After being bikeless for the last three weeks since my SERK was getting the recall done and I was out of the area, I was pretty excited to pick her up from the shop this morning and get her home quick...I've had a set of Bub 7s and a TTS Mastertune sitting around for 2 weeks as silent reminders that I had no wheels to take advantage of the good weather.
Pulling the stock mufflers and headers turned out to be easier than I thought. Only 2700 miles on the bike in the last year, so not much time for dirt and grim to make things difficult to pull apart. The starter bracket and O2 sensors proved much more difficult. MOCOs obsession with hex key head bolts just baffles me. And the 2 bolts that hold the exhaust bracket to the starter couldn't have been more difficult to get out. I know it's my own fault for not having a set of hex key sockets, but seriously, those things are everywhere. Before you make fun of my, this is my first Harley and I'll give you more ammunition later.
I ended up making a trip to borrow a tap set to I could fix the threads I messed up when attempting to install one of the O2 sensors. When threading it in, it stuck a little so I put the wrench and gave it a slight turn. Big mistake as it took me the next 20 minutes to get it out with salvageable threads left on the O2 sensor. In case anyone is wondering, the O2 sensor bungs take a 18mm tap with a 1.5mm thread pattern. Only an hour or so to install 2 freaking sensors.
So 4 hours into the job, I was ready to mount the head pipes. I pulled out the head gaskets that my dealer gave me this morning when I picked up my bike and just my luck, they were too big. The ones I took out actually fit inside the ones he gave me. So I'm at a work stoppage unless anyone lives within an hour drive of Ansbach, Germany and has a set of head gaskets I could "borrow".
Oh, but before I tore into the exhaust, I saved my factory map and uploaded the tuning map I was going to use today with no problems what-so-ever. The TTS Mastertune software and guides made the process very simple.
Maybe I can finish the exhaust Monday evening after work. My luck it'll be sunny tomorrow just like today, and I'm 2 head gaskets away from riding.
