Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

[msocko3]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Hey #3......good thing he had his lowers off. Skin and wounds on the body will heal. If the fairings get skinned....that's a paint job!

He got some dents in his front fender, showed up real good on a black bike.

 

[1550vt]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Yep....there just ain't that many overpasses and interstate bridges out there in the middle of Montana, or the Dakota's....even trees for that matter. Sometimes.....you're stuck with what you have. I have seen dents on gas tanks as well.

 

[10rhrk]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

When your in the middle of nowhere and there is zero cover you have 2 choices. 1. Stop along side the road and stand in it, or 2. keep riding, I'll take my chances riding. I'm not dumb, but you could call me a loose nut or at least some of the folks at the Harley dealer I used to do business with thought I was. Normally I'm the person who rolls up in weather that makes most just stay inside and call it a day. I've been through more than 1 hail storm, snow, sleet, I've lost count of the many downpours of rain complete with high winds and lightning I've ridden through.

This year my dad and I were caught in another hail storm while in SD, we were putting on our rain gear when dime size hail started. There was a guy who stopped and warned us not to go the direction we were headed because they had baseball sized hail. I can deal with dime size but baseball is a bit extreme for me so we turned tail and run from it.

Msocko3, I apologize for the Dumb remark. You are obviously a determined rider if you ride in Hailstorms. I've ridden in bad weather many times. I remember when my bike was my only transportation. I've left for work many mornings in the rain. Even road in light snow! But Hail is a different story. Maybe one of the reason's was, I never had a windshield on any of my bikes until about 10 years ago. Now I'm pushing 70 and I can't stand wind in my eye's anymore. I still pull my windshield off occasionally and use goggles. I still ride around 20K a year, but Hail is another story. If I get caught in it, I'm stopping and taking whatever cover I can find no matter where I'm at. JMO

 

[GARYD]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

I'm beging to think I made a mistake. I bought a Tri Glide a couple weeks ago and after reading all about the heat problem with them I'm worried. My '03 (88) and my last bike 2010 Limited(103) were HOT. Can't imagine what it's going to be like on the trike.
I've always removed the lowers, but can't now because of the speakers that are there.

 

[1550vt]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Gary....let me share something with you. It won't do you a bit of good, but it may help some others. Research.....research.....research. I was within writing the check for a brand new TG back when the 09's came out....just had to have one. Then....I decided to wait a while and do some more research. The TG's were new then, but bit-by-bit parts-n-pieces of information begin to emerge. Obviously, I never purchased one.

I had already paid the "Harley Tax" with the introduction of the much touted Twin Cam back in 1999. I was stupid enough to purchase two and went through all the cam bearing and tensioner shoe issues TWICE. I finally figured out that one should never purchase the first model-year of any new Harley introduction. By the time the third model-year of the TG came out....I was well past ever wanting to own one, mainly because of this forum.

There are some very good TG's out there. Some because the owner took it upon themselves to make it run and many others got lucky and received a good one right off the bat, so I hear.

You will just have to follow the forum here where you will find many good sources of information from very good mechanics and techno-geeks (like Wizard)....who can fix any ills you may have. All you have to do is open the wallet.

 

[msocko3]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Msocko3, I apologize for the Dumb remark. You are obviously a determined rider if you ride in Hailstorms.

It's all good, you could call me determined, my wife has been known to call me something else. For the most part I play the hand thats delt me, if I can take cover I'm all for it. If I'm in the wide open with nothing around I'll roll the dice and see how they come up. My dad has been known to ride in stuff most people won't ride in, maybe I got it from him.

 

[Phu Cat]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Undertaker, Are ya sure water cooling would affect the sound of the exhaust? I can see where water cooling would stop the resonance frequency from vibrating cooling fins, possibly making the engine a little quieter, as well as the water jacket absorbing some noise.

Phu Cat

 

[NorthGeorgiaHawg]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

I'm beging to think I made a mistake. I bought a Tri Glide a couple weeks ago and after reading all about the heat problem with them I'm worried. My '03 (88) and my last bike 2010 Limited(103) were HOT. Can't imagine what it's going to be like on the trike.
I've always removed the lowers, but can't now because of the speakers that are there.

Taking off the lowers, etc. is merely a band-aid to the real problem of the engine generating too much heat.

The FIRST thing to do to ANY Harley is to address the performance and heat problems at the source. The EPA makes the MoCo restrict the intake and exhaust for emissions and decibel-level reasons, which robs the engine of the airfoil it needs to perform well, and causes the engine to generate a LOT of excess heat due to the very lean AFR the stock configuration has to use to get out of the factory.

The stock head pipes on 2010 and newer models also have a catalytic converter in the head pipe... right by your right foot. Cats run VERY HOT, adgratly resrict the exhaust flow... SO GET RID of the factory cat, and get good header pipes with no cat in them, like a Fullsac X-Pipe. With no cat right next to your right foot, the bike will be MUCH cooler. Get a free-flowing A/C like an Arlen Ness Big Sucker, and free flowing slip-on exhausts. Then use a good tuning device like TTS MasterTune unit to TUNE your bike to get optimum performance and a correct AFR throughout the RPM range. That will greatly mitigate the heat problem, as well as restore the performance you thought you were going to get from the factory.

Doing all of this is about a $800-$900 investment in the parts, plus installation if you can't or don't wish to do it yourself, plus the tune.... maybe up to $2000 or more if you have the installation and the tune done for you, less if you do the installation and/or the tune yourself.

I run the Fullsac X-Pipe "B" on both my 2012 CVO Street Glide and my wife's 2012 Tri Glide Ultra. I have a Big Sucker A/C on the trike, and the H-D Ventilator hi-flow A/C that came on the CVO. I run the Fullsac 2" PowerCores in the stock cans on the CVO, and I have a set of V&H Big Oval mufflers on the trike. I also run Andrews 54H cams in the CVO, and the stock H-D cams in the trick... but the cams will get changed out on the trike before too long, to ones that will enable the engine to breathe much better than the "EPA-pleaser" stock smog cams. Both bikes have a TTS unit for tuning... the CVO has been tuned to a gnat's azz by Mr. Wizard, and the trike will be soon.

Doing these performance modifications enables the engine to run MUCH better, deliver MUCH more power, and generate MUCH less heat.

 

[Frang]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Like they say-if you can't take the heat get back into the kitchen

 

[10rhrk]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

Like they say-if you can't take the heat get back into the kitchen

I agree totally! I returned my bike back to stock 2into2 header with cat and stock muffler's. Got tired of the noise! Bike runs great! no problem's with heat.

 

[msocko3]

Re: Things Getting Hot for Harley-Davidson's Air-Cooled Engines

I'm running the Jackpot head pipe and 50 state legal SE mufflers, not as quiet as stock but not obnoxious loud even when the exhaust note is bouncing off the front of my Aluma trailer. If I had the cat in the head pipe it would be quieter because the cat acts as another muffler. I'm very pleased with the performance of my trike now, I get good fuel mileage, can pull a loaded trailer with ease and my right foot isn't on fire anymore.