Add Roar To To A Road King

6. With some jiggling, we pulled the head pipes off the studs and wiggled the front pipe between the right engine cover and the right floorboard. Here's one of our lessons learned: we should have first removed the right floorboard because we had to remove it anyway to install the fat T-Rex pipe, and because the two thick washers in the hardware bag are spacers to move the floorboard out and clear the T-Rex.

7. With the stock pipes removed, we transferred parts to the T-Rex. We installed the O2 sensors on the pipes with a 7/8-inch wrench and a little anti-seize. OK, second lesson. At first it seemed so much easier to install the sensors off the bike, but that's not so good to do. They interfered as we later tried to maneuver the thick pipes into tight places. We had to remove the sensors and later re-install with the pipes on the bike.

8. Using a set of pliers, we slipped the flanges and retaining clips onto the T-Rex ends. We also took a second to wipe down both pipes with non-residue cleaner (Windex works fine).

9. The Hard Krome kit doesn't include new exhaust gaskets, so be sure to have a set on hand. You can use either the stock, cone-shaped gaskets or the SE flat gaskets. Both work fine as long as you properly torque the exhaust stud nuts. We had a set of stock gaskets in our parts box and used those. We carefully removed the old, squashed gaskets and pushed in the new ones.

10. The bulk of the T-Rex makes for a tight fit. It felt like a huge, twisted metal puzzle getting the header ends into the exhaust port and the pipes in position. With them in place, we slipped on the flanges and started the exhaust stud nuts to hold the front of the pipe. Then we added a screw to the rear hangers to hold up the back. Next, by grasping the pipes, we pushed the ends into the exhaust port to contact the gasket and finger-tightened the stud nuts.

11. With the pipes aligned but loose, we torqued each head nut to 40 lb-in, and then torqued each stud nut to 80 lb-in. This sequence properly aligned the header end with the port and compressed the gasket for a good seal. Note: Do not over tighten these nuts; 80 lb-in is equivalent to only 6.6 lb-ft.

12. Here's our third lesson. When the T-Rex rear cylinder pipe's top mounting bracket didn't match up with the stock bracket on top of the transmission, we realized that the little black bracket in the hardware sack is supposed to replace the stock one. It's a good idea to back up and install the new bracket before fitting the pipe. Finally we tightened all the support bolts.

13 To finish we re-installed the right floorboard, inserting the spacers between the floorboard bracket and frame.

14. Here's the completed install with the Hard Krome T-Rex True Duals enhancing the Road King. They look and sound awesome, like a King should. We also ran back to Mancuso's for a final dyno test. Our performance numbers weren't spectacular: 68.50 hp and 83.78 lb-ft. But as we explained, we're pleased with the solid appearance and the meaty sound of the T-Rex and we anticipate teasing out some more horses as we fine-tune the TCFI III.