Planning a few modifications -- advice & suggestions, please

[bluesdog]

With the thermometer sitting @ -12 C (10 F), icy roads and a good 30 cm (@ 1ft) of snow covering most of my yard, I won't be riding any time real soon.


So while awaiting the spring thaw, I'm putting together a list of modifications and accessories for my baby.

Here's what I have so far:

Set of Clearwater "Glenda" LED Driving Lights. Fork mounted (?)

Hyperlites for the rear

PIAA slimline horns

Heat-troller for the Corbin seat

Electric jacket liner for me. (also hooked to the heat-troller)

Staintune cans

Holeshot headers

Either a Power Commander V, or the holeshot-specific TFI tuning box

Suspension upgrade, front and rear (preferably plug-n-play. I don't want to start drilling holes in things)

Cruise control, (AKA speeding ticket prevention system

)

Corbin smuggler

Luggage rack (Garauld)

RAM ball mount to fit that convenient threaded hole near the clutch, to hold a GPS, (or something. Haven't decided..)

I have some questions about the proposed exhaust mods:

1. Will they negatively impact the torque output?
2. Noticeably decrease fuel efficiency?
3. Do Bad Things to the engine?
4. What happens to the O2 sensor?
5. Which would be the better choice: The PC-V, or the TFI tuning box?

Also, are there any other mods/accessories I should consider?

My riding style is fairly spirited, but normally not in the hoon category. Personal obligations prevent anything other than day trips.

TIA

 

[escapefjrtist]

Here's my $.02...

1) Yes -- moved higher in the rev range.

2) Yes - figure 10% reduction, maybe more depending on your right wrist.

3) Nope

4) Typically disconnected

5) PC-V has been getting good reviews.

--G

 

[Queensland Ken]

When you get the PC5, get the AutoTune as well and remove / block off the air induction system.

 

[bluesdog]

When you get the PC5, get the AutoTune as well and remove / block off the air induction system.

Autotune -- check. Already have wynpro PAIR plates installed. Thank you.

Here's my $.02...
1) Yes -- moved higher in the rev range.

2) Yes - figure 10% reduction, maybe more depending on your right wrist.

3) Nope

4) Typically disconnected

5) PC-V has been getting good reviews.

--G

Hm. Annoyingly higher, or just a bit? I find the feej has a pretty decent pull right from @ 2500 RPM, iirc, but I tend to keep the revs up around the 3000-3500 RPM range anyhoo...

10% wouldn't be too bad, I suppose. The reviews on Dale Walker's site suggest an improvement, but I suppose an enthusiastic throttle hand would tip the scale the other way...

I think I can live with it...

Thanks for the responses, guys.

 

[bluesdog]

Hmm. I wanted to edit my initial post to say I'd decided on Traxxion's AK-20 Kit for the front suspension upgrade, but the board won't let me edit the page.

 

[rbentnail]

Hm. Annoyingly higher, or just a bit? I find the feej has a pretty decent pull right from @ 2500 RPM, iirc, but I tend to keep the revs up around the 3000-3500 RPM range anyhoo...

Just MHO but at 3-3.5k rpms you're lugging the engine

. Not really, but get that puppy up past 5200 and you'll notice distinctly what the "decent pull" can be. Really, no shit: whip it up to about 6.5 in 1st and keep it above 5.5 when going thru the gears. Better yet- going down the road at 65-ish, drop down to 3rd and whack it wide open. When you hit 105 go to 4th. Hit 5th whenever you feel like it. Or not, your choice. You'll see what I mean......

So the real question to me is, and I don't mean to sound insulting just asking, if you aren't even remotely utilizing what's already available to you why go thru the expense of beefin' it up?

But I see you're also interested in the economy of the machine. My bike routinely gets about 42 mpg combined in town and hwy. On longer trips on the interstate at 65-75 mph I get 48 mpg. US Hwy trips at 55-60 mph yield 51+ mpg. How are these mods you describe gonna improve that?

