Because I live in Texas, we have relatively mild elevation and temperature changes, so I never considered a fuel injected bike when I went shopping for my next ride. While I definitely saw the benefits in fuel injection, I just didn’t think it was necessary for me.
Then I started making road trips.
When I rode my carbureted bike in the Rockies a few years ago, I noticed she sputtered terribly at the higher elevations. I had plenty of oil dripping from my air cleaner and was sure I had blown a gasket or worse. If there had been a mechanic at the top of the hill, he most likely would’ve made a small fortune off of me. Luckily, this crafty entrepreneur didn’t exist, so I just coasted down the mountain. Once at the bottom and back to my normal elevations, the bike lined out. I realized then the benefits of having fuel injection, as I thought they ran the same as a car and tuned themselves.
A few months later I picked up a new bike that was fuel injected. I loved the reaction and crispness of the throttle as well as bike was easy to start and it only required a 30 second warm-up period before hitting the road. I believed I would never have to mess with the whole “re-jetting” again.
Unfortunately Harley Davidson is much smarter than I, and also much more interested in money. It seems they have the bikes fuel injection set very “lean”. Anytime you make a modification as minor as your air cleaner cover, the Motor Company waives all liability as to the warranty on your engine unless you take it to a qualified dealer and have the bike “re-mapped” by a certified mechanic. This may be simple for the doctor or lawyer who has no thought to dropping a couple of C-notes at the dealer for a 10 minute tune, but it’s a major undertaking for someone like me. I may have to work a couple of months to save up for the trip to the dealer.
Shortly after returning from Sturgis this past year, I discovered my bike was running so lean that it had burned the mufflers on my bike. Harley claimed no fault on their part and suggested I add a Power Commander to my bike. This is somewhere to the tune of 700 bucks after parts and labor. I didn’t even have aftermarket pipes yet. Everything on my bike was bone stock and I was now cursing the wonderful creator of fuel injection on bikes. I knew there had to be something on the market for this but didn’t know where to start, so I did a little research on the wonderful web.
The Power Commander is a wonderful upgrade to the Harley FI system. Unfortunately, it has to be dialed in consistently any time a change is made. What most people fail to realize is even simple modifications such as adding a passenger or a windshield adds strain enough to the motor that it can actually change your air fuel requirements to run efficiently. While Harley claimed 50 mpg on the Twin Cam 88, I rarely saw over 39 mpg. I know numbers can get inflated for obvious reasons, but this seemed ridiculous.
The down side of the Power Commander and the Screaming Eagle upgrade was that they have “specific” parameters that have to be met before they can be tuned perfectly. “See Bandit’s King Report, as he ran into a problem with this.”
Now with more information and even more confusion, I called Bandit and asked for his help. After he belittled me for my incessant whining and lack of brains to figure out my own problems, he told me to check out Terry Components new Terminal Velocity II. I went first to the website to gather some information, www.terrycomp.com.
According to the website, after installing the Terminal Velocity II, the only map you will need is a road map. The system is set up using an oxygen sensor in the pipe and reading the emissions, the TV II “learns” what settings your bike runs most efficiently at. With a claim to increase horsepower, torque, and fuel economy, this product sounded like the ticket I was searching for. Some of the most noteable benefits of the TV II include:
* Maximizes Horsepower and Torque.
* Adapts to load created by inclining and declining roads, mountains and hills, two-up riders, windshield, saddle-bags, and other variables that create load.
* Adapts to popular modifications such as, Air Filters, Exhausts, Big Bore Kits, Cams and Heads.
* Increases Fuel Economy while cleaning Exhaust and Plugs
* Works with or without the Streaming Eagle Race Tuner**.
While still researching the TV II, I installed a set of Hooker Header Darkside exhaust pipes on my bike as well as a free flowing air cleaner. My bike was now sounding like a Harley should, but I was concerned with the engine since it was already running lean before the pipes. I ordered the TV II.
Just a week later, I received the package in the mail with a very clear set of instructions. The kit included:
The Terminal velocity II with attached wiring loom and Oxygen Sensor
A bung to be welded into pipes that don’t already use an Oxygen sensor
A set or clear instructions.
