I plan to swap my OEM exhaust on my 09 RK and installing my V&H Power Duals this weekend... Any tips or tricks to it? Just unbolt and pull off old and mount up the new? Any complications at all or tricks to make it easier? I plan to use my OEM mufflers for the time being. The OEM air cleaner also for a short time. I do have a SE Ventilator a/c that I will be buying from a member here in the next few weeks and I'll again have to change the MAP once I do that i know. For now it will just be the Power Duals as that's what I've got on hand and want to get it done this weekend.

Seems like it should be pretty straightforward but i know sometimes things come up that you don't anticipate. I don't want any surprises where I have to drop it all and drive into town to get something or a special tool.

I need new exhaust gaskets i assume for the cyl head?

Another question...

I have a PCV and Jaimie sent me the new MAP for this change I'll be making. Do i just hook up the laptop to the PCV and open the software program and click and install I guess? Anything complicated about it?

Thanks to all for any tips / advice...

 

Your Power Duals should come with the SE style exhaust gaskets in the box. Install is very straight forward. Just take your time lining up the heat shields and be careful not to scratch them when putting the X shield on. Since you have an '09 without a cat don't expect any performance gains from the Power Duals but they do look cool. If you do any kind of mildly aggressive riding in curves then you WILL scrape the X shield in right handers. Pisses me off every time...

 

Thanks HD,

I'm about half way thru the process... Got the OEM system completely removed - no problems at all.

Now starting to lay out the heat shields and getting ready for the install.

This bike was bought in CA so it does in fact have the CAT in it, so I'm hoping to have a wee bit better sound to it with these free-flowing pipes.

Will let you know when I'm done... So far so good!

 

I've got a set ordered for my 12 street glide. Hope there worth he cash. Let us know what you think of them when you finish.

 

You'll definitely have better sound without the cat in place. I was pretty amazed just how much louder the bike is without it.

 

OK, it took me several hours, but I'm tedious in how I do things so was in no big hurry and had little interruptions along the way too.

The Power Duals installed with no problem. Just go slow and don't tighten up anything until all the components are in place so you can get them lined up correctly the first time (brackets, heat shields, etc).

I fired it up and had to tighten the exhaust flanges of course as I had a ticking from the rear cylinder immediately due to a pinhole gap I assume. I was on it instantly with the socket and it went away.

The PCV was easy to work with - installed the new MAP that Fuelmoto had sent me in anticipation of this change.

The quality of the V&H exhaust is obvious. The chrome is excellent and the heat shields are thicker steel than the H-D stock heatshields the bike had on it.

The stock OEM mufflers I'll leave on the bike for now. I haven't ridden it yet as I want to wash the bike and have some other stuff to do around the house, but from running it in the garage for a few minutes it sounds like it might have just a teeny bit better sound from it now without that CAT in the OEM header pipe.

Next is a SE Ventilator that I hope to have in the next couple weeks. That will complete my Stage 1 finally. This bike had nearly 50,000 miles on it before I changed anything at all - completely stock until recently. It ran great and I had no trouble, but I wanted to cool it down as the oil temps were higher than I like and I can enjoy the improved performance it gives me too.

An oil cooler will be the last and final thing...

 

Pretty straight forward job... I have the Powerduals on mine... the only bit of hassle I had was getting that damn "X" shaped heat shield cover to match up in line and fit snugly...
took a few tries before it fit to my satisfaction...
Be sure to clean up/shine the pipes and get all the fingerprints and smudges off real well before you fire up/heat the pipes up...you dont want to bake any of that crud into the chrome.
The fit and finish on Vance& Hinds stuff is usually second to none... their chrome plating is top notch, too.

 

Yes exactly that X-Cover was a bit tricky to get to fit just right. I had to loosen up one of the other shields and move it just a bit back so the X would fit right into place snugly. That did the trick.

Yes excellent chrome!

 

I "think" that the cat was not moved to the head pipes until 2010. If that is the case the cat will be in the right side muffler.

fwiw

Bwana

 

I believe every Harley should be benifiting from exhaust gas scavenging. The engine will run better and will be more reliable. What do I know anyway. Later