'87 FL has had extremely loud valve noise since purched in '90 with 12000 miles. Dealer said it had a Screamin Eagle cam and would probably be a little noisy. I lived with it to 55000 miles when rear cyl got to slapping. Did a total overhaul (myself) bottom end and all. New cam (Andrews EV23) new follower blocks, lifters, rockers (roller 1.60 ratio) adjustable push tubes, no new guides (all tight) and you can hear the valves over straight pipes at 60 mph going under a long bridge. With a stethescope, sounds like the valves hit the seats really hard is where the noise is coming from. (Yes, I carefully measured and matched the pinion gear to the cam gear. Borderline useing a red or blue, went with the blue and have a red one on the desk)

 

How was the nose cone cam bushing?? inner bearing( inner I have seen a few fail) A very common issue is the lifter axel/needle bearing. Guys use to put new one in, but with bid axle lifters and the cost bing so little a new set is easier. Life span on a stock lifter is 40,000 at most I check them at 25,000. Just a few things but worth looking at.

 

Thanks HD,

Yes, new (OEM) timing cover, new lifters (Jim's) New inner bearing. The old one seemed smooth, but the cam was pitted bad on a section of the bearing surface. That's the only reason I changed the cam. Got 185 miles (easy ones) on it now, still ticky- tack, but runs and idles well.

First case I ever split and was tickled at getting the flywheels within .0005 of true. Thanks for the advice on the torque plates. They were .001 too tight for the pistons. Dealer charged 134.00 for the check and re-hone. I only paid 45.00 for the bore job next door, so considering the dealer gets 250.00 foe the whole deal, reckon I got a bargain. I'll do what I've always done and ride it till something breaks. much easier to troubleshoot that way. Ride safe..........

 

Interesting post! With that mild of a cam, I would'nt think you would hear much of anything, unless something is out of whack. I'm with HDWRENCH as far as the lifters go. Any chance the former owner put in too heavy of valve springs? Just a thought, because too much spring pressure will really slam those valves closed and can be noisy. This is probably not your problem, only a thought.

Hope you find your noise, I'll be watching to see the outcome.

 

P.S. The valve closing thing usually only happens with fast ramps on the cam.................but yours is mild sooooo........??????

Good Luck!