Category Archives: HD Stage 2 Tune

Adding Some Omphf!

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Well, I’ve had been dithering about it for some time and then I have finally bit the bullet and trundled Hettie into Plymouth Harley Davidson for that Stage Two Tuning I wrote about a couple of months back.

Hettie

In essence it’s a fairly simple job; just dismantle half the engine, throw away a few bits, add in some new ones, bolt it all back together and ride off with a smile on your face…!

If only it were that simple!

The whole job takes a skilled Harley Technician about five hours to install the new high-lift cam, pushrods and remap the ECU, it wasn’t something that I fancied doing myself. Whilst we were at it though I also arranged for a new high capacity oil pump to be fitted, you can’t have too much lubrication if there is more horse power involved.

I am grateful to Damien at Plymouth Harley Davidson for doing the work and also taking some photos for me as a record.

First of all the fuel tank had to come off. Then the air cleaner and timing cover are removed.
You can see the end of the oil pump with its drive chain at the bottom of this picture.

The drive is dismantled.

Once the oil pump is out of the way, the old camshaft is removed and replaced with the new sexy one. Unfortunately Damien didn’t take any pics of that stage, but this is what it looks like.

After that, the new oil pump goes in…I don’t know why its orange as you cant see it once everything goes back together!

Then once it’s back together, no one would ever know the difference…

Until you open the throttle…
Then it’s 0 to ‘Maximum Smiles per Hour’ in just a few seconds!

Oh and she sounds just great too!

Catch you soon,
Dookes

That Hurt!

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Hello blogonaughts!

Back in April, I posted about fitting the new “Daymaker” LED headlamp to Harls and I also reported a minor injury to my right shoulder….
Well here we are four months later and I can now update that “minor” injury report to something altogether more tedious! Since the initial incident my shoulder and right arm has basically just got a whole lot worse, despite Sports Therapists, Physiotherapy and Doctors attention! You don’t all need to know my medical history, but I did smash up that shoulder about thirty years ago and a degree of my latest issues turned out to be related to that, joy! Anyway, yesterday saw Dookes in hospital for a reasonably simple procedure to, hopefully, rectify the problem and get life back to normal. I certainly had the best night’s sleep last night that i have enjoyed for months!

Today I feel like I have been kicked by a mule! The stabbing, sickening pain is however gone and i’m thankful for that; now all I have to do is get on with my recovery exercises and behave myself for a couple of weeks….Dookes is bouncing back!

Now, with all this shoulder and medical stuff going on, not to mention, grinding ,wearing, pain, I’ve needed something to raise the old Dookes spirits and what could be better than ordering some motorcycle parts…!

Not shiny farkles this time though, ooo no, Dookes is talking “performance parts.”
I’ve decided to fit a Stage Two tuning kit to Hettie, my FLHC Heritage Classic.

Hettie

Whats a Stage Two tune?

Simply put, Harley’s Stage Two kit contains a performance camshaft and adjustable pushrods.

These parts are intended to increase the duration of the valve opening and lift in the valve train. In other words, the new cam pushes the valves open further and keeps them open longer, which allows more fuel and air into the cylinders and equally clears the exhaust out more efficiently. Theres also a small tweek needed to the ECU mapping too.

I’ve chosen a kit which will increase engine torque and enhance performance in the low and mid-RPM range by up to 15%. This should translate into a crisp throttle response and faster acceleration at lower speeds, which comes in handy to pass slower vehicles without shifting down.

It should also sound really cool too!

I can’t wait for it to be fitted in a couple of weeks by my friends at Plymouth Harley Davidson. By then I should be fit enough to ride again too!

Catch you soon,

Dookes