Hey all!

I have an 87 XL1100. She currently has drag pipes on with baffles. Original carb, air cleaner, and am unsure about the jetting. Although she seems to run great, I bought her used from a guy that doesn't know much about it. My question is, what is the best setup I can do for overall performance? many people say to ditch the drags or put slip ons on. What do you think would be the optimal combination of upgrades. Air cleaner, exhaust, jetting?

thanks

There are a handful of threads on the subject. Essentially, keep the carb, lose the drags (baffled pipes add needed back pressure) and tune as per Stevo's Jetting 101 thread (http://www.xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=49078). Most recommend an aftermarket A/C, but which one seems to be as much a matter of personal style as performance. That's about the gist of it.

Edit: from looking at your other posts, it sounds like your pipes have baffles in them already. If this is correct, keeping them probably won't cause any problem.

I suppose the first step is determining exactly what you have now. Then deciding which direction you want to go with it.
The one thing you said is that it runs great. A good aftermarket air cleaner will improve the performance over stock i'm sure. Drag pipes are really not great for street performance though. The slipons are a good choice. They sound great and perform quite well on a budget ! They will be nearly as loud as the drags But sound much better.
The all in all best performance seems to come from a 2 into 1 style exhaust. But to me thats just not Harley, LOL..

Once you have the air cleaner and exhaust and have done any needed re-jetting for them. You will have what is loosly called a stage 1 engine..
The next step beyond that would include cams along with some headwork to improve air flow.

Hope this helps !! We would love to see some pics of her !!!

Thanks for your replies. I will look into an air cleaner and the jetting article. As for the pipes, would it be worth putting slip ons on it rather than the drags with baffles in them which I have now? Or do you think the pipes on it are fine?

Thanks again!

p.s. I will add pics after this weekend. I'll have her out for the first ride of the season on sunday.

Bill, I'm sure someone'll check me if I'm wrong, but the key is the baffles. Given that your pipes do have them, you should be fine. I doubt slip-ons would add any more back pressure than you're already getting.

And enjoy the ride! :D

Bill, I'm sure someone'll check me if I'm wrong, but the key is the baffles. Given that your pipes do have them, you should be fine. I doubt slip-ons would add any more back pressure than you're already getting.

And enjoy the ride! :D

Cool! I love the look of the drags and really didn't want to get rid of them. I'll just get an air cleaner and re-jet. Thanks for the info everybody.

I might add that if you want to keep the stock carb (not to bad of a carb if tuned properly), you should look at a "thunder jet" from Zipper's performance. It's an easy way to add a third fuel circuit and smooths out a potential lean spot in the carb that makes it kind of hard to tune optimally for performance. It's an easy install and makes a noticeable difference. Not expensive either.

Also add an aftermarket high flow accelerator pump. And as mentioned, a free flowing air cleaner. But, gotta re-jet and get the carb dialed in properly. The Jetting link is a good reference, but also learn how to read spark plugs. This will help you tremendously when dialing in the carb.

You could also change out the carb completely for a stock CV carb that is on the later models. Most tuners say they are good for engines that are built up to about 100 hp, need to do a little homework on the upgrade, but not all that bad.

If you still want to play, you can change out the ignition module for a performance one, but once again, need to do a little reading.

So, those are pretty much bolt on upgrades, if you want to tear into the engine, then the sky and your budget is the limit. Good luck, KD

I have an 87 1100 too, unfortunately, it isn't anywhere near stock, so I have very little advice except to point out a few things. Most of the 1100's came with big twin valves, so a decent cam can make a huge difference. Either the thunderjet kit or a later model cv carb with accelerator pump will make a big difference as well. For most normal riding, since the heads likely have the large valves, slip ons are going to give you more usable low end power than the drags with baffles. It will also sound better, drags IMHO either need to be open and set up for top end power, or fughetaboutit (this is just an opinion, I hate the way drags sound with most baffles). I agree about the free flowing air cleaner.


Or you can go my route and put in the big inches and make over 100hp :D :shhhh :tour