2006 rocket--too old to mod?

[doncuddy]

general question for the community..My 2006 rocket is 100% stock...sadly--money has always been an issue and I'm lucky to have this bike..no problems at all in 11 years now..would like to afford a newer model rocket-most likely a roadster and do some of the mods I read about in the forums...this is unlikely for now--but doing mods on my 06 might be possible...question is--what considerations are there when talking about a bike this age?is it too old?what mods might you recommend for modest increase in hp-performance and sound? and cost?
any info is appreciated..ps...I'm not a wrencher so would have the work done for me....don

 

[warp9.9]

11 years no problems
Why mess with perfect?????
How may miles do you have one her?

 

[doncuddy]

general question for the community..My 2006 rocket is 100% stock...sadly--money has always been an issue and I'm lucky to have this bike..no problems at all in 11 years now..would like to afford a newer model rocket-most likely a roadster and do some of the mods I read about in the forums...this is unlikely for now--but doing mods on my 06 might be possible...question is--what considerations are there when talking about a bike this age?is it too old?what mods might you recommend for modest increase in hp-performance and sound? and cost?
any info is appreciated..ps...I'm not a wrencher so would have the work done for me....don

not necessarily looking to replace the bike--like I said--no problems..just intrigued with the idea of more power and better sound..

 

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

Hi Don, Yes you can successfully modify your bike for not too much money and you can do most of it yourself even if you are not much of a wrencher. In order to gain some modest power increases you can feel, you will have to do a number of things consisting of a combination of these including a fuel controller, retune the ECU, modify the exhaust and the air intake.

I have owned my 2006 since new too. I did not modify it much until my 6 year extended warranty was over. Haven't really modified it much more since. The basic changes I have made are cat eliminator pipe, TORs mufflers, a Dobeck Performance AFR Plus and a TuneECU remap. Paying someone "shop" rates will ad tremendous cost to these mods that could but them out of reach. My cat eliminator and the Dobeck fuel controller allowed a gain of about 19 HP and 10 TQ. Since then I added the TORS and a TuneECU remap that added another 1 HP and 4 TQ.

The cat eliminator and TORs pipes are very simple to do yourself. The hard part is finding them now days. You may need to consider other slip on exhaust pipes as most of them today fit directly to the header and eliminate the cat anyway. Many owners remove the stock intake box and fit K&N filters on each throttle body, but that leaves a little bit of the job undone and requires you to be creative. The better and complete solution is the RamAir filter kit. It has everything you need to do the job right. And again it doesn't take a master mechanic to do it.

Good luck and enjoy the process.
Bill

 

[barbagris]

I'm sure you'll find folk on here and close to you who can help with wrenching - If you feed them beer and sausages.

 

[doncuddy]

Hi Don, Yes you can successfully modify your bike for not too much money and you can do most of it yourself even if you are not much of a wrencher. In order to gain some modest power increases you can feel, you will have to do a number of things consisting of a combination of these including a fuel controller, retune the ECU, modify the exhaust and the air intake.

I have owned my 2006 since new too. I did not modify it much until my 6 year extended warranty was over. Haven't really modified it much more since. The basic changes I have made are cat eliminator pipe, TORs mufflers, a Dobeck Performance AFR Plus and a TuneECU remap. Paying someone "shop" rates will ad tremendous cost to these mods that could but them out of reach. My cat eliminator and the Dobeck fuel controller allowed a gain of about 19 HP and 10 TQ. Since then I added the TORS and a TuneECU remap that added another 1 HP and 4 TQ.

The cat eliminator and TORs pipes are very simple to do yourself. The hard part is finding them now days. You may need to consider other slip on exhaust pipes as most of them today fit directly to the header and eliminate the cat anyway. Many owners remove the stock intake box and fit K&N filters on each throttle body, but that leaves a little bit of the job undone and requires you to be creative. The better and complete solution is the RamAir filter kit. It has everything you need to do the job right. And again it doesn't take a master mechanic to do it.

Good luck and enjoy the process.
Bill

thanks for all the helpful info bill...will investigate this more over the winter and see how to go about it...don

 

[Paul Bryant]

My Bike is an 06 which I've had for 6 years now.
Basic mods such as a free flow inlet and free flow Exhaust System, along with a tune to suit will net you an exciting enough improvement with out spending mega bucks.

 

[doncuddy]

My Bike is an 06 which I've had for 6 years now.
Basic mods such as a free flow inlet and free flow Exhaust System, along with a tune to suit will net you an exciting enough improvement with out spending mega bucks.

thanks paul--what do you mean by free flow inlet? would a ram-air kit qualify? and what exhaust might you recommend ?

 

[barbagris]

RamAir would indeed qualify. Paul might be a bit reticent to recommend pipes off the cuff - He builds them. But others I'm sure will chime in.

 

[Paul Bryant]

Don, as Barbagris has said the Ram-air is a good intake filter.
And yes I do build Exhaust systems for the Rocket, drop me an E-mail to paul@vikingexhaust.com