After waiting for what seemed an eternity my FuelMoto headpipe arrived yesterday. I knew the delivery date, so I had everything off of the Ultra Limited when it arrived. FuelMoto had already shipped my Jackpots & PCV.

I had already installed the PCV and thought I would be riding a faster, cooler bike before noon today. But ole Murphy showed up.

Surprise #1: there is an exhaust gasket at the connection between the headpipe and the crossover pipe that I was unaware of. It is a wire mesh type gasket very similar in construction to the crushable exhaust port gaskets. If I had been aware of this gasket I would have had a spare on hand before the headpipe arrived.

The gasket had been compressed quite a bit during assembly and I could not get it to expand enough to go over the headpipe. In trying to connect the pipes I screwed up the gasket. What a bummer! After checking all of the auto parts houses in town I decided I would drive to a HD dealer, pick up another gasket, and be riding by nightfall. There are 4 dealers within 140 miles of me.

Surprise #2: None of the dealers in Mississippi, the Memphis area, nor Arkansas had the gasket in stock. I did finally find one at the dealer in Birmingham. It should be here by Tuesday or Wednesday.

If you are planning on getting the FuelMoto headpipe I suggest you get an extra gasket or two (part # 66813-09, $4.30) prior to installation.

It might be that I'm the only one who has encountered this problem, since no one else has mentioned it. I sure hope none of you have this sort of luck with your installations.

 

Thanks for this post I am puting a 09 headpipe on my 10 ultra tues as soon as the big brown truck comes by with my parts from Jamie and was wondering if I needed that gasket. I had allready made phone calls and located 1 near the house so I will get it tomorrow.

 

I also messed that gasket up during the install also. Soooooooooooooooo...I took a piece of tinfoil and reshaped the gasket by pulling the strands back towards me and twisting until it looked decent again. Then I grabbed the dremel tool and slightly smoothed out the inside edge of the 2-1-2 headpipe where it fits on the crossover. Went on nice on the first try after that and no leaks.

Yep, a fair amount of work, but the nearest dealer was and hour away and it was faster than that.

BTW, the headpipe gave me a sweeter running bike all around. The autotune seemed to like to add just a few more points of fuel in most areas above 2K.

 

I had the same problem putting the crossover back together, but was lucky enough to find the gasket at a dealer only about 20 miles away. The dealer 3 miles away did not have it. Even with a new gasket I had some trouble getting the pipes to fit together. I would recommend that anyone doing the change be prepared with a new gasket. But.....it was well worth the change. I can't imagine what it would have been like riding in the 90+ degree heat without it.

 

Good to know.

I think you should always use new gaskets whenever gaskets are involved.

 

Great info to share. Even for those of us that are financially deprived.....

 

Very good info, funny that I havent really seen anybody else mention it. Thanks for sharing, I know being forced to wait longer is murder!

 

No kidding. Sucks big time thinking you have everything, and you're all set to ride your bike.....then that one little thing puts a hold on the project.
Glad the OP got it fixed and is able to ride. I feel your frustration.

 

Seems like when your working with exhaust, that if it can go wrong....It will!!
I know your frustration man!!

 

UPS shows a 1 day delivery from Birmingham to Greenwood, Miss., so I shoule have had the gasket today, BUT for some reason known only to the routing geniuses at UPS they decided my gasket should first go to Louisville, KY and add 2 days to the trip. The way my luck is running the gasket will probably be crushed by the time I get it.