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Installed the American Customs Powerflex header which is just a decatted headpipe on my 11 Ultra so far so good. Heat is gone sound is awesome and runs great IMHO...
I de-catted my 2011 SG 103 and it ran great for 5000 miles...then, KERPOW!! A deer jumped out of nowhere and totaled my bike. I blame it on O2 sensor cross-talk . Seriously, mine ran fine, stock mufflers and AC and used Xieds to richen it up a bit. Goal was to cool it off for my wife, side effect was a little more sound. It worked for me. I'm in the process of doing the same thing to my replacement bike. Did it myself this time, except for a $15 charge to weld it back together (I cut a door in the side of the pipe to help maintain the integrity of the pipe, rather than cutting the pipe in half.) Ideally, if you have $500 to get a FuelMoto headpipe, then go for it, but in reality, I doubt you'll notice the difference on the street.
I've read a lot about this issue, but there is one consideration that most seem to ignore. That is that only if your bike is stone stock other than the gutted cats, will the crosstalk (if it exists at all)will effect the operation of your motor. You have to be running closed loop for the crosstalk to have any effect. You have to be running an afr of 14.7 to be running closed loop. Most of the people I ride with have some type of tuner so they are not running that lean.
The exception would be any tuner that uses wideband O2 sensors. For those using the wideband sensors crosstalk would be an issue. I believe the result would mainly be that the ability to tune the individual cylinders would be compromised if too much of the opposit cylinders exhaust got to the wrong sensor.
I de-catted mine last year. If there is any cross talking going on then I am glad as the bike runs great. Good power, better sound, and gas mileage up to 50 mpg. The best part is it only cost me $20 to have a pro weld it back together.
The Fuel Moto pipe would be the way to go if I ever add Auto tune.
3000+ miles since decatting my 2012 103 and no issues that I notice. I checked the plugs just a couple days ago and everything looks good. If there is a problem it's not noticeable to me.
Here we go again an aftermarket fix is need for a make believe problem.
Does it ever end.
The 02 sensors are in front of the CATS they are there for a reason . Might that be so they do mess with the senors?
I'll put my .02 in here.. from the pics i've seen where they cut open the side and made a window to gut the cat there seems to be a bit of a gap between the cat material and where the pipes actually end and join into the area the cat is in.... If the "crosstalk " was such a prob then i would think that you would see it there anyway... now if I were to do it my way i'd gut the cat... then make a plate in there to keep both sides seperate from each other.. heck you could go so far as to pretty much make it a 2/2 setup by keeping them seperate in that area i would think....It's jus a thought there... anybody else think that would work pretty good???. Len
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