Reliabe Mods?
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 645
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From: South Jersey
Reliabe Mods?
I would like to do a couple of small things over the winter not sure of brands that I'm going to use yet but thinking of SE 254E cams and SERT fuel management,but I still want it to stay as reliable as it is now the bike is as polite as it can be right now will these mods change any of the things that I love about this bike? Or do I leave well enough alone.
Road Warrior
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,739
Likes: 10
From: Suffolk, England
Good question!
In my experience the bikes that make it through to 50,000 miles and beyond are the ones left well alone. Every time I've had something go wrong on a Harley its something I've messed with.
Course, that don't stop me from messing with it but it does have to be taken into account.
As for the parts you mention...
SE204s are a great set of cams. They are sometimes under-rated by the guys that like to over-cam their bikes and then wonder why its **** about town. If you've never done a set before though there are opportunities to screw things up and reduce the life of your bike.
The SEPST tuner is safer ground. Put on the canned map for SE pipes, A/C and the SE204s and you are good to go. A little more time spent autotuning will help. As long as you don't do something really dumb then the SEPST should be OK.
In my experience the bikes that make it through to 50,000 miles and beyond are the ones left well alone. Every time I've had something go wrong on a Harley its something I've messed with.
Course, that don't stop me from messing with it but it does have to be taken into account.
As for the parts you mention...
SE204s are a great set of cams. They are sometimes under-rated by the guys that like to over-cam their bikes and then wonder why its **** about town. If you've never done a set before though there are opportunities to screw things up and reduce the life of your bike.
The SEPST tuner is safer ground. Put on the canned map for SE pipes, A/C and the SE204s and you are good to go. A little more time spent autotuning will help. As long as you don't do something really dumb then the SEPST should be OK.
Road Captain
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 655
Likes: 6
I've been thinking the same thing... I decided that I'll upgrade internal engine parts when I need to open it up to fix something. Until then, it's reliable and works. Once you open it up, that's often when it seems issues begin to occur.
I have pipes, air cleaner and SEPST. Good for now.... though I could spend a little more time tuning it. Running the base map right now.
I have pipes, air cleaner and SEPST. Good for now.... though I could spend a little more time tuning it. Running the base map right now.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 2,026
Likes: 474
Had a dealer tech that runs his own indie shop tell me run pipes, air cleaner and canned map to stay bulletproof. Said all that other stuff is a formula to have trouble down the road. He recomends the other stuff for the drag strip but not for the type riding that most of his customers do. The guy has been around for a long time so I would guess he knows his stuff.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,366
Likes: 406
From: Connecticut
Had a dealer tech that runs his own indie shop tell me run pipes, air cleaner and canned map to stay bulletproof. Said all that other stuff is a formula to have trouble down the road. He recomends the other stuff for the drag strip but not for the type riding that most of his customers do. The guy has been around for a long time so I would guess he knows his stuff.
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2011
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From: South Jersey
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Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 2,250
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From: Montana
Cams do make a bike way more fun . I am going to try to wait on camming or modding my engine till I need a top end job done and then do an increase in displacement and cam then. Messing with the motor will always shorten the life of the engine over stock . That is just a fact. If you do motor work a modest cam increase is best for the motor.
What is really best is a stage one and then leaving it the hell alone. Hard to do but best for longevity. A brother of mine had an evo that he did a stage one to. He never went in the motor. 23 years later he retired that bike.
What is really best is a stage one and then leaving it the hell alone. Hard to do but best for longevity. A brother of mine had an evo that he did a stage one to. He never went in the motor. 23 years later he retired that bike.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2011
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The guy I go to showed me a bunch of cooked tunners he took of bikes that caused the owners all kinds of problems. Told me he take my money and put any brand on that I want but said your better off doing stage one with a cam and the canned H-D map and leaving the rest alone. Said its the only way to go to stay dependable for the long haul. Said the only tunners worth it are the Master Tune and Harley's Pro Race tunner. Only recommendes those for drag racing apps.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,572
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From: Templeton California
Intake and exhaust or "stage one" is plenty safe when done right.Just changing the intake and exhaust without adjusting the mixture can be a recipe for problems down the road .However with fuel injection there's some debate about that.If you want more without opening up the motor there's always gearing, also a safe way to get more usable power.