After much research I went with the Fullsac stage 1 CVO sleeper kit ("B" x-pipe, 2.0" cores and TTS with their tune) for my 2011 CVO Road Glide to get rid of some heat and open up the sound. Did the install this weekend and wanted to pass along my thoughts on the process while it's still fresh. Whole process took about 8 working hours in total (excluding the initial hour or so to set up the TTS software on the laptop).
The folks at Fullsac were super friendly and helpful. I talked to them a few times along the way while researching options. I received the kit 4 business days after ordering. Well packaged for shipping. The pipe and baffles looked to be well made.
Did the baffle install first - one at a time so I could have one intact to look at if needed when reinstalling the heat shields, etc. I used a Dremel Multi-Pro grinder with a "#8193 - Aluminum Oxide Grinding Stone." No need for an extension on the Dremel - the standard setup was fine to reach the welds. Grinding the welds took about 10-20 minutes each depending on the size of the weld. I followed the tip I'd seen on this site about knocking the baffles back into the pipe slightly to see if the weld was broken through and to clean up the remaining weld material so the baffle would pass through. I don't really see how one could cut through the pipe using this stone and keeping the grinding wheel parallel to the muffler body. Just take your time and let the grinder work. I put the mufflers on a short workbench, pulled up a five-gallon bucket as a stool and went to work. I also wore my night riding glasses with the yellow lens to help see the process better - along with a magnifying glass to check process.
I used a block of wood and dead blow hammer to knock the baffles inwards first. Then to knock outwards, I stood the mufflers up on a padded surface and started out with the large dowel rod as others have mentioned, but the edge of the wood was shearing off the end and lodging between the baffle and muffler body, so I wound up using the handle of my floor jack, which worked out well. To get the baffles all the out way, it helps to have an extra set of hands to hold the muffler upright off the floor while someone makes the final hit. I guess an alternative would be to strap the muffler to a workbench, but I'd didn't want to scratch it up.
Drilled the new holes per the instructions at 1.5" from the end. I put some tape on the spot to drill and used my drill press - started with a 1/8", went to 3/16" and finished up with 1/4". New baffles installed easily - just make sure you line them up straight so they will slide all the way in. I left the original packing in the muffler as recommended. If you are just doing the Fullsac baffles, I would plan on about 3 hours all in for the job - from removal to reinstall.
Now it was on to the x-pipe. Here is where the Harley shop manuals came in handy. If you don't have a set, I would recommend them for this part as the instructions for removing/installing the header pipe are not included in the Fullsac kit. In addition to pulling off the right side floorboard I also took off the right side lower to gain more access. Followed the steps per the manual and all came off easily. The old gaskets need to be pried out of the heads - just be careful you don't scratch anything. I used a small screw driver and needle nose pliers.
After placing the new gaskets that came with the kit into the exhaust ports and transferring over the retaining rings and exhaust flanges to the pipe, the new pipe installed without too much trouble. A little tricky to get it all lined up and to keep from messing up the new gaskets. An extra set of hands here is helpful also. I first tried loosely installing the heat shields as some have suggested when initially putting on the x-pipe, but wound up taking them back off as I couldn't get a firm enough grip on the x-pipe to maneuver it into place. The outer coating on the pipe does scratch real easily, but it gets covered up with the heat shields in the end. The O2 sensors do get reconnected in the process. I don't know if it matters or not, but I marked them during the removal process so I'd get them back into the same holes. I found that I had to "pre-wind" the O2 cables backwards when reinstalling so that the wires didn't get over twisted when screwing the sensors back in.
Only issue I had on the reinstall was getting the bracket that holds the cross over pipe on lined up properly. I'm not sure what was off here, but I had a bear of time getting it all lined up right but it eventually worked with a second of hands. After following the reinstall process for the whole system I torqued all back down per the Harley specs and fired it up to test for any exhaust leaks prior to reinstalling the heat shields. Heat shields installed easily - just line up the clamps and tighten all back down. (End of Part 1)
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Topic: Fullsac Stage 1 Installed This Weekend (Read 2599 times)