Well, it's almost the end of my riding season, time for some engine work I guess.
I have wood TW-555 cams installed last year, pretty happy with them. Now I am ready for big bore, I love the FM 107 setup but I can't seem to find a local machine shop knows what they are doing. One shop said the 107 piston are too big, the stock jugs don't have enough material to cut. Second shop said 103 is way better, 107 gets too hot. Last shop said I better go S&S106. They drive me nuts! I am not doing head work at this time, compression manual release for sure.
BTW Shipping to FM back and forth is gonna cost me an extra $120-150, not worth it. I saw a S&S 106 kit on ebay for $640 shipped, brand new jugs, pistons, rings and gaskets, sounds like a good deal and less headache dealing with machining. I am not sure how good this 106ci/555 cam setup is, the S&S piston is 10:1 ratio compare to CP 10.25:1. If I remember right, I have seen a few guys running 106 w/555 cams, how do you like it? Thanks! Alex

 

My brother has the FM 107 with the cams that they sent with the kit. He did an exchang with them. He also had head work done. Made 106 hp and 116 qt. Had 100 tq at 2200 rpm!

 

Been looking at the same options along with GMR Performance doing the BB for me. Couple of considerations you may or may not be aware of: 1)the FM piston rings are already gapped for you, the S&S are not 2) to get the S&S compression up to 10.2 to 1(which should be better) you will have to buy the .030 head gaskets, a little extra $$.

Both should make you happy, I will be following any other Forum inputs.

 

Sorry for the hijack. Just a quick thumbs up for GMR. Steve did some excellent work for me.

 

Good to know, don't hear a lot about GMR around here. Boy, he will talk your ear off, my head was spinning after talking to him a couple of days ago. Seems to be extremely sharp about anything Harley.

 

His shop has been in Arizona until about a year ago I think. I rode my bike out there for him to dyno tune my TTS after I installed cams. He was very conscientious about his work, and did an excellent tune. And yes, he did talk my ear off.

 

I have no problems matching ring gap, bought a ring grinder on flebay, I rather do it myself so I know they will be perfectly fitted.
I also looked at that SS instruction, .030 head gasket may require valve clearance check, how do you do that? Are the valves gonna hit the piston if a thinner gasket is used in this case? What's the workaround if it is? Thanks!

 

Regardless of head gasket if it were me I'd want to clay the motor to check for clearance issues. I think Randy at Hyper Performance has some good videos on his site (King of Cubes). You need to check Valve to valve, piston to valve, and make sure the piston pockets are clearanced for the valves. Remedies include decking the heads, thicker/thinner head gaskets, and removing material from piston pockets.

 

I love how upgrades are now a mandatory winter agenda item. I said I was going to leave mine for a year, and I'm already getting parts together for a cam job. Haha!
I'll be following this thread as I will probably be doing this next winter...
Wish I had more input, you're bike is badass man, and soon to be even more so!

 

Here are some videos for you.
http://www.fuelmotousa.com/site/107-inch-big-bore.html

We have a wide glide SS106. We used SS585 cams that has built in compression releases for easy starting. They are called easy start cams I believe.
At his point I will speak of how I would consider doing it. It's your build so you have to make the decisions.
In your post you mention doing head work then you left head work out of the equation.
If I were to do a 106 or 107 engine build. I would include head work, This is what makes things work together and ups hp and tq. Even if it is another $120-150 for shipping it would be worth it in the end. Head work is not a cost but a investment.
The tw-555 cam has a 575 lift so you are border lined with a cam plate and possibility valve clearance it you go to 10:1-10:25 compression. If I was going to stay with woods cams I would consider either the tw-777 or tw-888. With the higher compression and good head work you will have plenty of tq. with the tw-888 cam.
Cams are a simple thing to change. So that can be done if needed later on.
Our SS106 is really strong. I was and still am impressed with it.
There are so many ways to go with a build it can get confusing.
I would give t-man or fuel moto and ss a call