Finally, I ride once more...lessons learned from the experience

(May 27, 2014) I rode out to Hendersonville, North Carolina this weekend and I was a very happy biker. I might have been exceeding the speed limit on Interstate 40 here and there…but that’s the bike’s fault. It made me go fast. :-) Even my wife commented on how happy I seemed and she made the connection immediately: “Your bike must we working right again.” She knows me so well. Indeed, my bike is running better than ever, probably better than the day it left the factory.

It’s been a very long, stressful, expensive struggle—stretching all the way back to my Key West ride in June 2012—but the guys at Jockeys Cycle, especially Jim and Kevin, have worked with me in putting together a machine that’s consistently smooth, powerful, and growls like a scary beast. There are a few remaining fixes that need to be made, but they’re easy compared to what has gone before.

Since February, I’ve made major repairs and/or improvements in four key areas on my bike, in addition to other repairs:

1. New fuel system (OEM): fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter
2. New Engine Control Module (ECM) - ThunderMax with AutoTune
3. New heads - S&S for Harley V-Twin*
4. New exhaust system - Vance & Hines Pro Pipe Chrome

From all this work, I’ve learned a few things you might find helpful:

Lesson 1: ThunderMax ECM is designed for Closed Loop Mode.

I am now happy with my ThunderMax ECM (Part no. 309-340) and I can also assure you that the ThunderMax people offer very good technical support. However, if you go with a ThunderMax ECM, choose only a “Closed Loop” system. This requires that you have header pipes with the needed bung ports or openings for the oxygen (O2) sensors, often just called bungs—although the bungs are actually the plugs that fill the port openings. The ThunderMax people admitted that their systems are really engineered for this configuration. They do not do so well in the Open Loop mode, such as you would have with a Power Commander module.

When I purchased my ThunderMax ECM, I purchased the 309-340 unit because my header pipes did not have bung ports. I had no idea that my header pipes were shot at the time (see below), otherwise, I would have purchased the 309-360 unit, which comes with the AutoTune module built in. As it is, I ended buying the 309-350 unit, which mounts on the 309-340 ECM, adding the O2 sensors and the Closed Loop feature. 

Lesson 2: Your exhaust system’s shiny heat shields can hide some things you should really see.

….which leads me to the topic of exhaust systems. I had no idea how badly cracked my stock header pipes had gotten, even after I had separation at the head, because the heat shields cover a multitude of sins. I recommend that for older bikes, you do an annual inspection of the header pipes. It could save you a lot of trouble down the road—literally.

Welding a header pipe is highly problematic because of the heat: the header pipe is likely to expand at a different rate than the weld itself, thus causing separation of the two. I have taken very good care of my bike over the years but it wasn’t enough to keep the pipes from cracking. When these pipes break, it’s time to toss them. I saw it as an opportunity to move up.

When I asked Kevin what he would use if it were his bike, he grinned ear-to-ear and said, “If it was my bike, I would go with a Vance & Hines Pro Pipe. They’re way easier to tune than true duals and they will boost horse power.” He cautioned me that I’d lose the symmetrical look of having two pipes at the back, but I took his advice and I am very happy with the look. 

Lesson 3: I like Vance & Hines and their pipes.

…which leads me to Vance & Hines. I’ve always liked their pipes; I’ve owned two pairs of slip-ons over the years. But this Pro Pipe takes the performance to next level. I did some research on exhaust system engineering and it’s way more complicated than I had imagined. If you’re going to purchase a new exhaust system, I urge you to get online and do some reading. There’s a lot to know and many myths about which pipes give you improved performance and why.

I will say that out of the box my new Pro Pipe is a little too loud for my taste, so I ordered a quieter baffle from Vance & Hines. I expect to install it later this week.

Lesson 4: It’s a good idea to record your gasoline consumption versus mileage. 

