| Author | Message | ||
     12mpghwy |
The bike is a 99 X1, has the stock oil tank and. Does not have any heat shields (I don't know if they would have come stock or not). When I got the bike it was missing allot of the more minor items. Anyways, if its even mildly warm out (say over 60 degrees) when the bike heats up it really heats up the crotch and inner thighs. Has anyone had success improving this? Did any of these come with heat shields either above the rear head, on the rear pipe or above the oil tank? | ||
| Steveford |
They did not come with heat shields. | ||
| K12pilot |
Buell's = Roasted Nuts | ||
| Dave |
Stock configuration or has the air box and scoop been removed? Exhaust? Though could certainly add an oil cooler. DAve | ||
| 12mpghwy |
I do not have the stock air-box or scoop. The header is stock. It seems like most of this heat has to be coming from the oil tank. I wonder were I can relocate the oil tank. | ||
| S1owner |
Its not from the oil tank its from the header and rear head! This is common and the stock airbox had deflected wind to move through there which helped. You can also get head issues from the heat on the rear cylinder. Mine has no oil tank there and still gets that heat. | ||
| Mike_lee |
I used to wrap my right thigh with bandage. Pain in the ass but it helped. Blistered a few times on the long rides. Can always send pipes for ceramic coating too which helps | ||
| 12mpghwy |
Maybe I can fabricate a heat shield to go under the seat. Or maybe something to hug the inside of the frame spars from above the top of the rear head to above the battery. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
My S1 is fine, but my old XB used to get really hot. At one point I bought some heat shield that had adhesive on the back, which I stuck on the bottom of my seat. The rear cylinder just doesn't get as much air as the front, so it tends to heat up. The one thing I know made a big difference on my XB was the right side air scoop I put on the bike, which directed air right at the rear cylinder. Maybe you could get some plastic or sheet metal and try to make something similar to direct some air back there.  XBs also have a fan behind the rear cylinder to suck out some of that head. I know I've seen X1s with fans mounted on the left side of the bike, in the same place where the earlier bikes had the ignition and choke mounted. Doubt it'd do much when you're riding, but if you sit in traffic it might help suck out some of the heat that's otherwise just sitting under there heating up the seat and your leg. | ||
| 89rs1200 |
We took the lead from some Harley Davidson models and built these. Deflects the heat back past the battery over the rear tire. The shields hook over the frame tube under the tank. Hard to see, but there is a 90 degree curve at the bottom of the heat shields to help drive the air out the back and not spill to the outside. Additionally, but not needed, installed a 12 cell, Lithium-ion battery. This battery is so much smaller than stock it allows more air to flow past it and out over the rear tire.  | ||
| Kc_zombie |
The S1 came with a heat shield on the right side of the rear jug. I believe they were deleted for the twin tail.  Not sure what the part number is. | ||
| S1owner |
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| Natexlh1000 |
I always rode it with riding pants and now with an Aerostitch. Crotch burn isn't noticeable in my case. I turned down my idle to just under 1000 which helps in traffic too. Factory/dealers kept setting it to 1200. Vibrates the plastic all over the place and overheats in traffic. 250 RPM makes a real difference. | ||
| Ratbuell |
250 RPM also makes a huge difference in oil circulation. It's your bike, just don't get upset if you oil-starve your lifters, bearings, or cams... | ||
| Falloutnl |
250 RPM also makes a huge difference in oil circulation. It's your bike, just don't get upset if you oil-starve your lifters, bearings, or cams... Shit man, you're bumming me out :P. It sounds so much better at 1k. (Message edited by falloutnl on July 24, 2019) | ||
| 89rs1200 |
I have read statements from Harley Davidson mechanics and engineers that the Sportster motor is unable to lubricate itself under 900RPM. So, since idle speed is not consistent, I would urge all to set idle above 1000RPM to ensure the engine is properly lubricated at idle. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Potato-potato-pota-CLUNK. There's a reason they have the idle settings where they do. Remember - it lubricates...AND it cools. Hence "air and oil cooled". Double-jeopardy at low idle - 1, not enough lube (hehe), and 2, not enough circulation to absorb and remove heat, which will help hot spots form. Neither of which is good for an engine. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
