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[GDavidHughes]

When someone refers to a "Stage I" or "Stage II" or "Stage II" does this always equate to the same set of upgrades? I've heard people talk the talk and often it sounds like they have no idea what they are saying. Who decides what components make up each stage? Is that something MOCO has in a document somewhere or is it just service department sales guy talk?
My 2012 FLHTK had a SE breather, Cobra Head pipes, V&H slip-on's, 255 cams, fuel tuner. so what do you call that?
Now, the 2016 FLHTKSE CVO already has a SE breather so, Head pipes, slip-on's and fuel tuner will be what stage?

 

[Phantom309]

Stage I - Intake, exhaust and tuner (custom tune is best).
Stage II - Same as above plus cams, pushrods and lifters (wouldn't hurt to upgrade your clutch too).
Stage III - Same as above plus pistons and cylinders (big-bore kit).
Stage IV - Same as above plus better flowing heads and usually bigger throttle body and injectors.

There can be some variations to some of the stages like also upgrading oil pump and cam plate with Stage II. If you're going as far as Stage III or IV you would be foolish if you didn't upgrade your crank and bearings or at least get the stocker plugged and welded. Once you do that you can then go to gear drive cams eliminating the cam chains/tensioners which can wreak havoc on your engine if you don't catch them in time. You better have some deep pockets for III and IV. I think some guys are crazy what they dump into these bikes, but hey ... it's your $ do as you like if you can afford it. You can make a Harley pretty reliable and fast if you spend enough. Personally, if I wanted to go fast it wouldn't be a HD ... I traded in a bike with double the hp I have now, but I traded some performance and speed for comfort instead.

If you're going Stage IV, you might as well go the whole nine mile and throw a power adder in the mix too ... nitrous, blower or turbo and convert to chain final drive depending on how far you take it.

 

[porthole]

$1000
$2000
$3000
How much $ horsepower $ you want $$$

[MrSurly]

ALL of the above are correct and represent the 'rule of thumb' general understanding.
If you really want to see it codified in an 'official' way, take a look at the Screamin' Eagle catalog. There are actual "Stage" kits.

[CVODON]

Description above is close, but the actual Stage Kits are listed in the S/E Parts catalog.

[GDavidHughes]

Thanks guys. That's all good info. I expect I'll do the Stage I pretty soon. Looking at the breather, I don't see much reason to change it. I may dabble into the Stage II stuff in a couple years although I would need to understand exactly what components make up this drive train to start with. Case in point, the breather is about as good as you would ever need without changing throttle bodies first. And, I read somewhere that the clutch in the 2016 was already pretty beefy, component wise.
Anyway, thanks again.