PGR supports Operation Omaha - 70th Anniversary D-Day Salute

(June 9, 2014) As a member of the Patriot Guard Riders (PGR), I had the honor and privilege of serving World War II vets last week. PGR took time to join with other organizations in recognizing those that took part in Operation Overlord, better known as D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 by Allied forces. Last week’s event takes its name from one of the two beaches  on which American forces landed: Omaha Beach. (The other was Utah Beach.)

Photo upper right: volunteers were given pins to commemorate this event. I will proudly wear it on my riding vest.

June 5, 2014

Phase I: Flag Lines

Volunteers from PGR and other organizations, such as Cisco Systems, arrived before 9:00 a.m. and began greeting the veterans and their “guardians” as they arrived. Though scheduled to begin arriving at 11:00, many arrived well before 10:00. As our PGR leader noted, his experience has been that The Greatest Generation veterans tend to arrive early to most any event. 

From about 9:30 a.m. until after noon, about 18 of us created two flag lines into the entrance of Dorton Arena on North Carolina’s state fairgrounds. Cisco volunteers and uniformed, active military personnel greeted the veterans and their guardians as they arrived. They would also sign them in and tag their luggage. The veterans brought luggage for an overnight stay in Bedford, Virginia. Once assembled and treated to some a cappella music, these honored guests would board tour buses and head to Bedford to the National D-Day Memorial. 

This was only my third PGR mission. I was grateful to participate in a "feel-good" mission as our group leader called it. Typically, PGR volunteers support the families of veterans who have died. In this case, we got to shake hands and talk with those we were honoring. I enjoyed a feeling of gratification that comes from serving others.

Ol’ Bill, Randy, and the other PGR leaders did a great job of preparing for this mission and they kept us hydrated and gave the PGR flag line volunteers breaks as needed. It was quite warm in the sun and many of these volunteers are in their sixties and seventies. Standing for two-and-half hours in the heat holding a flag can be a real challenge.

Photo above right and below left: that's Mike Russo and friends.

Many of the veterans stopped and shook our hands and thanked us for being there. Amazing, they are thanking us! We were sure to thank them for their service. One veteran told us he had, in fact, landed at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Another told us that he had been a tail gunner on a B-17 that flew behind German lines to harass the enemy during the invasion. I built models of the various B-17 variants when I was young and have climbed in one at an air museum.

So, I was excited to speak to someone who had flown in one in combat. I said to him, “It must have been very scary and a bit lonely isolated at the back of the plane, away from your comrades.” He responded, “Yes, but it got even scarier when the plane caught fire and I couldn't see or breathe. I managed to find the hatch and fall out.” And he walked away. I had never heard someone refer to bailing out of their plane in that way. I suspect the tail gunner’s hatch was located in the bottom of the tail section and he did actually fall out when he opened the door. I really would have loved to hear how it went from there.

Photo below, right: that's yours truly standing in front of my rebuilt machine.

Phase II: Escort to Hillsborough

Around noon, those of us who were escorting the veterans on the first part of their journey assembled our bikes behind the five NC State Troopers who would serve as our escort on the route, as far as Hillsborough. (See photo.) Once we had our bikes lined up behind the Troopers, we all waited patiently as the veterans boarded the three buses. They were divided into red, white, and blue groups. Around 1:00 p.m., we finally got to ride.

The Troopers led us out onto Blue Ridge Road and then onto the Wade Avenue Extension. We merged onto I-40 west to the Durham Freeway (NC 147) north to I-85 south to US 70 west. In Hillsborough, the Troopers left the group and the PGR team also peeled off, leaving the tour buses to continue the journey to Bedford on their own.

As we rode with the police escort, we were amazed at how many drivers are easily confused and make dangerous decisions when confronted by the unexpected, such as a police officer blocking traffic. I saw at least one Trooper almost run over by a driver who failed to recognize—until the very last second—that a police officer had stopped his motorcycle across the end of the interstate entrance ramp and was signaling for the vehicle to stop. The poor cop probably thought he was going to be hit square on. Fortunately the driver slammed on his or her brakes at the last second and came within a few feet of the motor officer. 

June 6, 2014

On Friday, the veterans returned to Dorton Arena on those tour buses. PGR and motor officers from different police organizations escorted them into Durham and Wake counties from Hillsborough in Orange County. (I could not attend this part of the event, but my friend Mike Russo was there and he shared his photos with me; and now I share them with you.) 

In the photo of veteran William Davies, you can see his guardian taking a photo of him with her phone. In the background you can see the bikes from the PGR escort backed against the wall inside Dorton Arena.

PGR serves the family’s of fallen service members with dedication and a sense of duty. However, I think the vast majority of PGR members will agree that it’s an enjoyable experience when we can recognize the service of those who are still living, hand-in-hand with those who died in the service of their country.

Peace.

-The Long Rider

Botched baffle job

(6/1/2014) I should have known better, but I did the careless thing anyway. I recently purchased a “quiet baffle” for my Vance & Hines (V&H) 2-into-1 Pro Pipe Chrome exhaust system. (Shown new in the photo to the upper right.) So, Friday evening, I went to the garage and unpacked my new baffle. My neighbor John joined me and we each lit up a cigar. This is a great ritual for working on my bike. It’s kind of like a really masculine form of incense.

