What to do first?

[RonD]

I have a 2013 RT LTD with the same heat problems as most others. Which should I do first, a cat by-pass or the airbox removal and a new JT air filter?
I can only afford to do one at a time.

 

[Pennyrick]

I have a 2013 RT LTD with the same heat problems as most others. Which should I do first, a cat by-pass or the airbox removal and a new JT air filter?
I can only afford to do one at a time.

I assume you have already been to a dealer to make certain every field fix for the machine has been done. If not, that would be my first step.

 

[bullant12]

Start with the airbox. That will open up that tight area inside the Tupperware to let the unit breathe better.

 

[Chupaca]

Choices choices..!!

once you have had all the updates dealing with this issue you are faced with this choice. I would do the cat first being as this produces the most heat in the more critical area. The airbox allows more space and flow and works better if your producing less heat. Let us know how it goes...:thumbup:

 

[Highwayman2013]

I would think the cat, because it produces heat.

 

[DJFaninTN]

same bike as you have. started with JT's air filter and removing the air box. much better! secondly add yourself some Baker Air Wings and you can thank me later. They put the air exactly where you want it or don't want it. They work very well for keeping the rain off of you if you happen to get caught in the rain. if you are like me and ride when it's in the 40's or lower, they will help keep you warmer as well.

haven't gotten to the cat bypass yet but at the moment it's not that big of an issue. I may end up wrapping my pipes just to help out a little more.

 

[Copperman]

+++++ Secondly add yourself some Baker Air Wings and you can thank me later. +++++


I'd have to agree with that!

I owned a 2013 RT Limited and put 20,000 miles on it before I sold it and bought a 2014 RT Limited. I had the Baker Air Wings installed at about 400 miles and never had an issue with the hot right foot. I always had the right lower open to grab the fresh air. It's as if it diluted the hot air coming out of the black hole.

I had a heat issue under the tupperware with the melted evaporator canister and master cylinder reservoir but it never surfaced with the hot foot. At about 10,000 mikes I installed Lamont's cat-bypass.

Now, I always rode with boots on, too. Hope this helps.

 

[BajaRon]

I would do the cat first. That gets rid of an exhaust restriction and a 900~1300 degree heat radiator.

 

[KennW]

For me it is definitely a cat removal. Firstly because heat generated right under fuel tank and seat is lessened by 100 ° F and it's a very simple task to carry out. If still not happy, and I was then maybe Ho down the path of removing Airbox which after watching one being removed from an RT is one bitch of a job. Certainly does open up a massive amount of room allowing better air circulation. Baker wings are great but don't actually remove the heat issue from under the Tupperware just direct the outside airflow exactly where you want it. As so many add to their comments, just my 2 cents worth.

 

[bluestratos]

I tried both and neither did much, removing the air box actuall added more heat coming out and round my seat. In addtion it produces a loud obnoxious noise as it is there to muffle the sound of the incoming air. The after market air cleaner does nothing to dampen that sound.
I was supprised how little removing the cat did, the new Y pipe got very hot and even though I wrapped all the pipes the heat was still there. Also, the cat acts as a resonator so the sound levels go up and not pleasing to my ear. If you touch the wrap on the pipes you quickly learn while. I burned my hand before I even could react and my wrap was 3/4 over lap.

I solved the problem entirely by insulating the side covers completely with automotive insulating blakets with aluminum reflecting surface, same stuff you use under the hood of the car. I pulled all the side panels off then traced the outline on large paper, then making allowances for obstructions I cut blankets to fit and used heavy duty 3m spray to adhear on the inside. I took off the little pieces the factory had installed first of course.

Then, I removed the block off plate at the bottom of the radiator and in installed a custom made piece of aluminum to help guide the hot air away and down under the bike. I then made nice black textured plastic block off plates for the upper and lower vent openings on the left side and insuulated them as well.

Finally, I put a piece up and over the air box, then draped it down behind the seat, losened the gas tank and slid it under and back as far as I could. I made this wide enought to touch the side panels and then some. This was the one piece that was not glued, it just layed in place and could be pulled back to work on the air box. And, this one piece doesthe most work of them all by deflecting all the heat that blows back down and under the bike.

It took a day and 1/2 to install the heat blankets and put everyting back in place and I went slow to ensure the best fit of every piece.

This resulted in a near complete encasement preventing the heat finding its way up and out the seams of the panels. My temp guage did not change so it was not causing any cooling issues. I never did the left panel outlets but the oil heat is minimal but that being said, I was working on venting that left side but I sold the bike and bought a 2014.

