Over the years, throughout all the trends and fads, one thing has remained the same, the Softail chassis has been at the heart of many makeovers, ground-up builds and resurrections. Such is the case here. We have a '05 Softail that we are turning into a blacked-out, bobber-esque bar hopper. While we were looking to add some get-the-hell-outta-my-way attitude, we came across Street Walker's FMJ pipes and it was love at first sight. So we ordered a set for this project.
Then while we were bolting up the pipe, we noticed the rear section of the Softail frame was, well, not that pretty to look at. Harley did such a great job making the rearend of this bike look like a rigid, but frankly fell a bit short in looks when it came to attaching the rear wheel to the swingarm. We wanted to smooth, as well as blackout the look of our project and Kryakyn came to the rescue with a set of its gloss black Phantom Axle Covers.
1. The Street Walker FMJ...
1. The Street Walker FMJ pipes are short, loud, mean, and not for the faint of heart. They will fit most Evo and Twin Cams and feature a two-into-one design with a flanged tip that really gives it a hot-rod look. The pipes come in either titanium or black ceramic finish and the heat shields are available in chrome, satin, titanium, or black ceramic. You can also order them with 02 bungs installed if need be. We chose a set of black ceramic pipes with gloss black heatshields ($895).
2. With the stock pipes removed...
2. With the stock pipes removed from our Softail, we installed the Street Walker rear exhaust mount to the two front bolts on the bottom of the transmission.
3. The rear header pipe was...
3. The rear header pipe was slid onto the cylinder head and loosely bolted to hold the exhaust in place.
4. The FMJ pipes come with...
4. The FMJ pipes come with a slip-fit front header pipe that compensates for the differences various engines have so there isn't an issue with fitting the pipes to different engine configurations.
5. The slip fit header allowed...
5. The slip fit header allowed us to rotate and adjust the head pipe to line up with the exhaust port on the front cylinder for an exact fit.
6. We then attached the rear...
6. We then attached the rear of the exhaust to the mount on the transmission and adjusted the pipes as needed for proper fitment.
7. Once the complete exhaust...
7. Once the complete exhaust was installed and torqued down to spec, we installed the upper heatshields on each of the two header pipes, and we were finished.
8. The drilled heat shields...
8. The drilled heat shields add to that old hot-rod feel and the black on black finish give the pipe a sinister look, but not as sinister as the sound. To hear what these pipes sound like check out the video on our website, hotbikeweb.com.
9. The Phantom Axle Covers...
9. The Phantom Axle Covers ($79.99) are available in black or chrome and come with and all the necessary hardware.
10. The stock H-D axle nuts...
10. The stock H-D axle nuts and adjusters are cad plated and stick out like a sore thumb on our blacked-out Softie. To get started, we loosened up the nut that secures the axle adjusters and installed the Kryakyn L- bracket. The 9/16-inch nut that secures the axle adjuster to the frame was then tightened between the L-bracket and frame stop.
11. Next, we installed the...
11. Next, we installed the rear mounting tab clamp on the inside of the Phantom covers with the provided star washers and 1/4-inch bolts.
12. The last thing we did...
12. The last thing we did was slide the rear of the covers over the back of the swingarm, attached them with the included button-head bolts, and tightened the rear mounting tabs. Within 10 minutes we had both covers on and the rear of the bike had a cleaner and stealthier appearance. Which was exactly what we were looking for.