IMHO you should send me your money so I can put it to really good use

.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

If you go with the PC-V you definitely want to disconnect the O2 sensor. How much effect the PC-V and exhaust has on MPG is going to depend on the mapping for the PC-V. FWIW the PC-V with no exhaust mods and a "smoothness map" had almost no effect on MPG. At a gentle cruising speed I lost 1 mpg, in the mountains enjoying the bike a little I picked up about 1 or 2 mpg. If you don't disconnect the O2 sensor the MPG improves slightly but you will not be getting the full benefit of your PC-V. Oh, you can forget about your bike's displayed MPG once you install the PC-V. It is ridiculously optimistic.

 

[escapefjrtist]

<snip> Annoyingly higher, or just a bit? I find the feej has a pretty decent pull right from @ 2500 RPM, iirc, but I tend to keep the revs up around the 3000-3500 RPM range anyhoo...
10% wouldn't be too bad, I suppose. The reviews on Dale Walker's site suggest an improvement, but I suppose an enthusiastic throttle hand would tip the scale the other way...

Headers and slip-ons will soften the bottom end torque hit. Not a lot, but enough to notice idling around town.

Nice bunch of mods you have listed. Have fun farkling this winter!

--G

 

[Fontanaman]

The PIAA slimline horns are great as is a suspension upgrade and worth every penny. I have a GP Suspension/Penske setup - it is terrific. GP Suspension and Penske or Ohlins can be had at KFG Racing, Auburn Wa. Great folks to work with.

With 125hp at the rear tire and enough get up and go to break most speed limits in 2nd gear I have opted to keep the stock exhaust. I appreciate the quiet stock pipes. For me the FJR has enough engine performance as it is. A suspension upgrade add more performance than a after market exhaust.

I put a Cox radiator guard on my FJR. There are a lot of chip sealed roads out there and I don't need to have a rock puncture my radiator.

Here is a list of farkles on my FJR.

 

[bluesdog]

Hm. Annoyingly higher, or just a bit? I find the feej has a pretty decent pull right from @ 2500 RPM, iirc, but I tend to keep the revs up around the 3000-3500 RPM range anyhoo...

Just MHO but at 3-3.5k rpms you're lugging the engine

. Not really, but get that puppy up past 5200 and you'll notice distinctly what the "decent pull" can be. Really, no shit: whip it up to about 6.5 in 1st and keep it above 5.5 when going thru the gears. Better yet- going down the road at 65-ish, drop down to 3rd and whack it wide open. When you hit 105 go to 4th. Hit 5th whenever you feel like it. Or not, your choice. You'll see what I mean......

So the real question to me is, and I don't mean to sound insulting just asking, if you aren't even remotely utilizing what's already available to you why go thru the expense of beefin' it up?

But I see you're also interested in the economy of the machine. My bike routinely gets about 42 mpg combined in town and hwy. On longer trips on the interstate at 65-75 mph I get 48 mpg. US Hwy trips at 55-60 mph yield 51+ mpg. How are these mods you describe gonna improve that?

IMHO you should send me your money so I can put it to really good use

.

Lol, thanks for the offer.. Believe me, I regularly exceed the posted limit by a large margin, and there's some nice twisty roads around here where I stay in 3rd, shifting with the revs well above 5 grand. I also frequently wick it up to ludicrous speed on the straighter bits whenever I get the opportunity. But I like to putt at near the speed limit when there's traffic/LEOs etc. I'm not looking to improve fuel economy, but I don't want to seriously degrade it, either. I mainly want a nicer, deeper exhaust note, similar to the bikes I once owned back in the day, when motorcycles sounded like, well, motorcycles. At the same time, I don't want it to be obnoxiously loud. I don't buy the 'loud pipes save lives' kool-aid.

If you go with the PC-V you definitely want to disconnect the O2 sensor. How much effect the PC-V and exhaust has on MPG is going to depend on the mapping for the PC-V. FWIW the PC-V with no exhaust mods and a "smoothness map" had almost no effect on MPG. At a gentle cruising speed I lost 1 mpg, in the mountains enjoying the bike a little I picked up about 1 or 2 mpg. If you don't disconnect the O2 sensor the MPG improves slightly but you will not be getting the full benefit of your PC-V. Oh, you can forget about your bike's displayed MPG once you install the PC-V. It is ridiculously optimistic.

As I understand it, the holeshot headers don't have a place for the O2 sensor anyway. I think someone on the forum, (UselessPickles?), had his holeshots modified with a bung for the O2 sensor. Will the Autotune setting work without the O2 sensor?

