Last weekend we had our triple digit day so I got ride without my chaps for the first time this season. Last year I was toasting my left ankle and calf; since installing the Fuel Moto head pipes my lower leg is comfortable but the heat source at 75 MPH has moved and is now toasting my left inner thigh.

The level of discomfort is nowhere near as painful as when my lower leg was being fried but none the less is still very uncomfortable.

I’m wondering if anyone else has experience this after changing their head pipes?

 

Jim: I'm curious, do you really mean your LEFT inner side??

 

I’m not sure if I’m describing this properly but I call it the thigh with the heat pain ranging from the inseam area around to the back of the thigh below the butt.

There, now I probably totally confused everyone. The source of the heat is coming from aft of the rear cylinder.

 

You still have the mid frame heat deflectors installed? If you do you might try pulling them off and riding without them to see how it does, their pretty simple to remove. I haven't been in any temp like you see, I don't know if I ever will. The temperatures you ride in are pretty extreme. If you own a IR temp gun it would be interesting to see what the temps of your front and rear cyl's are where the spark plug screws into the heads after a 5 mile ride at the same speed. I know the rear is going to be hotter than the front due to the lowers being installed.

 

Darn...just when I was ready to make the move as you did Jim with the new pipes, your seeing some problems?? Guess I better set back and wait...HD dealer did tell me today changing out the pipes and cams should make it cooler..Of course when I said why doesnt HD share some of these cost? His reply was HD are still saying there is not a heat problem and the bike is design to shut down before over heating. If its not doing that than there is a problem. In 80 degree weather last week my right leg was hot and I had to move it out to the foot peg...Dealer understands but still saying nothing wrong that the HD big shots will back him up to help me out.....ummmmm

 

I have found some excessive heat from the left side, but felt is was due to the wind shift. As my left side heated the right side seemed to cool?????

 

That's your answer right there.

When HD copied the design "idea" of RJ's Mid frame deflectors (No more fried thighs) they were designed from one mold then mirrored that mold to make the other side. Thus you have an exact match set that mirror each other. Unfortunately a Harley is built different on the left as apposed to the right side. Why would you use the same design for each side?

The HD mid frame deflectors will act like a "scoop" and force the heat from the rear jug and head pipe under the seat. The seat frame has two large holes in the brace plate. The scoop effect will force hot air under the seat and warm your butt nicely in the winter but is uncomfortable in the summer time. It will also spill over to your inner thighs.

A correctly built mid frame deflector will direct the air down and back away from your thighs and be designed differently on the left and right sides to redirect the air flow properly for each side. You can also purchase a nice plug to fill the brace holes to keep the seat from heating up.

Mike is right... removing the HD deflectors will eliminate the scoop effect and take the hot air off your thighs but you should not do this with a stock exhaust and fuel system.

RJ makes a superior product and builds each set by hand.

 

I also was waiting until fall to get the new fuel moto pipes, just waiting on some feedback from the people that have installed them. I was also wanting to see how my modification worked out. I however am concerned more with engine temperature for reliability purposes than comfort. I am getting cooler engine temps but when I have to use the Fan in traffic I still get the hot leg. I installed footpegs and just put the right leg up out of the heat stream.

My main criteria would be cooler engine temps when buying the pipes because as you say Harley will never admit to a heat problem. I have also heard the engine will shut down before it self destructs, I have also heard it will not. I am not talking about the EITMS shutting down the rear cylinder, they are supposed to shut down both cylinders down when the temperature goes into the destructive area.

I would be interested if anybody else has heard this and knows how this works, ECM program?

I don't even want the EITMS kicking in, that is to hot for my concerns about extended engine life. As of yet mine has not kiicked in this summer, I feel I have the heat monster under control for engine realiblity purposes.
I fear rider comfort will have to be secondary concern, it is just for short periods of time in slow traffic so I can live with it.

 

Thanks guys, I’ll remove my deflectors and see if that makes a difference. The only problem I will have is that presently I have some adhesive accent lights stuck to the inside of the deflectors but I will gladly shed them if this works.

 

Tri glide, we didn’t get this far my giving up so easy; don’t worry, we’ll get this thing figured out…I like being the resident “100*lab rat” for this forum!

Besides this discomfort is nothing like I had prior to replacing my head pipes and as Coupe said; the main reason some of us our making these mods is to extend the life of our engines.