As was mentioned on the Help with Pipes thread, I planned to install a TMAX with autotune and wide band O2, along with Rush Slip ons w/ 1.75 baffles. I had the Annapolis HD dealer do the work, as they are an authorized TMax dealer, plus they have a lot of TMax background.
The TMax is an ECM swap, plus changing the narrow band 02 with the supplied wide band O2s. I dropped the bike off at 1100 on a Saturday, and they were done at 4:00 PM, including installing the Rush slip-ons, and detailing the bike. (The shops been slow with all the snow.) Since then I've had the bike out three times and put about 100 miles on it, so I figured it would be a good time to give some impressions.
The Rush w/ 1.75 sound great.., actually a little louder then I expected. Would not have wanted to go with any larger baffles. So far very pleased, with one comment. I put the slip ons without buying the option heat shields. Yesterday my right boot must have been too far back from the foot rest and my heel touched the front of the lower slip on just where it mates to the header. Melted a little off my heal onto the pipe. No big deal and easy to remove ( a little spray oven cleaner - trick from on of my HD friends). But I think I'm going to order the shields anyway (about $140). The new Rush mufflers are a little thiner than the stock models, so the stock shield most likely would not fit. I will check first....
As for the TMax with autotune. First off, I have read about a few problems on the net about turn signals, 6th gear light, and a few other bugs.., some posted several years ago. I completely checked out every light, and electronic function, with no problems. The new calibration for the speedo seems right on, and all the optional speedo stuff, like trip milages, milage remaining, etc, work fine. Same with the bike security.
As I also mentioned, the warranty manager told me the Annapolis HD will honor my warranty with the TMax installed, especially since they installed it. Of course, the ECM itself is covered by TMAX for 3 years. I also keep the original just in case. Since this bike is new, Zippers Performance recommended using maps 413 or 545. The autotune will adjust over the next several rides regardless, then after say 500 miles, I'll make the modified map the base map for the TMax, that will update the delta baselines and give me a fresh baseline that autotune can again adjust too as necessary.
Oh..., While I'm on the subject, a comment about Zippers Performance. Zippers and ThunderHeart Performance joined together to develop the ThunderMax EFI system. Zippers handles most of the retail end, though you can buy direct from TMax. Actually Zippers and ThunderMax have the same address in Elkridge MD. Anyway, I read on some threads that some riders didn't like Zippers support, again some of these threads we old. From my perspective, I have talked to them several time on the phone, and have exchanged several emails, especially with Randy Dull in the support department, and they have been very helpful and quick to respond in all cases.
So after checking out the bike at the shop..., time to take it out. From the outset, one of my main objectives was to change the AFRs to help cool the bike, especially at idle / parade duty, and also improve the performance. The TMax tech told me to just ride the bike like I normally do, but also, spreed over four or five shutdowns, do a highway run through all 6 gears. This gives the Autotune section a street type of dyno that it will adjust to. Also, the tech said that a dyno was a waste of money unless I wanted an HP readout, because the autotune will take care of "tuning" the bike. In addition, they do not recommend a dyno on a new engine, because you are really pushing the RPMs and they don't recommend that under 1000 miles.
Back to the ride.., the bike felt great through acceleration, and general riding. It really did feel like the torque was better and the engine sounded smother, but not having a lot of mikes on the stock config, its more of a gut feel. Also, with the new pipes, minus the cats, the bike sounds different, especially at low speeds. It seems I notice hearing the cams more than stock. I also ran a few highway 0 - 75 though all six gears, and was very pleased with the acceleration. (Love the HD sound also). One issue that did come up was decel popping form time to time, especially when down shifting. This is not uncommon in the early stages of tuning, and there is a decel adjustment in the ECM software that will reduce this, but it was suggested to me to hold off until the autotune has had time to adjust itself.
One of the nice suprises was the temperature. At idle after running the bike around down town Annapolis, temp stayed around 200 - 210. Under stock config, I would hit 275 and the ETIMS would kick on after only a few minutes at idle. So the AFRs at idle have made a major difference in the temperature. (BTW.., the ETIMS is disabled with the TMax installed..., which is fine by me).
I also purchased a USB adapter so I can hook up to the ECM from my laptop. The TMAX kit comes standard with a serial connection for the laptop. (Don't really know why since almost no laptops come with serial ports anymore.) When I get a few more rides on the bike, and finish looking at the manual and videos on tuning, I'll hook up my laptop and take a look at the AFR settings and the performance charts. (I'll leave any actual retuning to the pros for now, but I might try some minor tweeking on the decel or AFR baselines if I can do it with support from TMax......anyway we'll see)
Well...., that it for now. Overall, very pleased so far. I'll try to post some charts and further data after I get a few more rides on the bike (This weekend is forecasted to be in the 50s....come on spring
Ride Safe.........
Mickey
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Topic: Completed ThunderMax Install on 2010 CVO Convertable (Read 2092 times)