The only thing left was the install. According to the instructions, the installation should only take a little over an hour, so I figured I’d give it a try.
The first thing was to remove the rear pipe and have the bung installed for the oxygen sensor. I headed to Kent Weeks’ Lucky Devil Metalworks and watched as he drilled the hole and welded the bung into place. Once that was installed, the only thing left was to go home and install the system into my bikes stock EFI.
Once I started, the installation was fairly simple. I just followed the directions per letter and everything went as planned. There are several applications included; I just followed along with the DELPHI instructions that were compatible with my Softail. There are specific instructions available for other models available with the kit and also on their website.
These are the steps I followed for my 2005 Softail.
Step 1- REMOVE the seat and disconnect the battery.
Step 2- LOCATE the factory ECU and Connector. (Located under the seat of my Softail)
Step 3- UNPLUG the connector by pushing the clip.
The factory ECU connector.Step 4- CUT the straps that hold the flexible wire harness. AFTER cutting the wraps, THEN OPEN the ECU connector by prying gently on each side under the tabs. To proceed, you will have to see into the connector and see the individual pin numbers.
Before I did anything else, I loosened my gas tank and routed the oxygen sensor and Throttle Positioning Wiring under the tank to the pipe and Throttle Position Sensor, respectively.
1. PIN # 10– Should be SOLID BLACK (ground)
2. PIN # 13– Should be WHITE W/BLACK TRACER (ignition)
3. PIN # 30– Should be RED (crank sensor)
Step 6- ONCE the colored wires with the pin numbers are located, THENperform the following:
#1SPLICE IN and SOLDER the BLACK wire from the TV II to the BLACK wire PIN # 10(ground) on the factory ECU gray connector.
#3SPLICE in and SOLDERthe WHITE wire toRED WIRE pin # 30 (crank sensor).#4 ONCE all the connections are made, THEN close the gray plug and tie strap or tape.
Step # 7- INSTALL the remaining three wires (Blue, Green, and Blue with White Tracer) into the supplied protective loom. ROUTEthe protective loom as clean as possible to the Throttle Position Sensor.
NOTE-This is where I had to get my H-D manual. I had no idea where the TPS was, so I had to look it up in the book. Luckily, it was listed in the index and directed me to the exact location. The TPS is located in the side of the FI unit directly behind the air cleaner. I removed the air cleaner and unplugged the sensor to ease the soldering.
LOCATE the RED W/WHITE TRACER wire at the TPS connector and CUT the wire about 2-3 inches away from the connector. SOLDER the BLUEwire from the TVII to the ECU.
SOLDER the GREEN wire from the TV II to the RED W/WHITE TRACER wire towards the TPS sensor.
PROTECT the wires by using tape or shrink wrap.
Tighten the nuts to the exhaust and brackets and double check to be sure all the wires are not being bound up into kinks.
Now that the wires are all soldered and covered with electrical tape, RECONNECT the battery and START the bike.
Look for the small LED light at the top of the TV II to flash red and green intermittently for approximately two minutes. After two minutes it should flash green/green. That signals the O2 sensor has warmed up. Tie strap the TVII to the ECU. All that you have left is the break-in ride. The bike’s ECU and TVII will take approximately 75 miles to “learn” it’s most efficient mixture.
At first I didn’t think too much about the install, as it was relatively easy but tedious. I was surprised to see all those tiny wires and connectors were the brains behind the beautiful beasts we ride. The contrast of the tiny wires to the big, rumbling, Harley makes it seem absurd the wires will last or the connectors don’t break.
After the break-in, I definitely felt a boost in the seat of my pants. The bike has a distinctly sharper bark and throttle response is even better than before. The bike’s fuel mileage improved to 45 mpg. I achieved this with several 115 mph passes, so I assume I could get even better mileage if I was a little more conservative.
Overall, I have to say this was a very easy install that the average garage rat could do. The instructions from Terry Components were helpful and clear. The kit went together exactly as planned and the bikes performance definitely has improved. I guess next we’ll have to punch her to 95” and put it all on the Dyno.
Until next time, Ride Hard!
