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RE: Stage I question



Everybody have something off the top shelf while I thank you all for
your fine advice about my Stage I question.
(snip)

Outstanding. If'n ya don't mind me asking, what kinda bucks did it set
you back? I'm gonna do something with mine before riding season is
$391 parts, including the mufflers, air cleaner, and carb kit. That
was after the 20% discount. I'm betting you can find a 20% parts
discount somewhere - this was good all through January.
$148 labor.

here. I've been reading everything I can about the variations on Stage
1 upgrades, and I've found that if you ask 10 different people what to
do, you'll get 11 different answers. Confusing. Spoke to a buddy of
mine who runs an indy shop about it. He said that to do it on the cheap
we could buy a K&N air filter element and drill a couple holes in the
backing plate of the air cleaner assembly, then put on some slip-on
mufflers (he recommended a couple different brands), and adjust the
idle mixture a bit. Depending on the mufflers, I should be able to do a
*modest* Stage I for $400 +/-. Later, if I want, I could do the
Ahhh-yup, I'm bettin' you can do the whole 9 yards for that,
especially if you do the work yourself. I'll bet it isn't difficult at
all - I was just too lazy to do it myself. I figured a mechanic that's
done maybe 100 Stage I's can do it in 3 hours, and it would take me 3
days. Or something like that.

Thunderslide or Dynojet route.

We'll see what happens.

Andy aka Big Stinkie SLOB#3
I did mine in two parts.
Bought the SE2 mufflers with the bike as part of a promo.
They listed at around $550 Cdn. The Carb upgrade cost about $300 or
so.
All told maybe $600 US? (assuming the regular discount on the slip
ons)
That was for SE2 slip ons, free flow air intake, carb rejet with Yost
power tube.
Dang. Now there are *12* different answers. Once I do the above
mentioned changes, I bet I end up doing a Yost or Thunderslide or
Dynojet like you did. I'm a tinkerer with such things, so I'll probably
You can. A buddy of mine here in town suggested the Yost Power Tube,
even got the exact part number for my bike, but I wimped out and just
let the Harley dealer do his standard Stage I. I gotta say, I am mucho
impressed.

end up doing the carb stuff myself. Did it on my Sporty and it made
quite a difference.
Andy, I'll bet you can do the whole Stage I yourself. After all, you
built a whole hardtail, and painted it up real nice, too!


Andy aka Big Stinkie SLOB#3
It made a huge difference. Quicker, pulled stronhg right to red line.
I would do it again but maybe go stage 2 with cams and heads. (or is
that stage 3?)


I can't thank you enough for your replies to my question. You guys
know way more than I do about this stuff, and I bow to your collective
intelligence. It's been over 30 years since I did any serious backyard
wrenching, and that was on an old Triumph Spitfire convertible. (I
must say, I was happy that I got the whole engine apart, fixed a bunch
of stuff, and got it back together again, and it actually worked.)

As you know, I had decided to go ahead and let my dealer install the
Stage I kit. For them, this means only the carb, air cleaner, and
Screamin' Eagle II slip-ons. No cam work.

I gotta say, I was very surprised when I cranked the throttle. The
performance increase, to me, was phenomenal. The loudness increase was
equally phenomenal. I didn't think the SEII's would be quite that
loud, but they are, so I'll learn to live with it. (Of course, there
are incredibly louder pipes out there.) Anyway, I discovered that I
will need to wear foam ear plugs, as I should be doing anyway, or I'll
surely have a headache after a day of riding. I actually feel the
pipes more than hear them - which is kinda cool, actually.

The cough is completely gone. The throttle response is as immediate as
I could ever want. My dealer took extra time to do the job right -
spent over 3 hours on it - and I'm very grateful that they did. Only
charged me the flat, 2-hour rate, too.
Enjoy your "new" ride EZ. Thanks for the post, it brings back fond
memories of a few years ago. I liken it to witnessing childbirth, truly
an amazing experience. I remember when I was wrapping the project up, in
That's kinda what I felt like when I fired her up inside the dealer's
shop before I rode her out the door. It sounded like a completely new
bike. And on the street, it behaved like a new bike, too. In a way,
I'm kinda glad I rode it stock for a year, just so I know what a huge
difference the Stage I did.

the final stages of labor if you will, a friend stopped by. He watched
with interest as I unplugged the wire to my PCIII, which is very much
like cutting an umbilical cord. We fired her up for the first time, it
brought a tear to my eye. I felt like passing out cigars. And there was
no messy afterbirth!
Yup. I sorta know what you mean - it'd a meant more if I had done the
work myself, but it's still like a new bike is born!


As she idled we just stared, in awe of what just had transpired.

I'm glad your dealer treated you well, I went with home birth.

Have a drink and a cigar on my tab, and congrats to you guys!
Many thanks for the Jack 'n' Coke and the puff. I took the afternoon
off from work, since I can, and rode all afternoon in 60-degree
weather. Now, of course, it's raining, and will be for the next 4
days, so I'm glad I got in a few hours yesterday.


So, thanks again, fellow rmh'ers. Have another on me. My only regret
is that I didn't do the Stage I earlier!