Just complete my American Custom Exhaust replacement and went for my first 1 1/2 hour ride yesterday evening. The heat difference from before (with factory cat) to now (with Power-Flex - no cat) is *not* like night and day ... it's like "last month vs. this month" there's that much of a difference. Huge, HUGE improvement. A hardly noticeable increase in loudness with this change, but now the unacceptable heat level is gone, gone, gone. I love it ! And an unanticipated benefit that totally took me by surprise; the clacking that I totally despised - that I couldn't stand, that has mostly since day 1 driven me nuts and near to the point of wanting to sell this beautiful piece of loud clacking machinery is also gone, gone, gone. WHAT ?? The clacking is gone ?? That's too unreal to believe, but it's true; the clacking is non-existent now after gutting the cat. Only 1 fell swoop and 2 birds annihilated - how great is that? And performance is great the same, no error codes, no downside experienced (except maybe a little louder and more of a steel ringing sound from the exhaust than before - but still a pleasant sound all around). My new motto: "Gut the cat, cut the heat, slash the clack". I've always really liked my bike but couldn't quite love it because of the heat on right side and the clack that I have researched to death and never found any decisive resolve to. But wow - now I finally LOVE! my Indian. Good thing I don't live in or run in to California though as we know gutting the cat is a no, no there.
Glad it went well for you! You'll also reduce the heat a bit more if you tune it with a PVCX from FuelMoto... But I mainly got that for this and future mods (AC, Cams, Vance and Hines).
Good video, FWIW, definitely loosen the front floorboard,2 hex bolts, remove the o2 sensors, remove the front header along with the rear at the same time, then separate the two. I fought this bastard for 2 hours, took 10 mins to remove the front then voila! came apart w ease. Less than 1K on the bike,The fasteners were not tight as one would think, re assemble carefully! use a torque wrench, save time. Thanks again for your hard work!
I wouldn't buy headers...buy a long...really Looooooooong drill bit and drill a series of holes into the catylic converter from the one end that's closest to the opening. And then pull out the catylic converter in pieces. Save $$$$$ that you can spend on other upgrades.
So I followed your video to also remove my cat from my 17 RM that I bought in June of this year with only 2k on it but now have 12k. So my question is, you forgot to mention that while removing the pipe you needed to loosing the front pipe to give you the wiggle room to get the back pipe and cat out and really didn't need to remove the foot pad or brake assembly. Had that been shown, it would have saved me about 30 mins. but all in all it was great. Oh, when you took off the O2 sensor, you also didn't say that you needed to go to the other side to remove the plug, my dumb ass kept trying from the right side, only to check the other side which was so much easier. LOL Thanks for the help though .
Chad: Thanks for the video! I'm considering buying Indian for the suspension. I've been riding HD's for years and years. As my BOD has increased in experience LOL, soft ride is becoming more important. Can't seem to soften up the suspension on a HD touring bike. Thank you for your service in the Armed Forces. Me too USN ... 52 years ago! Best Always, JP
Yes Sir, I test rode a 2014 Chieftain when the factory demo truck was in town promoting them. I went to the dealership 2 years afterwards when the demo truck was in town again and rode the Springfield and Roadmaster. I think they are good bikes. It's just an emotional and $$$ decision for me at this point. A new bike would be a big chunk of $$ for me and I'm not sure if I can justify it. Got a dealer working up a quote on a Roadmaster now. Were you able to negotiate the selling price on your bike or did the dealer stand firm on MSRP?
Yes... I was able to negotiate a bit and they were also running a promo for veterans. That and they were willing to give me a fair trade price on my roadstar (lakeland, fl).
I worked my ass off trying to get the rear header off. The muffler would move back a bit but I couldn't get it to move back far enough to detach from the front header. I must have worked for 30 minutes.I removed the front header and the rear header detached in less than 2 minutes. Other than that I appreciate you taking the time to video this. It helped me out tremendously.
One more thing for my 2019 Roadmaster I found out the hard way. The cross over pipe is not simply held on to the muffler. There is a flange that is welded on directly to the crossover pipe. The flange fits on a nut that is welded to the frame. No matter how much WD40 or PB blaster you use and no matter how hard you hit the nut it will not come off. There is however a bolt that goes through the frame into the welded nut. Sure makes it easier to back out!
Chad - I used your method to punch the plugs out - worked like a charm! Great video overall - just waiting on my header to be shipped back from American customs...
Why did you punch out the plug at the end of video? Forgive the ignorance, thinking of getting the American customs header for heat reduction and not positive as to why or if it was recommended by American customs, or the benefit. Any opinions would be appreciated. Not a mechanic but I can follow instructions.
Just put Different headers and pipe on my indian and was the wrong thing to do. Lost 5 horse by not using the stock headers. Nothing gets better performance then the stock headers fyi.