I followed the instructions for removing the standard baffle and separating the chrome end cap from the baffle. That went smoothly though slowly, as getting the allen wrench past the fiberglass wrap was tedious. (I wanted to preserve the existing baffle, and thus retained the fiberglass wrap as is.) I then mounted the beautiful V&H chrome end cap to the new baffle. That step went well. I then carefully inserted the new assembly into the pipe, being sure to line the two threaded holes in the end cap with the two unthreaded holes in the the exhaust pipe. The screws pass from the outside through the pipe into the end cap.

As careful as I was, the pairs of holes were out of lateral alignment by about 1/32 of an inch, just enough to prevent me from threading in the screws. After about 30 minutes of patient attempts at turning the end cap (with the baffle attached) in order to align the holes, and trying repeatedly to thread either of the screws, I did what I thought was prudent: I gave up. I decided that I would take this problem to my friend Mike Russo the next evening. I figured that the end cap was wedged in the pipe tightly enough that a short interval of riding without the screws would be OK.

I figured wrong, in the worst possible way. After some great riding with my brother-in-law and his wife, I headed from Chapel Hill to Cary on I-40. Quite suddenly, as I was passing an old cab that was burning an excess of oil, I heard a loud exhaust sound. At first, I figured the cab had a bad muffler in addition to worn rings. However, I quickly developed a sweat and pit in my stomach after I passed the cab and that loud exhaust sound stayed with me. I immediately concluded that I lost my baffle and the attached end cap.

I concluded right. After a quick three-lane change to pull onto the shoulder of the interstate, I got off and confirmed my fear. I had a big empty exhaust pipe. Since I was traveling at about 70 mph for a minute or two, I knew it would be quite a hike along the road to find my debris.

However, I decided that I really needed the end cap, even if the baffle might no longer be usable, because the cap would be needed to hold the standard baffle in. I took a long, disheartening walk along I-40 until I saw my $150 of metal rolling in the middle of the interstate. Traffic was moderate, meaning people were cruising well over the 65 mph speed limit and gaps were few. I could see that I would have to cross one and a half lanes of traffic. What really hurt was watching car after car inflict more damage while I stood there helplessly waiting for my opportunity to run out and grab my precious junk.

I have been humbled and learned a little more about the forces that exhaust can generate. Combined with the tremendous vibrations at the end of the pipe, it’s no wonder the instructions call for blue Loctite® in the threads of the screws. 

I rode the bike home with the loud, empty pipe and reinstalled the standard baffle using the battered end cap. The bike runs fine, but now I carry a badge of stupidity in the form of scraped up cap.

By the way, I really liked the new baffle and I plan to order another one. Maybe I can make it last a year or two, rather than a mere 20 hours. It was significantly quieter but still plenty loud enough so no one would mistake my bike for a BMW. :0)

Learn from my mistake: always insert the fasteners immediately, regardless of how much effort it takes. And use the correct color Loctite®.

The adventure continues…and I haven’t even left the state yet...

-The Long Rider

Speedometer problem resolved

(5/28/2014) Jim at Jockeys Cycle read my blog this morning and contacted me about fixing the problem with my speedometer. I stopped by and in about 15 minutes--as he said he would--he had the issue resolved. It was the speedo setting in the ThunderMax programming interface.

Coincidentally today, I had the Check Engine light come on. Using the ThunderMax interface, Kevin and Jim quickly figured out the rear O2 sensor wasn't connecting right with the Engine Control Module (ECM) and they had that fixed while I was out for some lunch.

These fine gentlemen also teamed up and mounted a new front tire on my bike. This leaves two more maintenance tasks to be completed before I leave for Banff on June 28:

1. Replace the fuel tank gasket, and

2. Install the new rear tire, which I'll do late in June because there's still a lot of tread left on the current tire.

As always, it was a pleasure working with the guys at Jockeys.

Peace.

-The Long Rider

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

No, wait, there's one more problem...the ETS

(May 16, 2014) I was too optimistic, perhaps even naive. It’s Friday evening and I don’t have my bike. I paid the bill late this afternoon--and it was a whopper--and rode away. Very soon I realized the engine was not running properly. I should have been experiencing the thrill of my life, so much power I would have to go easy on the throttle. Instead, it felt like the same old dog, even missing now and then to bring back old memories.

Kevin and Jim at Jockeys Cycle tried to make a poorly fitting engine temperature sensor (ETS) from Drag Specialties work, at least until next week when a new one, from S&S, arrives. No deal. The sensor apparently came lose within a few hundred feet of the shop as I rode away, as confirmed by the Check Engine light coming on. 

Just a couple of weeks ago, “DrTandem" posted this helpful information on www.hdforums.com:  

I know I'm late to this thread, but I just experienced this problem on my fuel injected '04 Heritage. The symptoms were similar to bad gas; stalling when first starting and running really rough after warming up and the check engine light illuminated. As another posted, it's just a $40 dollar part. On my bike, it is on the left side of the bike behind the horn. The engine code for this problem is PO118. To look for the code, with the bike off, turn the Off/Run switch to run, hold in the odometer button and turn the switch to Ignition. You will see the speedometer sweep and then a message saying "Diag." Release the odometer button and press it once quickly. You will see a code flashing, click the odometer button once again quickly and the trouble code, if any, will appear.

