[Peacekeeper]

Okay, I know my bike like the back of my own hand, its moods; its quirks; if it’s hot or cold; good gas or bad; I can actually feel the bike and no I’m not a nutcase. I have owned a few Harleys in my life and they all seem to have their own personality.

After the stage 1 upgrade, V&H ovals, DFO and SE intake it ran better and cooler but had a vibration between 2900 and 3100 rpm regardless of gear or speed. Dealer says normal; I say nope, it isn’t. So anyway I check pipes, no problem, no loose nuts, no binding; check motor mounts; tire pressure; alignment Primary chain; fluids; all is good.

I few weeks ago I’m cruising at a very comfortable 80mph sweet spot coming back from the mountains. I hear this god awful noise. I’m looking at everything traveling down I-40, Can’t find it. So I’m about to pull over and I take my legs off of the hwy pegs and my knee hits the Oval air cleaner cover. The god awful noise goes away. Oval cover came loose because the SE back plate has no support behind it for the oval. I tighten it and off I go. This happened about 5 times between Hickory and Mooresville.

Now I’m pissed. So I figure there in no way this will work so I cut some closed cell foam and mount on the filter faceplate to give some support and spin the bolt down. Seems to work, so a week or so later the DFO shorts out on a ride, just happened to be down the road from the dealer that did the install, they swap out the DFO for me and I am on my way. Still got that 29 to 31 vibration, and half way home the cover bust loose again. Get home and try to remove it and the nut behind the back plate sheers from the plate. Now I’m screwed so I end up drilling it out, pulling the intake all apart and cleaning it out.

So the next day I go by the shop and get a new SE filter and a round insert cover. The plan was to just run it open with the cover over the filter faceplate and dump the oval cover. I put it all back together, fire it up and off I go.

Well, the 2900-3100 vibration is GONE; the comfortable 80 mph cruse sweet spot just jumped to 93 mph and it cruses a lot smoother at high speed, 3500-3900 rpm. Now I am no rocket scientist, and I am not imagining this, but is it possible for it to be this simple? If it is this simple this is the stupidest **** I have ever seen. I do hear the air sucking like crazy starting at around 3700 now but it is a sweet sound. Alls I can figure is somehow the oval cover was restricting airflow. Beats me, any ideas on this one? Photo of fix attached.

 

[Paniolo]

No you are not nuts.

Being able to feel what your motorcycle is telling you is THE ESSENCE of what riding is all about.
If that is insanity, then you and I are in the same boat.

As for the aircleaner, when I took the football off my SE intake, and just ran with a chrome dome cover, I too encountered the "sweet sucking" sound. Yes the football looks cool to some, but remember, it is part of a MoCo package designed to limit sound, restrict airflow, and raise combustion temps to meet EPA standards,

That is what I have found in my time.

 

[msocko3]

How well does the open element do in a drenching rain? I would think having the football or some form of cover over it would limit the amount of water sucked through the unprotected element.

 

[Peacekeeper]

How well does the open element do in a drenching rain? I would think having the football or some form of cover over it would limit the amount of water sucked through the unprotected element.

Don't know yet, haven't got caught in the rain since the change but it still has to be better than falling off all the time.

 

[STACK]

Open SE Air Filter

I also run with the Football removed. I have the K&N Filter (Old style) and have had no issues when running in the rain. The oiled surface of the filter repells the water for the most part. The newer paper filter may be a different story.

I will say removing the restriction to the breather does make a difference in performance IMHO.:yes:

Safe Riding,