That doesn't look to hard to do and it sound great. I'm either going to go that route and add some lloyds mufflers to mine or do the freedom true dual exhaust. I haven't made up my mind yet.
Yea.. not difficult at all... Definitely easier than the handlebars! LOL I had considered the true duals, but they don't get a lot of love on the forums. Apparently they sap power quite a bit, so be sure you're doing it for sound and looks and not power. My Vance and Hines Classics will be in this week. I plan to do a video and try to capture the sound difference.
Chad Florian Chad Florian those Vance and Hines will sound great. I just can't see myself dropping that kind of money when I can get the true duals. I would mainly do it for sound and looks. I think I might drop in cams as well. Going with the American custom header is a tough choice because the factory exhaust does look really good. Most factory pipes look pretty bad. I haven't been able to find to many dyno charts to compare with.
thanks for the video. just installed my American Customs header and used your video for the whole process THANKS. now if the salt gets washed off the roads so I can take a test ride
Chad. Thank you for showing me this. I had so much complaints from my wife about the heat, and my right calf was always on fire. I tried to get places around me to do the "gut job" but they said no. I traded my 16 in for a 17 and I am waiting for it to be shipped to the dealership. I just ordered the American Custom Power Flex Header and had it shipped to the dealership right now so that when the bike arrives they can install it for me and I dont have to deal with the heat anymore. Thanks again
Very nice... Waiting for a warmer day to really test it out, but I can already feel an improvement. The Tune from FuelMoto helps a LOT also with the heat. See this thread regarding that: www.indianmotorcycles.net/threads/dj-pvcx-map-testing-fuelmoto-dynojet-stock-engine-and-cat-temps.76953/ If you haven't been over to indianmotorcycles.net, it's a LOAD of information... but BE CAREFUL!!! You'll get LOTS of ideas on how to spend money! LOL Once it gets warmer I'll run the same temperature tests cat-less...
FYI, I went one step further and wrapped the pipe where the converter is with exhaust tape. It’s simply amazing how the heat ( like it was before ) is now gone and you just have normal heat. Yes I just rode my bike and it was 95f outside temperature.
I have 22k on my vintage and am planning to remove the cat this winter. With the miles you have, how were the fasteners? Difficult or not to remove? Thanks for any info.
Chad, where did you get the shop manual? I was on the Indian website and they only have owners manuals and a manual for an older units. Looking foe proper manual for 2014 chieftain
Got mine here: www.service-shop-repair-manual.com/brands/Indian.html I think they might be knock-offs, but they are good quality and cheap. I don't see 2014 manuals though. You should ask your dealer... but it will likely be around $160.
For those that installed this. How does it affect sound? I have V&H slip ons and hopefully won't have a tingy sound. Going to do this post season project when bike is off the road.
I installed the Power flex header from American Customs and I'm getting the opposite effect. I'm getting a lot of heat coming off the header. Way more than the stock header. I completely removed the header again to examine it for defects in the welds or something else obvious but I don't see anything wrong with the header. Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing this problem. I may end up going with the Freedom true dual header pipes instead.
Well... if you're talking true head pipe temp, then yea... I'd say that stays about the same. Nothing is changing between the heads and the manifold where the head pipes meet and the cat begins. That's where you'll see lots of temp improvements with the AC header. But That's also the part that gets the hottest typically (with cat). Overall temp on the right side of the bike should be better, not worse. For your comparisons, were the vents on the lowers in the same configuration (if ou have lowers). I've found that having all vents open EXCEPT the right lower gives me the best "feel" temp on the right side. A bit counter-intuitive but when I have the right lower vent ope it seems to spread the heat more, which likely makes the head cooler but at the expense of blowing that heat at our legs....
Chad Florian Thanks for getting back to me. First, I ride an Indian Springfield so no lowers. While riding I didn't notice the heat but because I live in L.A. I do a lot of stop and go riding. At a stop or red light, when I put my foot down I really felt the heat. With the AC header with no cat you'd think the heat doesn't have a chance to build up right there. Was your AC header pre made or did you send in your stock header and have AC remove the cat?
Mine was pre-made... But that shouldn't really make any difference. I also use a captain itch crotch cooler for the heat right at the head. that's a strange sentence now that I read it back.. LOL
Going by info I've found on the forums, the cat can be removed without a re-tune. But I'm not sure about also punching the plugs. But I'd recommend a Dynojet PVCX (not PCV which is a piggy back system) as a first purchase before any mods. A custom tune from FuelMoto will improve the performance and heat all by itself without any physical mods. Then, as you make mods, simply ask FuelMoto for a tune to match your set-up.
Chad Florian The dealer can't help you with a cat delete tune, EPA would hang them. You must buy a tuner. For $250 the Dobeck EJK works great and no dyno costs.