Manual for my 97 S1 says 950-1050rpm. No promises they haven't changed it in the past 22 years though. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Mine is closer to 950-975 or so when warmed up. Been like that for about 80,000 of its 93,000 miles. So it's not like an instant death sort of thing. The only downside I have is that I have to barely hold the throttle on a cold start. | ||
| Ggggary |
Upthemaiden: "Manual for my 97 S1 says 950-1050rpm. No promises they haven't changed it in the past 22 years though." Heck yeah! they had only been building Sportster motors for what? 40 years by 97? | ||
| Kc_zombie |
1050 for me, mashed potato sound. | ||
| Mike_lee |
How exact can you get it with a tach? Is there another way? | ||
| 89rs1200 |
I use an oscilloscope off the primary lead of the coil. Measure the time between pulses, divide by two, multiply to get RPM. Simple and accurate.  | ||
| 12mpghwy |
This is an interesting discussion. I think I may try a layer of stick on heat shield onto a piece of aluminum formed to go up and over the rear head and then another layer on the inside of the seat. Also maybe a clamp on pipe heat shield. Regarding the idle speed. After rebuilding the top end my bike started for the first time on one cylinder (I think it was the front) and idled amazingly well on one cylinder. The issue was that the rear injector was clogged after a few years of sitting waiting for a rebuild. It was an easy fix, anyways apart from sounding like a lawnmower it was quite a bit smoother idling on one than on 2. I have been toying with the idea of disabling the rear cylinder at idle after warm up. I would probably also set the idle a bit higher. I'm not sure if this change could be made with ECM spy but I actually have a microsquirt ECU that someone gave me several years ago that I have always wanted to install on the buell, but never built up the motivation. | ||
| Upthemaiden |
I'm surprised the idle would feel different without the rear cylinder firing. I assumed all of the shaking came from the weight of the pistons and rods going up and down, and not actually from the detonation. That's interesting though. Single cylinder idle would definitely be interesting, not just for smoothing out the bike, but would probably have a huge advantage for heat between the rear cylinder staying cooler in traffic, and that rear header not trying to burn off your leg hairs. A rear header heat shield should definitely help. I've tried removing the shield on my S1 and there was a noticeably uncomfortable increase in heat, so I put it back on. I know the X1 header is different but I think a heat shield would definitely help. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
A very smart guy did some very interesting things to his 1125. One of the things was to turn off the rear injector when the bike was in neutral or something. http://hildstrom.com/projects/buellfi/index.html (His other projects are fascinating!) You have to be careful on our old-timers doing that since the computer only pays attention to the rear jug! I think the 1125 have sensors on the front too. So if you put out the fire in the rear, the computer starts to think the engine is cold and will rich up the mixture. Meanwhile, the Oxygen sensor cools down and stops working. They have to be at 450F or something. Also, you would have to accept that the engine light would be on while this is happening. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Current bikes have 2-channel O2 feedback, yes. Tubers had rear-cylinder O2 feedback only. Only in 2010 did the aircooled Buell engine get 2-channel feedback (and the liquid-cooled 1125 had it as well). I forget which way (lean/rich) it would err, if you moved the single O2 sensor to the front cylinder instead of the rear...front is cooler, so you would likely run the risk of fouling a rear plug because it would run richer overall...unless you swapped the mixture tables from front to rear at the same time (if possible). But it would take some tweaking. Current bikes use rear-cylinder deactivation as a matter of course now. HD came out with it way back in the late 2000s (08? 09?) - pretty crappy basic system, turned it into a Blast! at idle (thump-thump-thump), but they seem to have smoothed it out since. Indian came out with it this season on the '19 heavyweights and it is seamless. Zero vehicle speed, plus zero % throttle opening, = rear injector shutoff. Crack the throttle past 2% and it fires right up. |
