I bought an 08 Sg with the 103" street legal upgrade. It was the first tbw bike my local dealer's tuner had ever done. He struggle with it and finally said he was finished. He gave me numbers of 82 hp and 102 tq. I have ridden the bike 8,000 miles and even though I loved it, I knew something was missing. I was getting 30 mpg and even though it was way above stock 96 motors, it just didn't seem right.

Several of my buds told me to check out Wabash HD in Terra Haute, Indiana. They told me to speak to Scott Hunter personally because he is one of the best tuners alive. I talked to him, he gave me several options. First of all, he said he could do a real tune and make things better. Second option was to send my heads off to a performance shop and do the best he knew how to do if I didn't mind the downtime, or I could wait for winter and do it then. They have no problem with getting high performance shops involved in the process at this HD dealer.

Third option he offered me was to go with SE performance heads and pistons. He said he had never done this particular combination with my v&h true dual headers, 103+ heads and 255 cams.........but he thought it would turn out ok.

He was more than right. It turned out great. This is my first time ever talking to or setting foot in their store. They gave me a price based on retail cost of parts and book rates for labor at $70 per hour. When I picked it up, they said they didn't realize my dealer had used perfect fit pushrods instead of adjustable when they did the 103" upgrade. They had to install different pushrods and chose the adustable ones. They explained to me that this was an extra expense that they hadn't figured in. I said "fine". I went to pay the bill and it was $500 less than they had told me it was going to be even AFTER adding the adjustable pushrods.

As if this isn't enough to make me happy, did I mention that I first talked to Scott on Friday, I dropped the bike off on Sunday evening and it was done on Thursday? This is the first truly great experience I have had with an HD dealer.

If you are in reach of Terra Haute, Indiana and you are not happy with your local shop, I urge you to give them a try.

Keep in mind my numbers look a little low to some, but he is comparing it to a dyno he has done on a bone stock FLHX. He has never gotten more than 55 hp out of a stock 2008 FLHX. So if you believe a stock FLHX is really 65hp to 70hp, then my numbers need to be increase accordingly.


Dennis

 

Very nice. Good to hear some good things about a dealer.

 

How much was the total bill if you dont mind my asking, Good #'s BTW. Also would like to know your MPG with this set up.

 

Pretty darn good.

 

The dyno tune is a flat $280 at Wabash HD. Scott wont' stop until he has it right no matter if that takes him one hour or 20. I had already agreed to pay that.

The total bill was supposed to be $2400, including the tune, SE 103+ heads ($1149) forged 10.5:1 domed pistons ($280) then of course the compression releases, gaskets, tax, etc. Book rate on labor for changing heads is 6 hours. They told me upfront there would be no extra labor invloved with installing new pistons if they were going to have the heads off anyway. They also did a dyno break in with the new pistons for no extra fee! We never talked about pushrods until I picked the bike up.

Has anyone ever heard of an HD dealer telling you we had to add extra parts, but the bill is $500 less than we promised?

The total bill was $1926.

Dennis

 

I forgot to address the mileage question. I have only ridden it 15 miles since I got home. It has been raining here all day. Scott told me if it got less than 40 mpg to bring it back and he would find out what he did wrong. He said if I want to ride like a girl, I might see high 40's but he would promise 40 no matter how I ride.

Dennis

I also edited this to add that this is the first contact I have ever had with this dealer. I have never been in the store to buy as much as a t shirt before we set this up, and it wasn't because their service department was sitting idle, it was full of bikes, many waiting on parts for builds.

 

Good to hear that there are still some good dealers out there! I think your numbers would hae been even better if you went with another cam. Harley cams are notorious for making less than one horsepower per cubic inch. I will try to attach a dyno sheet for a 95 " version of your motor with an S & S 620 cam, stock throttle body, stock pipes with Screaming eagle slip ons. If we had a better exhaust the numbers would have been higher. The tuner was Dr. Dyno at the Americade this year. 100.5 HP 112.03 Torque. OK I can't attach it as it is too big, E-Mail me and I will send it to you if you are interested.

 

mia,
I realize I could have produced bigger numbers, especially hp. But I have come to learn that with a bagger like mine and a 250 lb rider, and sometimes carrying a 150 lb wife, tq is what makes me smile more than hp. Especially since I am getting the high tq right off of idle. I don't have to wind her out to get the full potential of the build.

Scott has done hundreds of builds with more hp, but only dozens with more tq when comparing similiar builds. He showed me cams that would build more hp, but I am a low end, off the line tq junkie. He had his doubts when I insisted on staying with the 255 cam, but he was grinning from ear to ear after riding it and telling me he was going to recommend this combination for baggers in the future, if they are like me and want all they can get up off the line up to 80 mph.

I don't think my scoot is the meanest out there, but it is just what I was looking for. It performs very nice at the range I care most about. I'll still get blown away top end by lots of bikes on the road, but I will hold my own off the line with most bikes, especially other baggers.

Dennis

 

The Build Sounds Real Good Congratulations, I did a Similar on my Bike and like you said it's not the Fastest but it can Hold it's own.

 

Update..........
I have ridden this new upgrade about 700 miles so far. I am getting 40mpg. I just haven't had it long enough to stay off the power long enough to know what mileage it is really capable of getting if it was "normal" highway riding. More like racetrack riding so far.

I have only one con so far. When the bike had flat top pistons and stock heads, it cruised comfortably at 2500 to 2700 rpms. This allowed me to cruise 65 mph in 6th gear on level roads.

This higher compression motor is more comfortable cruising at 3,000 rpms. That means I have to stay in 4th gear if I want to cruise 55mph, 5th gear for 60 to 70 mph. 6th gear at 3,000 rpms is around 80mph.

No big deal, but I will have to adjust my riding habits if I am going to get the most effeciency out of this build.

Dennis