Originally Posted by Cage-Free

So it's funny, I wanted the power but didn't want the noise or added expense of a full exhaust system, so I kept the complete factory exhaust setup. The bike sounds louder and angrier anyway, lol, especially when youre goosing it. To keep the warranty intact I had to go with the SE tuner, didn't get the auto tune, and all the work was done by New Orleans HD including dyno.

Originally Posted by Cage-Free

I've seen you share your experience, and definitely appreciate your first hand knowledge on this. It does make me wonder if there's maybe something holding your bike back, like a massive shield or maybe the dealer didn't actually dyno tune your bike, they just loaded the canned tune? I find stage 3 experience can be very different depending on the quality of the dealers work and tuning skills.

I do agree that after stage 3 I've had to relearn how to ride the bike again. I do find myself revving it out a little longer than I did on the stock bike, because I never had much more power past 3500 rpm, and now i have power across the entire rpm range to play with. The bike just keeps pulling. Particularly in spirited riding, I feel like when i goose it at 2800, i get to 5000 very quickly, almost need to remember to shift fast enough. The bike is a riot!

Anyway, my main point is that I feel like if both bikes are tuned right and ridden the way they need to be, then there's no way a stage 2 bike would be ahead of a stage 3. But I guess it's possible that for some short rpm range the stage 2 has a short term advantage. I need to find a riding buddy with an m8 stage 2 to find out and confirm. Haha.

Thanks again for sharing your experience. Very interesting.

Originally Posted by YammyDrummer

Yeah, I think the Stage III should easily out perform the Stage II and spent a lot of time and money over the winter trying to figure out if there's anything off with my build. Had it Dyno tuned using the SE tuner. Which didn't really make a noticeable difference overall and certainly didn't clear up the exhaust fumes. Added the SE auto-tuner hoping it would help. Which I believe has with the fumes, but not completely. Verdict is still out on any performance gains, but my buddy and I are taking a road trip over the weekend. I'm sure we'll test 'em again as he's curious about the auto-tuner and if it's added any performance gains as well.

Originally Posted by YammyDrummer

Follow up to these posts. 100% the SE auto tuner has cleaned up the exhaust stank. Very happy about that!! Unfortunately, my buddy's Stage II still hammers my Stage III in a roll-on test. Cruising at 70 mph in 6th gear and hitting WOT, the Stage II torque cam sprints away from the Stage III. Same for 70 mph in 5th gear...just walks off like a boss. To be truer to the difference in power bands we did a run where I was in 4th and he was in 5th at 60 mph. I got a good jump on him (he missed the count down) and I pulled away pretty easily, but looking in the rear view he was catching up fast! He said I was racing away on him in that run, but I think he only said that to make me feel better. Matter of fact, I think he purposely missed the jump just to make me feel better. Again, in the rear view he was catching up fast. Bottom line, in this sample, the Stage II torque cam smokes the **** out of the Stage III in a roll-on contest.

Originally Posted by Aircooled81

Pals FLHXS making more noise again today,
previously after dealership installed Stage III, we found about 500 miles later the rear cylinder broke a valve spring.
I dont remember if we did springs on both cylinders, I'm swinging by tomorrow to take a look at the noisy bike with him.

I'm curious here about the oil pump, dont think they upgraded that. I dont see how oil pump could affect the valve spring directly, you have any thoughts on that?
I have looked up the "Sumping" and it has mixed descriptions. Dealership says sumping caused by bike sitting too long and gaining moisture in the oil. Posters on line say sumping is moving too much oil to the crank case and not returning it to oil sump.

What's the best description of sumping, and symptoms?

Originally Posted by Aircooled81

Pals FLHXS making more noise again today,
previously after dealership installed Stage III, we found about 500 miles later the rear cylinder broke a valve spring.
I dont remember if we did springs on both cylinders, I'm swinging by tomorrow to take a look at the noisy bike with him.

I'm curious here about the oil pump, dont think they upgraded that. I dont see how oil pump could affect the valve spring directly, you have any thoughts on that?
I have looked up the "Sumping" and it has mixed descriptions. Dealership says sumping caused by bike sitting too long and gaining moisture in the oil. Posters on line say sumping is moving too much oil to the crank case and not returning it to oil sump.

What's the best description of sumping, and symptoms?