This completely fixed the heat except for bit that radiated up from the cat. I used the plastic deflector plates that spyder pops to force the heat to escape behind the bike and even my passanger was happy.

Before doing this you could feel the heat on the panels even while moving, after that the panels were cool to the touch.

Later I added the full length foot rests which further shielded my feet from any heat that found its way the outside while stopped.

 

[Papa Jim]

Fresh Air for Jt's Filter

Just installed Jt's filter and used the existing pipe to get fresh outside air to the filter on my 2012 RTS.
Has anyone thought of and enclosed filter cover like in cars ?
Attached a few pictures to consider I also installed the Bajaron sway bar since I had the front off

 

[Pirate looks at --]

First

Go for a ryde!!

 

[jcthorne]

I would suggest the cat and wrapping the pipes first. This was the biggest improvement for me. You will want to also do the air filter and body panel insulation eventually.

With these things done, my heat problem for me is gone. Still have the fuel vapor problem but eventually BRP will be made to answer for that one and may or may not fix it.....

With the air filter installed and the cat gone, stock muffler I think our bikes sound great. Healthy exhaust note without loud drone at highway speed. Pretty civil at idle and cruise. I still hear the harley when they pull up next to me

 

[bluestratos]

As I had said earlier, the cat made very little if any difference, it was louder, its a major job to wrap everything and you are driving illegally due to the missing cat. The air filter is really loud and honks something fierce on acceleration and again, made no significant if any change to the heat. I realize that alot of riders recommond these changes and each has different methods of measuring the results. I took before and after temperature readings with my infrared heat gun at critical points:

The #1 heat issue was from the radiator air vent on the upper and lower openings of the right hand panel. I do not have the figures with me but the temperature was upwards of 180 if I recall correctly.

The gap between the seat and the glove box was well over 200 at times, the temp went down when I removed the air box but this also increased the volumn of air that came up so it was a wash from a comfort perspective.

The other seams at the body panels all had very warm air passing through them and the body panels radiated heat, at times over 150.

The cat and header wraps made little difference at speed and no difference at idle.

After I insulated, blocked and rerouted the air flows the differnence was very measureaable.

1. My the area by my left foot was now at barely above ambient, same results at the joints and the front of the seat gap
2. The body panels no longer radiated heat
3. After replacing the cat and the air cleaner there was no increase in heat and the sound was measured even lower due to the sound absorbing qualities of the blankets. (I ride my RT for long distance and touring so the less noise the better)
4. I was able to easly locate areas that need more work by using the thermal gun.
5. My gas tank no longer boiled and was cool to the touch when I lifted the seat
6. The seat no longer heated up on long rides
7. The the cost of the blankets was a fraction of either the Y pipe and wrap at over $500, and the air filter that was close to $300.
8. I took several trips though the desert, including Reno when the temp was over 100 and felt no ill effect other than it was just plain hot out! lol.

When driving the vents under the mirrors actually pulled cool air in due to the low pressure beneath the bike, hot air will radiate out when at idle but this does not affect the drive unless going very slow and the heat is diluted before it reaches that far back.

 

[jcthorne]

I just related what worked on our two bikes. Not mentioned but we also rerouted the radiator hot air discharge down to the street rather than on my right foot.

Did the various items in steps and cannot tell you what the results would have been for each if done in a different order. Perhaps the body panel insulation would have helped significantly alone. Donno. But I restate that wrapping the exhaust header and removing the cat made a big difference on our bikes, and I sit in traffic every day on the way home from work. It was a BIG difference. Cats are not required for emissions inspection on motorcycles. Officially its not a cat anyway. Its a secondary muffler, look at the parts diagrams. Also the emissions label makes no mention of a catalyst exhaust treatment. The HP increase was a very nice side benefit. Between the air filter and exhaust the vtwin pulls very nicely all the way to red line. It handily out runs a stock 1330 RT.

One man's loud is another's healthy exhaust note. My RT is VERY quiet compared to my GT. We like the sound, don't expect a bike to be silent and likely would have installed an aftermarket exhaust had these changes not made them sound so good.

As I said, we also insulated the body panels. But did not do them until they were off for the air filter replacement.

I get no heat up around the seat area any more, nor on the body panels. Very comfortable. Our only problem is still the fuel vapors.

