I may have a crack in the Y-pipe on my 03 RK. I can hear a little ticking sound when its cold and its exhaust although I don't feel anything. The sound all but disappears when hot. Was thinking if I have to replace the stock pipe, I could try the Fulsac true duals conversion kit. Been doing some reading and some have said that it will reduce torque at low end. My 88 is running good with the PCV and SE breather and Kerker slips now. Will I notice anything? I do most of my riding at cruising speeds. (ie the legal limit) But would like to know if this set up will help or hinder any when I want to pass someone on the open road or should I just replace the cracked pipe and leave it stock? Any ideas?

randy

2003 Road King Classic
PC V
SE Breather
Kerker Slipons

 

to check for a cracked pipe you can use the smoke from a cigarette or incense stick and move it around the pipe joints and welds- any exhaust leak will disturb the smoke.

hot gasses reacting to oxygen/air will create heat and in a darkened space ( or night) you will see the pipe glow red at a crack


performance wise, look at dyno charts and make up your own mind.

generally TDS's will give up power in the rpm range where most of us ride- but if you ride at 6000 rpms all the time you can see better power with TD's.

there are all kinds of physics reasons for the changes in power resulting from a change in pipe design- you could look up "scavenging".

there is no factory production vehicle in the world that uses a "true dual" type design. it is just not efficient*.

if you pop the hood on your v8 in the drive way you will see that all the exhaust headers connect together, and that the 2 header pipes are connected with a crossover down by the transmission.

There are those who will claim gains with the TD's ( in addition to other parts) compared to a "stock" bike- but you have to look at where the power in affected with a critical eye.

your 88 is probably about 60 HP stock ( the first few years were 55 HP), with your stage 1 high flow air cleaner and high(er) flow mufflers you are probably around 67~70 HP now.



mike


* you will notice that top-fuel dragsters use a single pipes for each cylinder...that works as those motors are designed to start making power from 4000 rpms up to 8400 redline...rather than needing to make power down low, like to leave a stop ( which we have to do) they use clutch slip and tire slip to control power delivery.
likewise a P51 Mustang with a Roll-Royce Merlin will use propeller pitch to control power delivery.

Our conundrum is that our street vehicles have to make power at low rpms to get us moving from a stop, and power at higher rpms for highway speeds- this is why motor design is so difficult

 

I have the stock pipes from my 05 Custom, you can have any piece for shipping...