I only checked for leaks around the new slip ons. Although I haven't touched the pipes at the header, should I check for leaks there too? If I find a leak, should I retorque the header clamps? I ordered a service manual today. :-)

 

I was going to get the same 1.75 Rush slip ons when I picked up my new Heritage on Monday. To the dealer's service manager's credit, he told me to wait until he could order the 1.50's. Said that the 1.75s would give me a loud popping on decel.
And that the 1.50s would require no tuning. Good man.

 

There is an odd torque sequence on the header bolts. You will find that in your manual.

You can try the SE exhaust gaskets but I really don't think this is the problem. You need to run richer to get rid of the pops especially if your exhaust is high performance...

C#

 

So the Xieds just didn't make the AF rich enough and I need to go with a tuner?

 

Think Ur a little confussed,
U need to check for air leaks where the mufflers slip on at the Header Pipes, not where the header pipes connect to the Heads...

If the Rush pipes are the same as 5 yrs ago their Is (4) - 1/8'' slots about an Inch long or so at the front of the mufflers so they will clamp down good onto Ur header pipes.
This is the area where I had my air leaks, caused by the wrench installing the clamps too far forward (actually 1/2 of the clamp was off the front end of the muffler causing the back end of the slots to bend and rise up away from the header pipe, thus I could stick a toothpick between the back part of the mufflers slots and my header pipes.

We had to tap the area where the muffler slots was back down to get them to seal on the header pipes.

And as far as Ur dealer saying to go to the 1 1/2 because U don't have to tune it is BS...

5yrs ago almost everyone put Rush pipes with 2'' baffles without having to do anything else and the last time I talked to a Rush tech U can also do the 1 3/4'' baffles without tuning, if U still have the stock A/C.

The 1 3/4'' baffles are probably their best selling size of baffles.

 

Since I had already checked the muffler clamps, I was just asking if I should also check for a leak where the pipes connect to the heads. I got my service manual today, so I'm going to check and make sure the torque at the head pipes is correct (100 - 125 in lbs).

I've triple checked the muffler clamps with a 2 million candle power flashlight and don't see any light coming in. Both muffler clamps are about 1/16" back from the edge of the Rush slip ons, so they're definitely not too far forward. And they're torqued to 65 pounds with Ultra Copper seal. I think I can rule out exhaust leak now.

I rode quite a bit today and can easily prevent the popping by adjusting my use of clutch and throttle. I'd like to get rid of the occasional pop, but it's not going to kill me if I can't. Would kind of hate to spend another $300 - $500 for a tuner just because I added some slip ons. The Xieds may have helped a little.

Thanks for your help,
David

 

With the PowerVision (and probably others) you can take care of this with by messing with the Deceleration Enleanment table in the ECM. Sure you can add fuel, but this table will be fighting you the whole way. I turn it off entirely when doing tuning runs.

The popping is normal for the lean tune from the factory. The stock mufflers usually hide it due to their restrictive nature.

 

I am not experienced with your exhaust. I have SE pipes that aren't 'street legal' and weren't sold for street use, supposedly. Mine were very hard to get to run without popping and the only way I did that was to go in and really richen up my PCIII settings but it still didn't completely solve the problem. My TMax has changed both the AFR and the timing at lower RPM's and I have no popping whatsoever. I put up with mild popping for about two years but after I moved to a much lower elevation it was really worse so I got the Tmax.

C#

 

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your input and suggestions. you guys are great!

For now, I'll just go with the Xieds and maybe go with a tuner someday if/when I make more changes. I'm loving my new Fatboy and the Rush slip-ons sound wonderful.

Looking forward to a great weekend of riding!

David

 

+1

I had V&H slip-ons installed on my Heritage and the popping drove me nuts, even after the download. I am still nuts, but most of the popping went away after I added the SE tuner and had it dynoed. Of course, I wound up installing a full V&H exhaust system while I was at it.