Heat source has moved
Does wrapping the header pipe to keep heat in the pipe and increase exhaust gas velocity cause the motor to run hotter or have little effect on motor temp and just help rider temp? at 88 deg. I have seen 240 in stop and go creeping traffic. My ETMS was cutting in some times.
Wrapping the header may keep a little heat off the right foot, without removing the cat stuffing I fail to see how it would effect the idle tempertures!
Last edited by coupe55; Apr 22, 2010 at 08:16 PM. Reason: add word
Does wrapping the header pipe to keep heat in the pipe and increase exhaust gas velocity cause the motor to run hotter or have little effect on motor temp and just help rider temp? at 88 deg. I have seen 240 in stop and go creeping traffic. My ETMS was cutting in some times.
Take Stainless vs steel vs coated steel. Stainless will lose heat very rapidly but where does that heat go, to your leg? Steel will hold heat yet continually radiate heat to your leg well after the bike is turned off. Coated steel will hold heat yet you can touch the coating within a few minutes after you shut down your bike.
Mix these issues with the air flow dynamics of a trike and your options become limited thus additional manual preventions come into play such as your external oil cooler and electrical jug fans.
Bottom line observation... a trike is going to get hot during high ambient riding and low MPH cruising. You can only help this condition by the above remedies including lubricants, proper tuning and flow dynamics.
just my .02
-wiz
Take Stainless vs steel vs coated steel. Stainless will lose heat very rapidly but where does that heat go, to your leg? Steel will hold heat yet continually radiate heat to your leg well after the bike is turned off. Coated steel will hold heat yet you can touch the coating within a few minutes after you shut down your bike.
Mix these issues with the air flow dynamics of a trike and your options become limited thus additional manual preventions come into play such as your external oil cooler and electrical jug fans.
Bottom line observation... a trike is going to get hot during high ambient riding and low MPH cruising. You can only help this condition by the above remedies including lubricants, proper tuning and flow dynamics.
just my .02
-wiz
Like M3 my experience with wrapping is limited although I have tuned several bikes with the wrapping and the heat radiated from it was low.. but it's flat out fugly. I would not put wrapping on any of my bikes...Yes, you can cover it with your chrome shields to hide it but I still know it's there. Wrapping isn't hard on a motor just hard on the eyes.
A stock head pipe for a 10 TG has a cat as we all know. What pipes are you running and/or how did you remove your cat? Answering your question from above would depend on the rest of my answer.
I have only one more observtion and that comes from the Harley Owners Manual that comes with the Tri Glide. Page 204 in the troubleshooting section: Overheats, 1. Insufficient oil supply or oil not circulating. 2. Heavy carbon deposit from lugging engine. see dealer. 3. INSUFFICIENT AIR FLOW OVER CYLINDER HEADS DURING EXTENDED PERIODS OF IDLING OR PARADE DUTY.
Yet MOCO techs will tell you the Trike's don't run hot. It is obvious most of us even in rural settings will have to be in city traffic conditions at some point but this is Harley telling you not to go downtown in hot weather. I notice a large city just went from Harley to BMW bikes for their police bikes, 4000 units. If you have to maintain them in urban area's it is obvious Harley is not the best choice anymore.
I believe they can still take the summer idle conditions or parade duty. Harley will sell you a premium oil cooler and a parade fan that gets you closer to something usable in city driving conditions. They really should come as standard equipment on the Tri Glide, my dealer tech told me this when I was first complaining about the high temps at idle. Of course they would rather sell them to you out of the accessory catalog after you make your initial purchase. Off the record he also told me I needed to dump the main source of the heat, Harley techs have been put in a complicated situation with the cats also.
Last edited by coupe55; Apr 23, 2010 at 09:40 AM. Reason: remove icon
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Like M3 my experience with wrapping is limited although I have tuned several bikes with the wrapping and the heat radiated from it was low.. but it's flat out fugly. I would not put wrapping on any of my bikes...Yes, you can cover it with your chrome shields to hide it but I still know it's there. Wrapping isn't hard on a motor just hard on the eyes.
A stock head pipe for a 10 TG has a cat as we all know. What pipes are you running and/or how did you remove your cat? Answering your question from above would depend on the rest of my answer.
The wrap is ugly-but I painted it black with hi-temp paint and put the heat sheilds back on. You can barely see it.
It is much cooler comfort wise.
The wrap is ugly-but I painted it black with hi-temp paint and put the heat sheilds back on. You can barely see it.
It is much cooler comfort wise.
If you are happy with the PCV w/auto and it does a good job for mileage, performance and temperature then you've done about all you can do with the exception of what was discussed above... ie, fan and so on.
You could also install a better cam than the smog cam you have now such as the 255's or an Andrews 26H which will give you more lower torque... you could do a bore and go up to 117 and flow your heads like some of the guys here are... it's all subjective to your personal preferences and riding habits as well as your pocketbook.
If you went with a new head pipe set up you would experience a little more throttle response too. Since Jamie is about the only one that makes the complete set up for a TG I would not condemn it because it is stainless steel, you also don't have to run his mufflers but others here seem to be happy with them. Some of the best exhaust systems around are stainless but they are not near your leg with the aerodynamics of a trike body.
You could call Fullsac and get his X Pipe that is coated and weld an extension on like you did before.... again throttle response would be better and since it is a steel coated pipe it will run cool yet retain interior heat where its needed....
There's no common answer to a trike's heat issues and no single magic pill for a one-fits-all. I took a 24K Ultra and poured another 20 grand in her to fit my hobby and am happy with it but if asked if I would do it again, the answer would be no. If asked if I would purchase a TG and pour another 5 grand into her so she could breath, maybe... but there would be another 5 grand for bling... the disease just doesn't stop until you finally say no.
again, just my opinion







