Another Exhaust Thread (Vandemon Headers) with Installation Pictures

[Protonhound]

I had settled for the Competition-Werkes slip on (quick and dirty) but now am reconsidering as I always liked the Vandemon better for appearance and supposedly sound and the beast deserves it. Please note that this is a present for my bike and not for myself. I already have the Penner tune which is great and am not looking for max performance as I am keeping the stock exhaust manifold at least for now which also means that I'll be keeping the stock air filter unless the DNA filters don't require constant maintenance ie tank/intake removal. The Werkes does not require a tune since the apparently self learning ECU adapts to it and it accepts the O2 sensor. On the Vandemon site they do talk about performance after tune and also specify 2 positions for O2 sensors. My R3 has one O2 sensor which means the second position on the exhaust would not be used.
These are my questions:
1) Would the ECU adapt to the exhaust enough for everything to work properly?
2) Would any damage be caused by riding it with my existing Penner tune?
3) Should I just bite the bullet and go for the full kit/tune and use that credit card for what it was intended for?
I believe @Mighty Mouse lives a couple of hours away from me so maybe he could recommend a tuning shop if required?
My main goal is to make the bike sound healthy while maintaining aesthetics.

 

[Protonhound]

I got an answer from Vandemon

 

[Mighty Mouse]

There use to be a place in Roseville that I used for a Dyno and PC on my 14 Rocket but they closed after COVID. I got nothing. If you do find something let me know. I may start looking in the east Bay Area Concord Walnut Creek area. I need my Hurky jerky throttle smoothed out. It’s horrible in sport mode and that’s where I am 99.9% of the time.

 

[Protonhound]

So I'm on the Vandemon site in check-out and about to add another chunk to a credit card and after some more soul searching and a gander at my total monthly expenses I made peace with living on bologna sandwiches and canned soup for the next few months because I need my bike to sound like it rides especially now that I have the Penner tune. I live in a rural area which is infested by Harleys on weekends most of which compensate for a lack of everything with sheer noise and though there is nothing to compensate for on Rocket the healthy burble of a good exhaust system is desirable. I'm going with the peasant version since I have no use for bimodal and also don't have a lot of faith in the reliability of such a system.

 

[Protonhound]

My exhaust arrived today, no instructions because how hard can it really be, so I'll follow our maintenance manual's directions for all torque values. Everything came packaged extremely well in expanding foam packing cradling each plastic wrapped component gently in it's sturdy box. One does not see this kind of care when shipping stuff much these days. I plan on installing it this weekend, already have another Triumph exhaust gasket on hand and will do my best to take lots of pics to share.

 

[gadget_ho]

There use to be a place in Roseville that I used for a Dyno and PC on my 14 Rocket but they closed after COVID. I got nothing. If you do find something let me know. I may start looking in the east Bay Area Concord Walnut Creek area. I need my Hurky jerky throttle smoothed out. It’s horrible in sport mode and that’s where I am 99.9% of the time.

Do you have the Penner tune loaded? I found that Triumph would flash the ECU at each service, and a couple of services ago I had that crap fueling too, way lumpier than it used to be. Reloading the Penner tune smoothed it out a lot compared to whatever Triumph seems to be doing to their stock tables.

 

[Protonhound]

Do you have the Penner tune loaded? I found that Triumph would flash the ECU at each service, and a couple of services ago I had that crap fueling too, way lumpier than it used to be. Reloading the Penner tune smoothed it out a lot compared to whatever Triumph seems to be doing to their stock tables.

Yes I've had the Penner tune for a few months now and it felt like riding a new bike after flashing. Triumph won't see my bike again for a while, I just did the 10k service myself, but if they do they will be under strict orders to not mess with the ECU. I might even find a way to lock up that plug under the seat so they can't get to it.

 

[Protonhound]

Removing the existing cat was very simple. There was a white mark on the O2 sensor nut and I counted 3 turns for removal as per manual but I don't quite understand the purpose for this as the sensor is tight at 3 turns. Maybe it's about the cable twisting and I need to spin it the other way 3 times before installing?
She's quite top heavy as well without all that weight at the bottom.

 

[TURBO200R4]

Removing the existing cat was very simple. There was a white mark on the O2 sensor nut and I counted 3 turns for removal as per manual but I don't quite understand the purpose for this as the sensor is tight at 3 turns. Maybe it's about the cable twisting and I need to spin it the other way 3 times before installing?
She's quite top heavy as well without all that weight at the bottom.

Maybe they do not want me jolly green giant turning it three and one half turns.

 

[Protonhound]

I dry fitted everything without clamps or compound and all fits well. @chadster54321 had issues with fitting the forward mounting bolt of the right muffler because the bolt needs to be pushed through from the inside out due to the shape of the muffler and welds preventing the long bolt from sliding in from the outside.