i bought my '13 with VH high flow AC, short shots and a stealership dyno and tune already done. First month or so into owning it I got taken out by a cage driver. Massive damage to pipes. Threw on the LAF drag pipes, despite all negative Nancy's and ******* comments I received when asking about buying a tuner or having it done. i had lost low end torque, added torque cones and threw some codes. Decel pop, blue flames and backfire. But I knew this going in.
I finally went with the FP3 and have had it about a couple weeks. My style of drag pipes weren't on the basic maps selection so went with "generic and 2 Seperate". Ran auto tune. Applied values and finished.

Decel pop, 98 % eliminated. Blue flames. Gone. Backfire. Gone. Lost low end torque, back. Heat reduced.

And **** whoever said the FP3 is for people who don't want to learn anything about tuning. You can go into ur saved map and change all your air/fuel, warm up idles, add decel pipe on light medium or heavy if you still have it. Shows codes. Yeah it's great for beginners. I rode nothing but carbs, trucks and quads. I'm learning all over again and it saves the original dyno tune map so if I throw another set of short shots back on, I can choose that and it goes back to the original tune.

I have ZERO tolerance for idiots who point and look down and make their snide comments to actual people who get on here looking if help or advice. I'm sorry but you didn't come out of mommies womb riding a sled. Everyone learns and starts somewhere, even if that's before or after you did. (Applying not to the original writer of post) so if someone asks for help, give them the knowledge you know. But leave the (well if THATS all you want to do to your bike....) comments out of it. Everyone has an opinion but there's a way to to respectfully share it IF asked. We get on here asking for FACTS and I see SO little.

 

Well said Shawn. Should have been said long ago.

 

Why not just tune it with the FP3 again?

 

^^^Probably the most useful post in this thread.

I've read many post on FP3's, PV's and tuning in general. First, I don't make claims at being an expert. Second, I don't intend to offend. But, I see a lot of ignorance regarding these devices, what they do, EFI and tuning in general, and what the reasonable expectation should be.

If you've ever stopped by the Dyno Room forum you might have come across post by pros that express irritation with the term "Auto Tune". They will tell you there is no such thing. When I first read some of their stuff, I looked at it with some skepticism (they make their living tuning bikes, probably have axes to grind about DIY products etc...). But, really they're right about the terminology used. "Auto tuning" isn't really auto tuning. It's an effort to calibrate the VE tables and that's it (particularly for Sporty's - they have no knock sensors). If you don't know what that means, why it's important, and how it plays in the bigger scheme of things, well then... Expectations and all that.

Point being... If you want to play with these tools, you should do the requisite homework so you'll learn/know what the tool can - and cannot - do for you and how to use it effectively. I sometimes see these tools get undeserved black eyes - not because there is something wrong with the tool - but because the user doesn't know what he/she is doing or has unreasonable expectations. I think the manufacturers shoulder some blame for this (poor documentation and promoting wrong ideas/expectations - ie. "Auto Tune"). I know many find the idea appealing that you don't have to know anything, you can just go out and buy one of these things, plug it in, download a canned map and/or do a quickie "Auto Tune" and voila!, you've done yourself some good. I don't subscribe to this notion. Frankly, in my opinion, if you don't want to put in the time to do the homework/preparation into it (which is fine, nothing wrong with that), I think you are better off availing yourself of a competent pro to do what needs to be done. You'll likely get better results for little difference in money.

 

i hear you but, auto tune works for basic stuff. going full perv on the tunes makes it unacceptable to pro folks.

fp3 is hot garbage but, for the silly stuff most folks do, it's fine. especially considering most folks that insist on adding crap like short shots and hyperchargers (the iron starter pack), lol. let's them add a canned map, tweak it a bit, and rid the world of a few decel pops... so they are happy. no guy with a dyno required. that's fair. most dont get all worked up or even know any better, much less care. they rip around the ditch the bikes for bigger bikes.

hell i would have never dyno'd my stuffif i hadn't started messing with the engines. the reward/value just wasnt there in my eyes, the pv was enough. that's were most folks are... spending north of $500 on intangible unsellable "perfect" tunes.... vs owning a little tuner that offers functionality beyond a/f balancing. for me... the pv was the better bet(and in theory, a fp3 as well)... there's just more use value overall.

to be honest, as much as i hate the fp3, it has been steadily improving. V&H need to stop that greedy "one bike only" bulls*** though. PV has remained the same (solid) and is sorta do for a "refresh" feature wise.

 

Wow!

Lots of varying opinions and thoughts!

Here is a good overview on EFI "tuning" options, listing the pros & cons of each....and one thing you can be sure of, each method/tool has it benefits and drawbacks, and there is not one option that fits every persons needs/wants/budget.

EFI OVERVIEW REPORT

 

So I followed your link and read your comments/report. Some I agree with. Certainly finding a "competent" person/tech to do a proper dyno tune can be an issue. However....

Again... My intentions are not to offend...

But I do have some issues with what was stated... Particularly in #5.

This is a case in point. Individuals with little to no knowledge could infer from the above that all one needs to do is go out and buy a PV, maybe download a canned map (maybe not), and/or maybe do an "Auto Tune" (on the stock or perhaps a canned map) a couple of times and viola! - they've "tuned" their bike (and possibly even got "99%-100% of all the power available"). I would argue that this is simply not the case.

Yes the PV will data-log various channels/parameters etc. during an Auto Tune session etc. But in the end, it does 1 thing with all that (when talking about Sporty's). It attempts to calibrate the VE tables. That's it. It makes no changes to any other tables (no changes to AFR, Spark/Timing, etc.). In my view this is not "tuning". It's just the initial step.

Additionally, I said "attempts" in regards to calibrating the VE tables, because there are issues/considerations/and limitations when attempting to do it via PV on the open road.

 

This truly is the new "which oil is best" topic.

I don't think anyone is using their auto-tune capable tuners to "dyno tune". Nor do I think anyone is confusing the two.

Auto-tune is tuning, simply on a lower level. Makes a slightly modified bike run good. That's it folks.

V&H has been claiming that they're coming out with an instruction manual so laymens like myself can figure out what the hell all these features do so that we can dial in the bikes a bit better. It is aggravating that they give you an apparently feature rich tuner with ZERO instruction on how to use it 90% of it.

 

Made no implications that "Auto Tune" was synonymous with "dyno tune". But I stand by my contention that people do get the the notion that "Auto Tune" is "tuning", which I - as I did before - submit that it is not.

Sorry but disagree. Particularly with the part in bold.

It's interesting that you admit that you are a laymen in need of more information to figure out how the tool works and what to do with it, but then want to make the distinction - or define - what is and is not tuning.

 

Anything else in your extensive experience that he should not comment on?