"Red hot" headers.....

[Willtill]

So....

I was washing my Rocket (engine warm) and after washing it; I towel dried her good. Decided to fire her up and get the water in the nooks and crannies evaporated (couldn't ride her since I was already half inebriated....) :whistle:

It was starting to get dark out (dusk)

Let her run at idle for about 10 minutes, then twisted the throttle to about 2800 rpm and held her there. I was rewarded with cherry red hot headers; all the way down to the cat bypass..... :shock:

Very pretty but also disconcerting... :shock:

Have had other bikes with glowing head pipes; but I was very surprised that the Rocket GLOWED RED all of the way down to the cat bypass.

Am running a Standard Rocket 3 tune, secondaries opened 100 percent but nothing else special or messed with regarding A/F or other table modifications via Tuneboy.

So.....

....my question is this. Can someone with a standard tune (unmodified with tune boy) run up your Rocket at about 2800 rpm and observe the headers behind the heat shield? Tell me what you see. Does the entire header "glow red" behind the heat shields? Best to do this in low light conditions.

The reason why I'm asking this, is because I pulled the Standard Rocket Classic 3 tune off of Tuneboys website. If there a fatal issue with the tune (regarding an implied lean condition), I would like to know and the observations of a fellow Captain with an originally installed Triumph tune will help me make that determination.

Or....

....is all of my paranoia a result of cheap British steel?

 

[biker1059]

****, you type good for being half inebriated

 

[Fred F.]

I don't think it's unusual for them to glow quite brightly at high engine speeds with the bike sitting still (no wind to cool them). Consider that most bikes have double or triple wall exhaust pipes. The outer layer is then chrome plated. On the Rocket (and other bikes) the pipes are single wall with chrome heat shields. Behind the shields you can see the pipe when it gets hot. Also when running the engine up at a stand still you get a lot of rpms for very little throttle so the mixture is probably a little extra lean. Also if your running the cat delete with a stock tune it's going to be lean. You can have the dealor put in the Triumph tune for Tors. That will help some. Tuning software is your best bet. Even with my " Blastedbones super tune" my pipes glow a little at night at cruising speed (to be expected as it is leaned at that range for fuel economy). Go ride it at night sometime. Run it 70 or so for 10 minutes, they will glow some but I wouldn't want them to glow very bright.

 

[Blastedbones]

Yup sounds a lean one!!

 

[Willtill]

I stuck the 20226 tune back in it with secondaries left at OEM specifications. I need to get to Wayne and be tuned properly..... Waiting on Predator's and triple K&N's before I do that....

 

[Blastedbones]

Preds & triples with some Wayne's world added... you'll be smokin!!!!! Hang on tight!!!

 

[dieselr3]

Will once you put the stock factory TOR tune back in did it reduce the header pipe glow,did the butterflies being put back in action cool it down,ie running richer?

 

[Willtill]

Will once you put the stock factory TOR tune back in did it reduce the header pipe glow,did the butterflies being put back in action cool it down,ie running richer?

I took the bike for a good run yesterday; though it was during the day and I really couldn't tell if the headers were glowing or not. The reduced power is definitely sensed :cry:
.....

Tonight when the ambient light goes to darkness; and if I have the opportunity, I'll run her back up to 2800rpm for 20 seconds or so and see if I can reproduce the cherry redness that I saw with the modified tune I was running previously.

 

[dieselr3]

Ok thanks Will,much appreciated,yep I too am having a fiddle with stock tunes,and yes your right about the tunes sapping power compared to the unrestricted tunes,but on my bike they do run smoother it seems with the O2 sensor and butterflies put back in service,even resorted to using the cat box to get the bike running smooth.Am going to try stock tune 20228 and see.

 

[Willtill]

Ok... now I know I have been latent and such about this (been really busy with all kinds of crap) but tonight, I had an opportunity to "play with my Rocket" in the dark (all "gutter minds" out there cease and hold your sexually implicit remarks)

Running down MD-I70 tonight when it was dusk; I couldn't really detect a "glow" behind the heat shields as I was running at 80mph @ 3100rpm. However.....

...when I got home and dismounted; the Rocket was still hot from it's interstate run. I briefly ran it up to 2800-3000 rpm and did observe the same "red glow" on the headers all the way down to the cat delete. This is running the 20226 tune with secondaries left at OEM specifications; that I mentioned earlier.

So....

...."my take" on all of this is that you can't tell a "lean condition" from a "not so lean" condition; at least from staring at the "red hot" headers.


I'm thinking about opening the secondaries up a little more. I really miss the "get up and go" of her when she was at 100 percent. I don't want to "lean her out" too much.... still waiting on Predators from Sam, and the install of K&N's from Flip.... THEN I am heading to Alabama for a tune.....

...a tune done the right way.


I