Saturday, August 2, 2008

Cyl Head Temps and Lower Fairings

I installed lower fairings on my FLH over the winter and have been riding with them on up until yesterday. It's bouncing close to 100F here in Atlanta, so needless to say, it's been a little warm. Over the past few weeks I've been doing some tuning, building maps, etc and of course I like to always keep track of cylinder head temperatures. I found what I expected on the front, just below 300 deg at the spark plug...perfect. Then I checked the rear...375F! Yikes...that's a bit too hot for my taste. I of course played with fuel mixtures and timing and nothing seemed to make a sizeable difference until I took the lowers off (with are "vented"). I was expecting it to lower temps a little but not 70F lower! Just an FYI.... Happy Motoring!

Kevin

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Kevin, are you saying that removing the Lowers, DID Drop the Temp 70*? I Usually leave mine on Year Round, but 100* days are, Hmmm, RARE to say the least..... We get into the 90 degree area here and there, but not that often. We don't usually have a Bunch of Heavy Traffic to contend with either, unless we are going to the States, where the Bridge can have wait times of an hour or so, and in that case, IF I catch the Traffic Before I get on it, I go to one of the Ferries down River by Dougs Place. IF I get stuck on the Bridge waiting, and I'm near the Center section, I usually just shut it down and Coast when the Traffic Moves.
Hmmm, something to consider for next year, Maybe take them off when we get the Hot Weather.... Thanks for some Proof on This "HOT" Topic Kevin!

Hogman

Kevin Baxter said...

Taking them off, and doing nothing else dropped it 70 deg....all other conditions being the same.

Anonymous said...

Were these vented lowers and do you run an oil cooler?

Kevin Baxter said...

vented yes
cooler no

Anonymous said...

I have been talking my customers into the detachable kit from HD. That way they can put em on for spring and fall and remove during hot summer riding and all with no tools. HD also has a nive storage bag too.