pinging

[Gordie]

hi mike...i have a 06 road king that i installed a 95". i used high comp pistons, s&s 510 gear drive cams, no head work as yet, and hardchrome tru duals..4" mufflers, and a power commander, and installed suggested maps. i have great power going thru the gears, but when i am cruising, say 70 mph and need to get around somebody, it starts pinging until i let off. i would do almost anything to be rid of this pinging...can you help? gordie

[Mike]

With the 510's and 10+ compression, tuning is critical. Good news is the PC allows for this. It can be a great help if you can mentally picture where the throttle position and rpm's are (on the PC fuel and igntion tables) when the pinging occurs. Once you've identified these, you'll be able to make more focused adjustments to those areas of the spread sheets to be modified. Barring this, more global changes can be made and perhaps narrowed with time as results are realized. You have options with the PC. One is to reduce timing on the ignition tables in the target areas, another is to add fuel in the similar areas on the fuel table and third are the faceplate buttons (fuel only). If you use the faceplate buttons, simply add fuel (enrichen) both the low and mid buttons per the PC's instructions. Add about two bars at a time to see if this helps. If this does not help, return the bars to middle position and adjust the ignition table by reducing timing from 20-80% throttle position and 2000-4000 rpm by 6 degrees (in addition to what may already be there). You can continue reducing timing in this same area by as much as 10 but if pinging still persists then you may also have to add fuel in the fuel table in the same areas. In the fuel tables try adding 5 to these cells then more if needed. You may be able to reduce the number of cells to change with the above mental picture. If these adjustments do not appear to help you may have to broaden the number of cells to change. Also monitor the performance. If it noticably starts to suffer, then you may have gone too far. You may also have to work each table to get a good balance between fuel and timing. If fuel solves the problem, try adding some timing until pinging reappears and vice-versa. Of course there is also the option of having a custom map made for your application and then this becomes a known base from which to make fine adjustments if required. Last, be sure to save your original map seperately so you can return to it for reference (you can also save each round of changes as individual maps to track what helped and what did not).
Thanks, Mike

[Gordie]

Thanks for the quick comeback Mike. I was told by a dyno man that i could'nt take timing out or add to my 06'. I guess I'll try the buttons on the PC and see if that helps. I didn't want anything radical, just more power since I'm a big guy and its a heavy bike. Dependability is most important. Thanks again, Gordie

[Mike]

The PC DOES allow for timing changes both + and -. If you have a USB version you can even do each cylinder independantly when using "advanced mode". Do not be afraid to go into the tables and try adjustments, just be sure to have saved your original map so you can always go back to square one. After just a couple of tries you'll be amazed at how easy and natural it becomes.
Thanks, Mike

[roofeditor]

I thought about the different timing for the rear cylinder VS front because the rear runs as much as 100 degrees hotter in the head area. Is it possible to also have richer mix for cooling in the rear. I'm not that familiar with the HD fuel system?

[Mike]

The H-D system is extremely complex and I'm actually at school in Milwauki, Wi. right now getting up to speed on the new models and EFI changes.

We have run slightly richer settings and retarded timing in the rear cylinder vs front, just for the reasons you've suggested. With today's fuel prices though, owners have been asking for better fuel milage and we do this by reducing fuel and ADDING timing in the cruise areas. Additionally, we've been expanding the map cell areas we define as cruise. So it's becoming a real balancing act between milage, performance, heat and detonation. We're not always successful in predicting our customers riding styles and sometimes have to adjust or fine tune to specific individuals needs. It's easier to deal with if we are working with a map that we created because at least we are modifying real knowns vs arbitrary changes to a map values that may not be correct to begin with (trouble lurks there).
Mike