My cam has a paint spot that looks similar to the color on this one I found a pic of on the internet....can someone guess at the color? My guess is yellow..or could be a faded orange or dirty stained white?

I am changing my cam...I thought I had the SE1...but it looks like stock N-grind was put in after the HD reman in 02ish..my mechanic at the time told me he was pullling my SE1 before he sent it out and would reinstall it when it returned...but by the looks of things it didn't happen.

I pulled the bearing...will be installing the torrington tomorrow...trying to see if the pinion will match up...then installing new pushrods...the lifters still look pristine and everything looks very nice, clean and smooth for 55k on the reman.

 

Pretty hard to tell. Too many variables. I couldn't tell what color mine was either. It looked like green, but there was very little of it to go by. Decided to swap the cam gear to the new cam so I bought one without a gear. Saved a few bucks doing it that way even with the gear swap charge.

 

Ok, I've uploaded pics of the paint on my cam...

I already have a new andrews EV13 cam with the gear pressed on... I guess I may need to have the gear swapped if I can't figure it out. I am going to try to make the measurements with .108" pins if I can find some pins accurate enough taht is explained in the Andrews instructions..

 

Problem is, pinion gears changed in 90 and you need .105 pins for your 86. Not that I've had my hands on that many, but every Andrews I've seen measured for a red or blue pinion gear and most measured close enough you can run either. But you definitely don't have a red or blue, from the photos.

Changing a cam gear is very easy if you have access to a press...

 

I had the HD reman around '02 so I wonder if they would have put in the later style pinion and cam? The bearing I took out yesterday was an INA so they changed that during the reman. BTW, the nightrider website says to press the new torrington bearing with the words facing out...does that matter much or is it just for identification of the bearing? Should I pull it and reinsert it? I pressed mine in with stamped words facing in then noticed their instruction:

"Place the new cam bearing on the installation tool or on the end of the old camshaft and install the new bearing. When installing the Torrington bearing, remember to install it with the printed edge facing outward.Make sure the cam bearing is pressed completely into the engine case."

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hdcaminstall04.htm

I tried measuring the cam gears using drill bits that I measured to be .109" to use as measuring pins.

My original gear came up as 2.7473" which would make it "orange" is my measuring was accurate enough.

The Andrews cam measured in at 2.7485" which seems to be a "yellow" if I am in the ballpark.

So it looks like I will be looking for someone to pull the gear and press it onto the Andrews cam...does anybody know what that should run? Should I find a Harley place that deals with cams regularly or can any automotive place handle that and line up the marks correctly?

 

7/64" drill bits will only work to scribe or mark to change the gears - not anywhere accurate for matching "colors" even by doing the math on the difference - trust me
If you'll look very closely, Andrews often makes a visible mark on the back of the cam gear for alignment at the factory. If it's there, look at it's relation to the notch in the cam and the timing mark on the opposite side - stock has same notch. It's easy to figure out how to change them by simply looking at those marks (if they're there). Otherwise, it takes 15 minutes to change them, but I have no idea what someone might charge.

 

Thanks T150...I didn't think it would be accurate just by seeing how precise the specs were, 4 decimal points...that is some precision measuring that is needed.

I'll look for the marks you mention...I don't remember seeing any but I'll take another look when I'm in the garage and see if they are there...if there, that would make it much easier.

As far as that bearing, I searched the forums and found someone mentioning that the imprinted side is thicker so less likely to dent when installing...so I hope I did not dent mine. One thing I found out, the nightrider website also said this:

"The old camshaft can be used as alignment tool and press for installation of the new bearing. Place the breather gear in place. The breather gear and pinion gear effectively form an alignment tool so the cam bearing on the old camshaft can be put in place with very little force required.

A few light taps on the end of the camshaft with a polyurethane or rubber mallet may be required to make sure the cam bearing is pressed completely into the engine case."

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hdcaminstall04.htm

But when I used this technique the gear dug into the case a little so I guess the older cams are a little shorter? but they did not mention this..I needed to put a spacer on the end of the shaft to get the bearing to seat flush.

 

I found the alignment marks so that should make things a lot easier...here are a pics of the marks on the Andrews cam....they are the 2 lines that start at the notch in the shaft and end at a gear tooth.

The last one is a pic of the grooves in the case made by cam gear being used as an install tool when trying to seat the bearing ...look just above and to the right of the black breather gear. Now I know why the bearing was seating all the way in.

 

When I had mine done it cost me $24. I have no idea how they came up with that with a $80 / hour labor rate. I had it done at the dealer. Seems to be an ok place.

 

hey oldpat, thanks for the info...I just stopped at a shop this morning and had them press the old gear onto the new cam...they sounded like they rarely ever do that...mostly the get a gear that matches the pinion or they order the matching pinion.

A friend of mine (who passed away a few months ago) was good friends of the owner of this place, and they did not charge me to do it...I just tipped the mechanic afterwards, his name was Stroker, who seems like a dedicated bike mechanic and real good guy...I am not sure if there are any other So. Cal riders on this forum but the might want to try Triplethreat Choppers in Mission Viejo, CA...This was my first visit to this place and the owner, Keith, was real cool with everything too...he could have charged me for a half hour maybe for $20-40.

Anyway, he got the gear lined up nicely on the new cam...so I've seated the cam into the case but still need to replace the cam shaft seal, button things up and install the adjustable push rods....I'll be at it tomorrow.