Hello agian, 2004 FXSTBI injected

What are your thoughts on the most recent mess i got myself into?
Basic question is; can i remove the baffles from a tuned bike below without damage to the engine or do i need to buy a tuner and re-dyno the bike? Don't have $$ for that. Story below.


Bought bike with rhineheart 2-2 flush and a stage 1 intake...assumed it was tuned by way it ran and DID NOT get any tuner with bike...ran strong.

Now it had a horrible metal squeak i chased for quite some time.(low rpm, low throttle) ..looked at belt extensively and decided it must be baffles after much reading and failed attempts to find it elsewhere. (also read all 88's have exhaust chirp?)

SOooooooo....i go removing the baffles to oval them for tighter fit like suggested and end up buggering the pipe up a little bit more than i wanted too....top was VERY tight and bottom wasn't so much. Got them out and WOW...a nice wake up on the sound. (and of course a minor loss on the torque...i expected that)

BUT...i still can hear the chirp a little so i guess it is either the engine or something else....pipes mount solid to frame and all mounts have been checked. The metal chirp search continues....but do i need to have baffles to protect engine?? mine were only like 10" long total at the very end of pipe. i like the sound, TQ loss sucks, but i don;t want to screw up engine.

Sucks because the way the end caps fit i seriously doubt i can get both baffles and end caps back together.



Thanks guys.....i really want some hooker trouble makers but $$$$ is low.

 

You'd best hope you're not running lean now, especially since it's summer. I gained fuel mileage by dropping the needle and getting rid of the Sportster needle in my carb.
Then I revamped the screamin' Eagle baffles to give me more backpressure and make it centered.
I gained 2mpg and a lot of torque - but even better is it got just a tad louder, with a very nice mellow crack to it, and lost the decel pop.

 

With a stage 1 and exhaust the previous owner probably had the ecm download done. I would run it without the baffles and then check the plugs to see if it is running lean or not. I put a true dual setup on my heritage and have a chirp when I let off the throttle, that definitely sounds like it's coming from the exhaust. I'm having some street ported heads installed and will have the guy re-dyno at that time to see if it goes away. When I first noticed the chirp I was convinced it was my baffles but after re-wrapping and trying the ovalling trick I still have it.

By the way, have you had a chance to ship those belt guards? John

 

yep, left a while ago...USPS...sorry i didn't email ya.

i agree, i ran it for 80 miles today and honestly it feels fine...a tad loss of "grunt" but i LOVE the sound. Got a little popping if i rev up in 2nd and just roll off throttle but thats expected.

i'm gonna watch the plugs for white and see whats up after a tank or two. The noise is less now but still there say 30mph in 4th just a tad of throttle..i think "some" of it was baffles..

noise is best described as sound of dragging a large chain behind me on pavement.


i did see a small hole from a rusted out weld on heat shield on one pipe...so i may JB weld that shut but i doubt it will make a diff.

 

When I think of chirping I always think the belt as a belt that is too tight can cause a chirp. As far as running without bafffles, I ran open samsons on my a ride for 2 years without issue although I do have a tuner.

Drew

 

I thought it was too loose that chirps, mabey ill loosen it a bit for ***** and see. Thanks!

 

Don't adjust tension wrong, for ANY reason! Can you afford another one?
You might check the pulley alignments though - that would make more sense.

 

The belt should be adjusted so that you can twist it at a 45* angle with the rear wheel off the ground.

Drew

 

Exactly, and that's a hard twist, not limp wrist twist. (heeYUCK!)

 

hmmm.....thats what i thought...snug....it was loose when i bought bike and i snugged it up to where I thought it was good...i am not that far away from that "feel spec" of twisting..

what "if anything" could i spray on the belt to see if thats the chirp?..bad idea?