I am in the market for a 72 and it will have to have exhaust. Not sure about an intake yet. If I just install the exhaust do I need to re map?
I am thinking V&H staggered shorty's cuz I like the look.

Thanks

 

V&H Short Shots are open pipes (unless the get the optional quiet baffles). It would therefore make sense to remap your ECU.

But with open pipes you should really go for a stage 1 air cleaner - in which case you WILL need to remap.

 

Gonna Piggyback on this... I've got a Nightster with short shots and a SE heavy breather... I got it used with the exhaust and some other random air cleaner that i had removed by the stealership and the SE put on... Would the dealer have done some sort of remaping during installation? How can i tell? Should i get an aftermarket tuner? If so, what does everyone reccommend?

 

Kevman, if all the mods were done at the dealership there's a good chance that they re-flashed the ECM to somewhat accomodate the changes, but the only way to know for sure is to contact the dealer where the work was done - it will be in their service records for the bike.

If you find yourself disatisfied with the performance of the bike and wish to benefit from the capabilities of a tuner, I highly recommend the Power Vision tuner by DynoJet. For the money [$450-$499] there is really no better option other than a 2-3 hour session on a DYNO undertaken by a capable technician to give you the highest degree of performance from your current engine configuration.

Please don't be fooled by "less expensive" voltage trickery that only offers the single ability to increase the fuel in your A/F ratio by a static amount; the PV tuner will re-flash your ECM and in affect give it the ability to go into data ranges that are above and beyond the capabilities of the factory MAP, it will change engine timing to accomodate better performance throughout your RPM range, it will completely eliminate the factory lean condition which lowers engine and exhaust temperatures to lessen the possibility of premature engine damage due to friction, it offers data logging where you can save data on the fly and later modify it via pc software to run and try at a later date if you wish to "tweak" that specific MAP, it offers "auto tune" capabilities for you to create your own custom MAPs for your particular engine configuration and riding style, and lastly, the 3.5" PV touch screen can be mounted on your bars or wherever so you can view data as it happens...for example - RPM's, cylinder temps, etc.

What isn't to like? With MAP's available for your engine configuration available for FREE from either DynoJet themselves or one of their partners like Fuel♣Moto [who incidentally offers to double the factory one year warrantee to two years and offers FREE MAPs and support should you purchase from them, and/or have issues at any time] it's a no brainer. I guarantee if you go this route you won't just be "happy" with the resulting increase in performance, smoother and quicker acceleration, and electric motor type deceleration with no decel popping, you will be completely satisfied or I'll eat my hat in Macy's window.

There is no reason whatsoever to spend good $$ on useless bLiNg that does nothing to increase the performance of your machine, or to be stingy when it comes to your bikes performance, and with a tuner like the PV or a visit to your indy for a DYNO tune, it makes perfect sense to do it right the first time. And if the price for this upgraded "best you can get for the $$ and do by yourself in 10 minutes" performance seems steep then why did you purchase a $10,000 bike to begin with?!

P-O-W-E-R V-I-S-I-O-N!!!

=8^)