Hi Guys,
I am a newbie and thinking of changing my stock air cleaner on my '09 Fatboy. I am eventually going to change pipes and I know once I do that I will need to change the air cleaner. The dealer recommends the Screamin Eagle air cleaner, however I have heard a lot of good stuff about K&N. There is a kit for K&N (part # RK-3909 $175) which includes the back plate and air cleaner. With this kit you keep the stock air cleaner cover. Any advice on whether this is a good idea or not? I have heard that some people have had "puking" problems with the K&N filters....not really sure what that means.....Is this a fuel leaking problem? Also, are they any problems with changing the air cleaner before I get the new pipes (new cleaner with factory pipes)? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
Frank

 

Funny you should mention that. I'm in the middle of all of that right now. You should have your dealer re-calibrate your fuel management system for sure. (once you do the air cleaner). I have an '09 FatBoy too, and ordered the chrome S/E back-plate for my bike with the K & N filter, new mounting posts, o-rings, gasket etc...... similar to the HD kit, but not with that ugly cast-metal backing plate. Before you buy anything, check-out this link and see a QUALITY kit. I wish I had done so earlier. Also see the link I'll attach here to the Harley anti-rotation kit that will allow the use of an "oval" cover. The rubber bumper acts as a wedge. I have not installed this (yet), as I'm waiting to see if the rubber gasket on the K & N filter will be enough to prevent the stock oval cover from "rotating". As far as the "puking condition you mention? I'm not sure. Is it on deceleration, idle, or acceleration? ...... and did those user(s) have their fuel management systems properly tuned? Lots to consider there. Also, be aware, there is an A/C kit for the stock throttle body, as well as a kit for the 58mm throttle body (similar to the one used in the Stage-4 103" kit). Get the right one, or another aftermarket one designed for your bike. JR

EDIT: My advice would be to do the pipes and A/C at the same time, then you'll only have to pay for one "dealer-download" on your fuel management system. (unless of course you are going to buy the SEST or TTS or Power Commander or something along those lines).... JR

http://www.dohertymachine.com/video/


http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US

 

First-off, until you change BOTH the intake AND the exhaust to a high-flow set up, you do not need to mess with any sort of fuel management adjustments.

Restrictions (meaning "stock") at either end of "Suck-Squeeze-Bang-Blow" will be just that, a restriction that will allow your stock ECM to still do just fine.

Once you allow your motor to breathe better (new intake & exhaust) then you need to revise your fuel management. Personally, I am not a big fan of letting dealers re-flashing the ECM settings.

Going with V&H FuelPak, ThunderMax w/autotune, PowerCommander III w/USB, or any of the several other vendors which sell aftermarket fuel computers allow future adjustments that you will learn to do yourself.

What we're really talking about here is bringing your bike up to Stage 1. Do a search for "Stage 1" on this website and get ready to read thousands of posts on this subject.

Nothing wrong with the K&N highFlow kit, which is very similar to the Arlen Ness Big Sucker kit.

Any HD reaching Stage 1 status is a happier motorcycle. They sound like they should, run cooler, and make you hang-on harder.

Good luck.

 

The K&N kit you mention would be fine. One thing to be aware of is that you will not be able to go to a different air cleaner lid in the future without changing your backing plate and filter. If I was to do it over again I would have started with the chrome SE backing plate w/misc. parts that go with SEAC, minus the filter. Get the K&N HD-0800 filter to go with everything else. It is very common to have the rubber base of the SE air filter come apart, mine did. Lots of good air cleaner choices out there. You have to decide if you want to limit yourself to the stock lid. Once you get the pipes and air cleaner the dealer will probably want to do a Stage 1 download or recommend one of the tuners. Unless your looking to get every single hp the Stage 1 download is fine. It worked for me. I've heard of those that didn't do anything more than change their exhaust and air cleaner and they're happy with the way their bike runs. Puking? You will get oil blow-by into the cleaner, so maybe that's what was meant. Nature of the beast. I never had any problem with the lid rotating on my bike. Do a search on this forum and you can find a lot more comments on all your questions. Good luck.

 

I paid only 115 delivered for my Arlen ness

 

Before you chance one thing then another. Get a plan devised and change them all at once that will eliminate multiple computer changes if each part has a big enough affect on the engine. Just something to think about. Changing the air cleaner probably won't make enough difference but bikes are funny sometimes. I put bigger cams in my bike and it made it to the dealership without any trouble to get the computer re mapped.