do cams in it till after break in, which is somewhere between 500-1000 miles.
That could be an entire season for me.
I did however order a set of V&H Big shots, and an outlaw 636 (not installed yet).
I have been reading great things about the Power Vision tuner, but am a little reluctant to drop $500 on a tuner if I don't "need" till I do my cams.

My dealer wants like $140 for the HD download for a stage 1, but people here say its garbage,(still very lean) my question is, without the PV unit, is there a way to get a one time tune for a stage 1 that is decent, until I have to purchase the cams and PV?? I dont mind paying the dealer the $140, but seems senseless from what i'm reading here if its a generic tune.

 

Personally, I'd rather put that $140 toward the PV tuner, and just buy it now. Otherwise I don't have an answer to your question. I'm sure you'll get lots though.

 

I'm guessing the $140 download is for a one time programming of the map without getting the tuner. Screw that. It sounds like you don't like it you have no other recourse plus you will need to remap it anyway after you put the cam in, and then again after you put a big bore in or replace the pistons with higher compression. Get the tuner. There are other benefits like, depending on the tuner, getting error codes from the ECM, adjusting your idle, increasing your bias over the summer to keep the engine cooler.

 

You might as well take that $140 and toss it down the street for all the good that dealer BS will give you. You've ordered the V&H BSS's and an Outlaw 636v. You need the Power Vision, you won't even begin to tap what those BSS's and the 636v will do without it; you'll need it now, not later when you do cams. You've bought an HD and some great Stage 1 upgrades, don't go cheap on what's going to be very honestly, the most important upgrade you'll do at this point... If you want to PM me, I'll give you some hints on tweaking those Big Shots Staggered, this is my 3rd set; I love those things!

 

Former Rochestarian here !
Well your going to get a zillion opinions. I have the power vision tuner and love it. I only have Screamin Eagle air filter and V&H slip on mufflers. I plan on doing at least the 103 kit with cams, maybe bigger, but thats in the future. I love the tuner, have it handlebar mounted and generally run it with the temp gauge showing. I did the autotune feature, but not the "wideband" option. I have tweak the some of the VE tables, cold start fuel tables, and fuel mixture a little here and a little there, Advanced the timing a bit, dropped the idle down to 900 and the bike runs really nice. A real nice gurgle when letting off the throttle. No popping just a gurgle. I even got rid of the glowing head pipe issue on cold start. It has become a toy I guess until I need it for the motor upgrade. My buddy has pretty much same bike, one year newer, same mods, with a 103 and he did the HD stage 1 tune. He is happy with his. There is no gurgle, let alone popping, on decel. The mileage stayed the same and runs well. If all your doing is the pipes and AC, the HD stage 1 will be fine. But if you want to tweak some things yourself and learn a bunch about whats really going on inside that black box, the tuner is alot of fun. Plus having what ever gauge or info you want to see while riding is a cool feature. The lean thing is kind of a myth or something people bitch about. The ECM is trying to target the fuel mixture at 14.7 all or most of the time in closed loop. That's not really lean, but is optimal for emissions and fuel mileage. Your cars have been doing it since the 80's. And the stage 1 reflash will make it stay that way. You can play with the VE tables fuel mixture tables and "open loop" it when operating outside of the 02's capability with the powervision. Your mileage will drop but you can make some minor gains. I think its a great tuner, well worth the money. But if you arn't into playing around and tinkering it really wont do you much good, after you reflashed with whomever's tune you are going to use. My buddy isnt into tinkering so he went with HS flash. But my 96 just flat runs better than his 103. Feels better. Not faster, I need more CI for that or maybe cams for that. But it took a season, some research, and just plain old I wonder what happens if I do this sorta stuff, to get it that way. Also I have been a mechanic for nearly 30 years now, and have been to many schools and classes on on it's all supposed to work.

 

With my EFI vehicles, my first stop is ALWAYS the proper tuning hardware and software. EVERY power mod requires the ability to retune after in order to take advantage and even an unmodified engine generally benefits from a proper tune.

Buy the best tuner/computer you can afford. It will be with you for the life of the engine...possibly beyond...

That said, if it's not in the budget I'd just ride thru the season with you new mods and put the $140 toward a proper computer...but that's just me...

 

Fuel Moto sells a "Micro Tuner that would work great for you with an AC and pipe swap..Buy from them again and they credit you for it. I'm going with a "TTS" when time comes.
http://www.mastertune.net