If it's the engine temperature sensor, it is easy to replace and takes about 15 minutes. You'll need a deep 3/4" socket for the sensor and a 1/2" socket to remove the horn. Remove the horn and carefully let it dangle, if you don't want to unplug it. Next, pull up the boot covering the sensor wiring. (The sensor is screwed into the block) Unplugged the wiring carefully by gently rocking it back and forth while pulling. Then put your 3/4" socket over the sensor, then put the socket wrench on the socket. It's a tight fit. Once you have it loose, remove the wrench and socket and finish unscrewing by hand. Install the new sensor by hand being careful not to cross-thread the brass fitting. Then finish with the wrench and put it all back together in the reverse order of how you removed it. You can clear the code by holding the odometer button while the code is being displayed.

On that same thread, another helpful rider with the handle “Rakthi” posted this: 

Simply put, the ECM needs this info to calculate the amount of fuel needed to inject into the engine.

When your engine is cold the ECM injects a bit more fuel (like having a choke) and then adjusts until the engine is up to temperature.

Looked it up in the 2007 service manual and for the 07 bikes it's not that difficult to replace the sensor ... don't know if it is in the same position in the 04 bikes ... it's where Drew says it's supposed to be, on the back of the front cylinder and you can unscrew it after you take of the horn.
sensor part number is 32446-99, they cost around $40

You also have a sensor that checks the temperature of the air intake. That one a bit more complicated to replace ...

And “slowhand" posted in the same thread:

If it is your ets, your motor will run like crap once it reaches operating temperature.

I certainly can attest to this. Thank you DrTandem, Rakthi, and slowhand for taking the time to explain the ETS and the trouble it can create when gone bad.

Kevin also explained to me how to read and clear error codes on my bike. It’s very helpful to know, especially if your Check Engine light comes on and you have no idea why.

ThunderMax reset procedure

Jim at Jockeys also reminded me of something very important for those of you with a ThunderMax engine control module (ECM): if you disconnect the battery, you have to reset the ECM connection to the engine by turning on the ignition for precisely 30 seconds then off, then on again for 30 seconds, then off, then on for 30 seconds again and then off (three cycles on and off, 30 seconds in the on position for each step and presumably at least a couple of seconds in the off position). 

Welcome to the world of Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI). It’s no surprise to me now after suffering from one problem after another for a year or more why so many mechanics pine away for the era of carburetors.

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The good news...

In an attempt to make myself feel better, let’s look at what problems I no longer have with my precious two-wheeler—even more precious now that I’ve spent thousands on her this year.

I no longer have carbon-encrusted heads with leaky valves.

I no longer have header pipes with a web of cracks in them.

And, I no longer have the stock ECM + Power Commander III (PCIII) combination that makes diagnosing engine problems much more complicated than with the single ThunderMax module. (And with the ThunderMax, I can add the AutoTuner some day when I have recovered financially from the current epic nightmare.)

In the photos I’ve included in this post, you can see what the inside of my rear head looked like (first picture) and what one of the exhaust ports looked like from the outside. In my previous post I included a picture of the cracked header pipe. There were other cracks as well.

We learned that such breaks cannot be welded—at least not easily. The heat expansion properties of the pipe and weld are sufficiently different that when the pipe gets hot—and it can get get up to several hundred degrees at times—the metals separate and the weld fails. 

I used the Power Commander on my old Road King and on this Electra Glide successfully for more than a hundred thousand miles. But complications can arise. For example, when I had the local Harley dealership install the Stage II upgrade on my 2000 Road King, they left the Power Commander on even though they installed a new Harley Davidson ECM. For a year or two, I would have these occasional engine hiccups. One day, I was at a dealership in Tennessee, riding back from some far away place and happened to sit with an older biker on the front porch. After I told him about my Stage II upgrade I mentioned my engine hiccup. I also happened to mention that I was using a Power Commander. He told me straight out, “Take that damned thing off. It’s your problem.” He explained that with the new HD ECM, I didn’t need the PC. He was right: after I removed the PC, the engine problem went with it.

Furthermore, when you have the PC with the stock ECM and a problem develops, you have now two different “computers” to deal with. As you can imagine, the HD technician will want to blame the Power Commander even without evidence, if he even acknowledges you have a PC on the bike.

What I do have...

What I do have with the two-into-one Vance & Hines (V&H) Pro Pipe is an exhaust system that a technician or mechanic can tune to high performance with the ThunderMax ECM. If you do even a little research, you will find that “true duals” are harder to tune and thus usually give you lower performance than the 2-into-1 system. What the dual system gives you is a nice symmetric aesthetic.

I did ride the bike today, engine problems notwithstanding, and the new exhaust system sounds very authoritative. The V&H Pro Pipe delivers the kind of rumble I enjoy hearing. I am quite happy to trade symmetry for power.   

As always, keep the shiny side up!

-The Long Rider