Mistral X K&N on LM 2004

[staedtler]

Søren

 

 

 

dude...good luck getting a FBF xover, it's on back order, no telling when they

will be available. this just about 3 weeks ago. so i got an stucchi instead w/in

a week.

[Guest ratchethack]

Søren, a few comments on the Stucchi crossover. Sorry in advance for the long-winded post, but if I were you, I think I'd be interested in all the details.

 

I have 11K miles on mine. I chose the Stucchi because of the credibility of the dyno run comparo's available at the time I bought it. They were done by Doug Lofgren, as Dave noted above. Stucchi provides their own dyno chart, which of course looks impressive. But as always, you gotta trust, but verify! In my case, my seat-of-the-pants evaluation lined up well with both Doug's dyno pulls and the Stucchi torque chart, and I was very happy with the midrange torque gain. It smooths-over the infamous "hole" in the "as delivered" stock torque curve that starts about 4500 RPM, and gives a few smaller improvements higher and lower in the rev range. VERY nice with a PC III and FBF oval carbons!

 

Now here comes the trade-off. The pipe I received appeared to be of high quality stainless, and the welds were impeccable. However, their QC evidently doesn't include a check of the finished piece in one semi-critical dimension. In my case, the pipe would not sit flat on my workbench, having a significant "twist" about it's longitudinal axis. From reading other posts on this, this can be (but evidently is not always) typical with the Stucchi crossovers. It could have been a problem with the fabricator's setup jig, and for all I know they've fixed this by now. But at least in my case, it threw a significant hitch into what would have been and should have been a fairly straightforward installation. Of course, having my exhaust apart at the time (in perfect riding weather!), and not wanting to wait for a 2-way shipping cycle and take another chance on another mis-aligned pipe, I went to work with my angle grinder, sawzall, and files, and made it fit. I considered "straightening" it, but decided the risks involved with attempting this more than offset the potential gain.

 

You expect some tweaking to fit any aftermarket pipe, but I considered this over the top. I wound up having to shorten the right-hand stock header by about 15mm (as I recall), grinding reliefs in both sides of the crossover hanger bracket, and fabricating all-new muffler plate brackets on both sides to get everything to line up properly without undue stress, while at the same time allowing enough clearance everywhere for heat expansion so there would be no contact with the sump, the hanger bracket, and the brake linkage. It took about a dozen re-fits with grinding in between to get it so that the exits to the mufflers ended up in the same horizontal plane. It's not immediately noticeable, but if you take a close look at my bike from a certain angle, you can see that the mufflers themselves are angled slightly differently. There was a small side benefit to all the finagling - the mufflers now appear to be more equally spaced from centerline than as shipped in stock trim from Mandello.

 

So yeah, in the end, because of the performance gains, I'm actually very pleased with the overall result, and it has stood up well for 11K miles now. But I'm unable to give a recommendation for the Stucchi without a significant caveat - unless you get a "straight" one, fitting one can be an unplanned test of both your patience and your prowess with a pile of tools that you may not have access to.

 

If you decide to go forward with the Stucchi, I'd recommend that you ask your supplier to check it for you before shipping. If this isn't possible, allow enough lead-time so you can reject anything they send you that measures over ~10mm under the "free" corner of the pipe when laid upside-down on a flat surface. If you get one within an acceptable range, I think you'd be very pleased.

 

Good luck!

[tikkanen]

Staedtler, Rachethack

 

Thanks for your comments - highly appreciated

 

I thought ordering a complete kit was the way to go, ´cos everything should be damn skippy. But a x-over in back order and no real timeframe for when the next batch will be ready things get a bit tricky. I assume patience is the key word?

 

Rachethack's story of the poor fitting of the Stucchi is a bit scary - I just don't want to grind, file, bite, whatever in a brand new gadget. It's just against my nature to do so. If they can't produce a properly fitting x-over (which you, the customer pays dearly for) then screw it - it just ain't my ball game anymore.

 

I think I'll aim for the total FBF solution and sit back and wait till they are ready. I'll even try to persuade them to have all the goods shipped from their Italian dealer, thus saving a dime or two on shipping and handling as well as overseas tax. I'm not really confident buying from the Italian dealer as their homepage is only in their native language and to be quite frank my Italian is a bit rusty, or better: non-excisting

 

I'll give FBF a shout now and I'll get back to you later.

 

Thanks again!

 

Søren

 

PS: Jason: Good comment ("Pepsi challenge" )

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

Has anyone done the pepsi challenge on them? 

J

41346[/snapback]

I have tried both the Mistral and the Stucchi but I also have FBF 11:1 pistons. The Mistral gives a bigger improvement in the 3500 to 5500 rpm range although the Stucchi does help there too. The Stucchi is a much better improvement for rpm's above 5500. Since the FBF pistons also fatten up the midrange a lot I prefer the Stucchi crossover as it gives me a much broader range of improvement. I can say I was happy with the Mistral but more happy with the Stucchi.

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

Rachethack's story of the poor fitting of the Stucchi is a bit scary - I just don't want to grind, file, bite, whatever in a brand new gadget. It's just against my nature to do so. If they can't produce a properly fitting x-over (which you, the customer pays dearly for) then screw it - it just ain't my ball game anymore.

 

41354[/snapback]

I had no problem with the fit of my Stucchi but there was some weld spattered in the threads of the O2 sensor plug and I had to buy an 18mm tap to clean it out. All the rest was fine.

[tikkanen]

Thanks Jim,

 

When you get your MGS 01 you wont need a Stucchi nor a Mistral....

 

Still keep my fingers crossed for you!

 

Søren

[tikkanen]

I think I'll aim for the total FBF solution and sit back and wait till they are ready. I'll even try to persuade them to have all the goods shipped from their Italian dealer, thus saving a dime or two on shipping and handling as well as overseas tax. I'm not really confident buying from the Italian dealer as their homepage is only in their native language and to be quite frank my Italian is a bit rusty, or better: non-excisting 

 

I'll give FBF a shout now and I'll get back to you later.

 

41354[/snapback]

 

Just called FBF in PA and Staedtler was right: The x-over pipe is in back order. They thought though, that the Italian sister company may have one in stock so I should give Alex in Italy a call tomorrow. He should also be fluent in English so I'll have a go a demain

 

By the way, how much do you think shipping and handling is from the US of A to dinky Denmark?

 

......drum rolls......A WHOPPING 300 US $....

 

Heck, a PC III is 329,- $

 

Jeeeeeesuz!

[antonio carroccio]

In Holland this will cost above €450,-

 

I tought in the USofA you can get a PC III with a bonus if you will buy 10 pair men's underwear.

The bonus will be a new pair of sock or a PC III...