…which leads me to the issue of gas mileage. It’s tricky to know what your average gas mileage is unless you gather data. If you’re getting poor fuel mileage—as I am—an investigation is probably warranted. On my ride to Hendersonville this weekend, which was about 540 miles, I averaged only about 28 miles to the gallon. I admit that most of those miles came at 75 mph and 3,200 RPM. Still, I expected more than 28 mpg! I’m confident we can do better.

Lesson 5: It pays to develop and maintain a good working relationship with professional Harley mechanics.

…which leads me to the the guys at Jockeys Cycle Inc. in Morrisville—Blake, Jim, Kevin, and Matt. They’ve been great to work with and I probably would have gone out and purchased a Honda if not for these guys. I asked Jim and Kevin to take pictures of their work on my engine and share them with me for use on this blog. They were happy to do so. How's that for customer service?!

Kevin told me to bring the bike back if I felt like it needed any further adjustment. I’m thinking that we can get better fuel mileage if we adjust the AutoTune module settings. I’m willing to give up a few horsepower for better fuel economy. With my trip to Banff coming up at the end of June, I’d like to be able to go further on a tank of gas.

I’m Jockeys' number one customer so far this year, having spent  more than $4K on my bike there since January, but it could have been much worse. Kevin—the principal owner—gave me price breaks across the board because of how much work they were doing on my bike, and because it was so damned difficult to diagnose some of the many problems I had. Even so...

Lesson 6: It’s often more fun to fix an old bike you’ve owned for a while than buy a new one.

...it was an adventure figuring stuff out. And, in the process, we customized my machine even more, making it so much more my bike—or should I write our bike. Kevin and Jim have become intimately familiar with this old girl. And that adventure continues, because...

Lesson 7: Sometimes when you fix one problem, you introduce or discover a new one.

…it seems that for every third problem we fixed, we either introduced a new one or created a new one. The rubber gasket that sits directly on the fuel tank is very fussy and fragile. If you’re not really really careful when you install it, you can tear it or over tighten it, which leads to leaking fuel when the tank is nearly full, which is a problem I’m experiencing now. Kevin ordered a new gasket and one of us will install it later this week.

In the fascinating category, I discovered a new problem this weekend: with the installation of the new AutoTune module, my speedometer seems to be off. It’s under reporting my actual speed. I could tell because (1) my tachometer reading was high for the speeds I saw on the speedometer—based my thousands of miles of riding epxerience on this bike, and (2) I was blowing past people on the interstate even though I was going the speed limit or only slightly above—according to my speedometer. This will be an interesting conversation with Jim and Kevin. They love a good mystery. :-)

And then, of course, there are the usual maintenance issues that arise: I now have a slow oil leak. It looks to be simply a worn gasket and I plan to replace it after I come back from the Pacific Northwest in July. 

One last note

Jim at Jockeys sent me a clarification about resetting the ThunderMax ECM. He wrote:

...thought I would clarify the reset procedure for you... The sequence is: on for 30 seconds, then off for 30 seconds, on for 30, then off for 30, on for 30, then off for 30. To prove that all is OK, start the engine and let settle into a smooth, even idle for a minute or so, then repeat. If all sounds Ok, you're ready to ride. If the idle is uneven, repeat the reset procedure.

As always, keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider

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*The guys at Jockeys also cleaned the pistons (95 cubic inch) and installed new rings. 

Update on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 at 7:40AM by Michael A. Uhl

Overnight I thought more about the speedometer problem and it occurred to me that if the speedometer significantly under-reports my speed then it is also under-recording the miles ridden. This would, in turn, make it seem that my fuel mileage is worse than reality. This makes sense in hindsight because I didn't feel like I was stopping for gas any more than usual. In fact, I felt just the opposite: I seemed to be going a little further on a tank of gas than I had been recently before the engine upgrade. Also, the miles ridden on my tripometer were much less than normal for a round trip to Hendersonville. (I can't determine the difference excactly because I took a new route going out there--US 64 to US 421 to Interstate 85 to Interstate 40.)

I've got to get my speedometer fixed or replaced soon. I'm now accepting donations... ;-)

-The Long Rider