<snip> Annoyingly higher, or just a bit? I find the feej has a pretty decent pull right from @ 2500 RPM, iirc, but I tend to keep the revs up around the 3000-3500 RPM range anyhoo...
10% wouldn't be too bad, I suppose. The reviews on Dale Walker's site suggest an improvement, but I suppose an enthusiastic throttle hand would tip the scale the other way...

Headers and slip-ons will soften the bottom end torque hit. Not a lot, but enough to notice idling around town.

Nice bunch of mods you have listed. Have fun farkling this winter!

--G

Oh, yes I will. I don't mind a small loss/shift of torque in the lower RPM range.

The PIAA slimline horns are great as is a suspension upgrade and worth every penny. I have a GP Suspension/Penske setup - it is terrific. GP Suspension and Penske or Ohlins can be had at KFG Racing, Auburn Wa. Great folks to work with.
With 125hp at the rear tire and enough get up and go to break most speed limits in 2nd gear I have opted to keep the stock exhaust. I appreciate the quiet stock pipes. For me the FJR has enough engine performance as it is. A suspension upgrade add more performance than a after market exhaust.

I put a Cox radiator guard on my FJR. There are a lot of chip sealed roads out there and I don't need to have a rock puncture my radiator.

Here is a list of farkles on my FJR.

Thanks. I had a truck launch a rock at my radiator last summer, which broke through one of the plastic ribs on that flimsy stock 'guard', and required a couple of days downtime while I had the resulting hole welded. I now have a Cox guard to prevent future incidents. I like the idea of the protection film. I put some on the headlights last year, and now you've reminded me, I'll add that tankslapper kit. What bits did you install the film on?

 

[Fred W]

You are correct, the Holeshot header has no O2 bung in it, therefore, unless you have one custom installed, 1) you can't use the stock O2 sensor even if you wanted to (which you shouldn't anyway) and 2) you also can't use a PCV autotune since the wideband O2 sensor for that screws into the O2 bung.

I put a holeshot header on my '05 and after about 6 months decided to pull it off and went back to the stock header. It definitely pushed the torque curve up in RPM and I decided I missed the low rpm torque too much. The softening of the bottom end grunt is due to the larger diameter of the header tubes. An alternate mod that you may like better is to have the cats removed from the stock header. You'll retain the stock low end torque, but pick up some HP via the reduced back pressure of no cats. And you'll also be able to run the autotune.

And, although there are many opinions to the contrary, I disagree about needing to rev the engine way up high all the time. This is a pretty large displacement engine, with a relatively low rpm power peak and red line. It has plenty of power to be ridden in the 3k-5k rpm range when cruising around. It is certainly not lugging the engine to do that. I'd say running below 3k rpm would be when you are lugging it. The torque reaches its maximum at 4250 rpm and is pretty much flat from 4250 to 8000 rpm after which it (and horsepower) falls off. The engine is perfectly happy running anywhere in that range.

There's no need to rev it up high unless you are trying to get somewhere in a real hurry.

 

[Fontanaman]

Thanks. I had a truck launch a rock at my radiator last summer, which broke through one of the plastic ribs on that flimsy stock 'guard', and required a couple of days downtime while I had the resulting hole welded. I now have a Cox guard to prevent future incidents. I like the idea of the protection film. I put some on the headlights last year, and now you've reminded me, I'll add that tankslapper kit. What bits did you install the film on?

The Tankslapper kit worked pretty well. I also bought some bulk film (stock on a roll) from Invisible Mask, cut templates and installed the film. I have most of the paint under wraps (film). I don't like black - it looks nice but is hard to keep nice.

 

[garyahouse]

Set of Clearwater "Glenda" LED Driving Lights. Fork mounted (?)



TIA


Why do you want to mount them on the forks? Wouldn't they do a better job if they were mounted higher? Seems to me the higher, the better.

Oh yeah: since it sounds like you're looking for every possible farkle... have you considered the following?