I do hope BRP comes up with a reasonable fix for the boiling fuel tank issues. Its going to take a fully insulated tank to fix it in its current location.

bluestratos, I am sorry you gave up on your 13 and forked over more money for a 14 to get what you should have gotten already. Should not be this way. For us, a 10k loss times 2 bikes was simply not in the cards.

 

[MikeinGA]

I would do the cat first. That gets rid of an exhaust restriction and a 900~1300 degree heat radiator.

That's right under the gas tank!

Mike

 

[bluestratos]

No, I am not sorry at all, besides the heat, the 2011 was plagued with other problems. I cured the heat problem and was content with the bike until codes kept comeing up and spoiling all of my rides.

I cannot explain your findings but I am glad they worked for you.. I took an analytical approach and checked the results each step of the way. I did the cat andair filter first before I did the blankets so I have the readings before andafter each change. After I did the blanketing I removed the noisycomponents and rechecked and they made little or no difference. As Isaid, taking the cat out is illegal so I was glad to have it back in place iffor only that reason but, I was so happy to have a quiet bikeagain. Especially the obnoxious honking the air cleaner made. It ismy opinion that creating noise affects more than myself but also other ridersand pedestrians so I like to do my part to be part of the solution. Thisis not a criticism of those that like the noise, although I can say it isreally annoying to me to have a bike or car that has loud pipes/mufflers so Iwish they road or drove anywhere but where I am, lol.

There is no question that the cat is a huge heat radiator but, I installed theside baffles that deflect the heat from rising up. As I said, I also took offthe headers and wrapped every inch with a 3/4" over lap to it was a full two layers thick.

What I found with the air cleaner is that this allowed more hot air to bepushed back to the seat area, this was documented but really not a big deal,just more volume but a bit cooler air. I did like how much easier it wasto work on the bike so that was one plus.

So as said, one person’s noise is another person’s music so long as you keepthe noise in your closed garage, lol.... I like to listen to my music andrelax when I tour and after riding over 40 years I know the difference. Ihad a Harley back in the 80's, I rode it mostly in town and it got a lot of(bad) attention due to the noise. When I road it to California and back Igot a warning that it was too loud and at end of each day my ears wereringing. When I got home I traded it in for an ultra-quiet Yamaha VentureRoyal touring model and never looked back.

Now that I am older and wiser I realize that the reason I liked the noise was for attention, yes some guys thought it cool but most people would tell me it was annoying. I have a friend that owns a Harely that is so loud I cannot ride with him. He believes the noise makes him more noticable on the road. Studys show that this is not the case and that good lighting and size make the only real difference. Inspite of the evidence he will not put the baffles back in. He was recently cut off at an intersection and had to lay the bike down doing serious damaged to the it but he came out unscathed... must have been the noise that saved him?

So enough about noise and quite frankly I don’t care how a person goes about reducing the excessive heat as long as they get there. I don’t believe anything I am told unless I touch it or recreate the same results and since something like being too warm is somewhat subjective only repeatable test results work for me.

I just related what worked on our two bikes. Not mentioned but we also rerouted the radiator hot air discharge down to the street rather than on my right foot.

Did the various items in steps and cannot tell you what the results would have been for each if done in a different order. Perhaps the body panel insulation would have helped significantly alone. Donno. But I restate that wrapping the exhaust header and removing the cat made a big difference on our bikes, and I sit in traffic every day on the way home from work. It was a BIG difference. Cats are not required for emissions inspection on motorcycles. Officially its not a cat anyway. Its a secondary muffler, look at the parts diagrams. Also the emissions label makes no mention of a catalyst exhaust treatment. The HP increase was a very nice side benefit. Between the air filter and exhaust the vtwin pulls very nicely all the way to red line. It handily out runs a stock 1330 RT.

One man's loud is another's healthy exhaust note. My RT is VERY quiet compared to my GT. We like the sound, don't expect a bike to be silent and likely would have installed an aftermarket exhaust had these changes not made them sound so good.

As I said, we also insulated the body panels. But did not do them until they were off for the air filter replacement.

I get no heat up around the seat area any more, nor on the body panels. Very comfortable. Our only problem is still the fuel vapors.

I do hope BRP comes up with a reasonable fix for the boiling fuel tank issues. Its going to take a fully insulated tank to fix it in its current location.

bluestratos, I am sorry you gave up on your 13 and forked over more money for a 14 to get what you should have gotten already. Should not be this way. For us, a 10k loss times 2 bikes was simply not in the cards.