Custom Tune in California

Since flashing the Penner tune and installing my Vandemon exhaust the decel pops are starting to be a little annoying. The richer fueling of the tune made them noticeably more "angry" even with the stock exhaust and the new exhaust now doesn't muffle them as much as I'd like. As great as that canned Penner tune is it's not quite a custom one. There is a tuner not too far away from me in Modesto but he only deals with power commander. I called a couple of tuning shops around Carson City NV and same thing. Now I'm contemplating if I should flash the stock tune back and go the power commander route. I rode around today without my usual earplugs because I wanted to listen to what's going unfiltered and with the exhaust openings being on the side right below my ears even my full face helmet doesn't help much. I do love the Vandemon sound and just want to tame down the pops a little, just a little.

There are some good shops in Vegas, but I’m guessing that’s a bit far for you. Someday when I pull the trigger on upgrades I’m going to get mine tuned here.

dfresh said:

There are some good shops in Vegas, but I’m guessing that’s a bit far for you. Someday when I pull the trigger on upgrades I’m going to get mine tuned here.

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I don't mind going to Vegas , I haven't been there in many years and it's on my list for a couple of nights and I'm only 500mi away so it's an easy day of riding. The trick is finding a shop that will flash directly to the ECU.

Protonhound said:

I don't mind going to Vegas , I haven't been there in many years and it's on my list for a couple of nights and I'm only 500mi away so it's an easy day of riding. The trick is finding a shop that will flash directly to the ECU.

Click to expand...

Give rev point moto a call, they are very knowledgeable tuners and might be able to do it for you.

Another option you can try is turning off the SAI (Secondary Air Injection). That gizmo is what adds fresh air into the exhaust to create the 'pop' by buring the unspent fuel in the exhaust stream. If you've already done that then ignore the following. If not, then try the following.


To disable Secondary Air Injection (SAI) using TuneECU, first connect your vehicle and open TuneECU. Locate the SAI parameter within the map's editor, usually under "Devices" or a similar section. Double-click the SAI parameter or use the right-click menu to select "Disable". Save the now revised map and then upload it into the ECU.

Detailed Steps:

1. Connect to the ECU: Connect the OBD2 and ensure it's properly connected to your vehicle.
   
   
2. Open TuneECU: Start TuneECU on your device.
   
   
3. Access the Map Editor: Open the bike's map and click "Map Edit" or "Modify" section in TuneECU.
   
   
4. Locate the SAI Parameter: Find the Secondary Air Injection (SAI) parameter, usually found under "Devices" (or a similar category).
   
   
5. Disable SAI: Double-click the SAI parameter or right-click and select "Disable".
   
   
6. Save the Map: Save the now modified map with the changes you've made (you may want to rename this map to distinguish it from currently installed custom map).
   
   
7. Upload to the ECU: Upload the new saved map to the ECU.

With the SAI now disabled the pair valve that opens to the exhaust port will not operate and the burning of unspent gas in the exhaust will not occur from adding oxygen to the stream.

The Penner tune removes the throttle restrictions so you need to leave that in as the base tune. You probably can’t get rid of popping on decel by modifying the Penner tune. This is a zero throttle with load on the engine problem. You can disable the SAI in the Penner tune and reload it but this may only suppress the error codes when you disconnect the solenoid. If it doesn’t permanently close the solenoid, you have to plug the tube from the air box, disconnect the solenoid, and uncheck the SAI box in the tune.

If you can install a Power Commander, this is the easiest way to eliminate decel popping. I did it on a Rocket III with a Jardine exhaust and triple filters. The popping was explosive. The only thing you need to do is create a fuel map with trims ranging from 10% above idle to 20% up to 5000 rpm or as high as you’re experiencing popping only in the zero throttle column of the map. Everything else are zeros. This won’t affect anything else in the tune. If the bike is running well except for the popping, there’s no point in dyno tuning the PC. You can’t assume that any of these dyno shops can tune your Rocket unless they’ve done it before. Brad Yuill is the only person I’d trust in Reno and he retired years ago.

The only thing I worry about with the PC6 is the closed loop area, which includes where you have popping. As far as I know, Penner hasn’t unchecked the O2 box. Dynojet no longer gives you the plug(s) to disable the O2 sensor(s). Unchecking the O2 box supposedly does this according to Alain Fontaine. So do it.

P.S. Just realized you have an aftermarket exhaust. If it is missing the cat, you may need to adjust the fuel. Again, the PC6 is the easiest but if a dyno shop does it, make sure they do the zero throttle column.

I appreciate the info but fiddling with tables is more than I feel comfortable doing, since I don't know what I'm doing. I talked to @dfresh 's suggested shop, Revv Point Moto in Vegas, and they can write to ECU without having to use a power commander. I sent them the .hex Penner tune since they wanted to check it out and I'm waiting to hear back. Looks like I might be going on a road trip.

atomsplitter said:

Another option you can try is turning off the SAI (Secondary Air Injection). That gizmo is what adds fresh air into the exhaust to create the 'pop' by buring the unspent fuel in the exhaust stream. If you've already done that then ignore the following. If not, then try the following.


To disable Secondary Air Injection (SAI) using TuneECU, first connect your vehicle and open TuneECU. Locate the SAI parameter within the map's editor, usually under "Devices" or a similar section. Double-click the SAI parameter or use the right-click menu to select "Disable". Save the now revised map and then upload it into the ECU.

Detailed Steps:

1. Connect to the ECU: Connect the OBD2 and ensure it's properly connected to your vehicle.
   
   
2. Open TuneECU: Start TuneECU on your device.
   
   
3. Access the Map Editor: Open the bike's map and click "Map Edit" or "Modify" section in TuneECU.
   
   
4. Locate the SAI Parameter: Find the Secondary Air Injection (SAI) parameter, usually found under "Devices" (or a similar category).
   
   
5. Disable SAI: Double-click the SAI parameter or right-click and select "Disable".
   
   
6. Save the Map: Save the now modified map with the changes you've made (you may want to rename this map to distinguish it from currently installed custom map).
   
   
7. Upload to the ECU: Upload the new saved map to the ECU.

With the SAI now disabled the pair valve that opens to the exhaust port will not operate and the burning of unspent gas in the exhaust will not occur from adding oxygen to the stream.

Click to expand...

That sounds somewhat straight forward but do like the popping, just not so damm much of it.

Or I can just get used to it, make peace with it and that's that. Since the ECU is self learning, within reason, and Vandemon does not require a tune the Penner map might be my best option. One of the shops I called said that the way Penner does it is probably damm close to a custom tune anyhow so maybe letting someone who's never seen a Rocket before finger fugg it could actually make things worse.
I shall stock up on earplugs...