Handlebar risers

A Veskimo with remote 9 qt. cooler... so you'll never sweat again on those hot days in summer: CLICKY

Volt meter

Maybe an extra power supply

Fenda extenda

Frame mounted sliders

Larger, better windshield

90 degree valve stem for the front wheel

Maybe even some air pressure sensors with remote digital readout

Real time decals for the rear of your paniers

Gerauld's brackets that hang from the mirrors... for you lights

Throttle lock

Baker Air Wings

FZ1 mirrors

Killer stereo (just kidding)

Russel Daylong saddle

Givi top box

Feeling really brave? One fella put nitrous on his FJR...

And of course a car tire on the back...

Gary

darksider #44

 

[extrememarine]

One feature with the PC-V is that you can run two maps, and switch between them via a simple open/closed switch mounted anywhere. I can not speak to how holeshot headers or cans change the character of the motor. What I have done with the PC-V is keep on map that is completely stock - an all zero map - in one position, and a custom version of the smoothness map in the other. I use the zero map for the highway, then change to the smoothness map once I'm in the playground and want the finer throttle response out of the bike. Mileage tend to dive when in this mode for some reason...

 

[900gc]

Nice list so far. IMO on the street, lower to mid range torque is king which you would loose some with headers. Slip-ons by themselves usually add a little torque and HP across the board or at least do not lessen them. Plus they can sound nice too! An area to mod for more overall power that you might consider is the airbox. I did mine and and liked the result. I run an older PCIII with a map that I customized to my liking along with Remus Hexecone slip ons. My bike fuels very smoothly right from idle and have no complaints about the power!

Check out this informative post about the airbox mod:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/144974-airbox-modification/?p=955679

 

[bluesdog]

I just ordered the staintunes, and put in a request to my local dealer for the PC-V/Autotune combo.

I'll be ordering the suspension kit soon, along with the rest of the farkles.

Updated list:

Set of Clearwater "krista" LED Driving Lights. mirror mounted ala garauld

Hyperlites for the rear

PIAA slimline horns

Heat-troller

Electric jacket liner

Staintune cans

fenda extenda

Power Commander V, with auto tune

Suspension upgrade, - Traxxion

Cruise control

Corbin smuggler

Luggage rack

RAM ball mount to fit that convenient threaded hole near the clutch, to hold a GPS, (or something. Haven't decided..)

veskimo cooling system

Already installed: Cox rad guard, T-Rex sliders, Corbin saddle

 

[Linc]

Nice list of mods, jealous you'll be adding Staintunes... those are some sexy slipons!

Quick note, not sure how fast you gotta have all these parts... but I'm working on a group buy for all the Clearwater lighting products. It should be coming along pretty soon, keep an eye on the Group Buy section if you're interested in saving a bit!

Cheers on your farkling,

Abe.

 

[Dark Knight]

WOW!!! That is a nice list of mods. Good luck with all of them.

I must say, based on your wish list of goodies..."if I had your money, i could burn mine"..LOL

Best of luck with everything. Lots of stuff you're yearning for I either have on my '09 or am hoping to add in the future.

VERY nice list!!

 

[Fred W]

Comments added interleaved in your list below

I just ordered the staintunes, and put in a request to my local dealer for the PC-V/Autotune combo.

Sweet! I love staintune pipes. They are beautiful and sound good (not loud)

I'll be ordering the suspension kit soon, along with the rest of the farkles.

Updated list:

Set of Clearwater "krista" LED Driving Lights. mirror mounted ala garauld

For the difference in cost, I'd look at some of the other LED lights available. Clearwater is very proud of their products, if you catch my drift.

Hyperlites for the rear

Consider spending roughly the same for the Whelen 3rd brake light and flasher module. Much more conspicuous than Hyperlights at around the same price.

PIAA slimline horns
Heat-troller

Electric jacket liner

Staintune cans

fenda extenda

Power Commander V, with auto tune

Suspension upgrade, - Traxxion

Cruise control

Corbin smuggler

Luggage rack

RAM ball mount to fit that convenient threaded hole near the clutch, to hold a GPS, (or something. Haven't decided..)

veskimo cooling system

Already installed: Cox rad guard, T-Rex sliders, Corbin saddle

Looks like a good list. Someday I'll have to sit down and make a list of all the stuff I have put onto my FJR. Maybe I'll just wait untlk the day I sell it. Yeah right... like that day will ever come.