hey all. new guy here. i am sitting in afghanistan getting ready to come home and i have some questions about what to do to my bike next. i want to do a big bore kit. so here is the question, is it better to bore or stroke. depending on how much the machine work costs, i think i can get 100 cubes for under a grand. this would leave me alot more money for the heads.are there any drawbacks to having a 4x4 bore and stroke? thanks in advance, jt.

 

Hi Scuba!

We need to know something about your bike - like what engine it has andmodel year would both help. Twin Cams can be more easily fitted with a big bore kit than Evos, both can take stroker kits. I have a JIMS stroker crank in my old Evo.

Take some time to look around this website, as the question has been asked before. And have a safe journey home!

 

sorry about that. it is a 2002 softail with the 88 inch motor. i guess what i am trying to figure out is, is it better to use bigger bores or to go with a new crank? i know thw cases have to be bored out for the bigger cylinders. i am looking to add some power to make the bike a little more fun to ride on the weekends, and have the extra power to smoke my friends bike. i thought about going with a small shot of N2O, but i would like to keep the power a little more hidden. thanks again, jt

 

Strokes are good but cost a lot more with labor. Bores are good also and cost less. Use forged pistons whatever. At least some mild headwork. I think most people can just look at these things and improve them a good deal with a Drimmel. Nitros can burn up a piston so be careful here.

Good Luck and be careful. You guys are wonderful. I know
Real Old1/6 and 1/7 Marine

 

thanks for the well wishes. it is cold and snowing right now, so it is kind of slow. i didnt know if it was better to bore or stroke these engines. this is my first harley and these motors are quite a bit different than the japanese ones. i bought the bike used over r+r. it has some mods already. the exhaust, carb kit, twin tech ignition and maybe cams. it starts right up and has good throttle response. i was impressed when i rode it the first time. but i am the type of guy who cant leave anything alone. so i think i will find some used heads to send off and some used cylinders to get sleeved and bored. or can the stock ones be safely bored to 4"? also i would like to use wiseco pistons. does anyone have anything bad to say about them? thanks again, jt

 

I think you already have forged flywheels in your bike. Save you money for the porting and bigger bore cylinders for forged pistons and a properly-matched bagger cam. More free advice is available, but you'll need to send a box of green tip and those 30-rounders in your sock drawer...

 

firetender, it looks like you live on the left coast. that is a bad place for a gun guy. hah hah. you know how we do things in the south. when i get back from this deployment i go to GA for some drill sergeant time. if you are ever over this way, just go to a gun show. you can buy the green tip ammo all day long. back to the bike, what do you mean by a bagger cam? i will def put most of the money into the heads and forged pistons are a must. how about the stock cylinders? any ideas on how far they can be bored out? thanks, jt

 

just a general observation: going into the bottom end will definitely increase the costs. for example, labor to pull it may be 300-500. that will be necessary if you bore the lower cases for cylinders 4" or bigger, and it will be necessary if you use a stroker flywheel. boring the lower cases may be 200-300 where a stroker flywheel would be around 1000 (average estimate) in addition to the labor on the lower case. ifyour choice is between going into the lower case or doing some head work, then i would say the headwork is the foremost concern. not porting the heads will not give you the benefit of what you spend on increasing the displacement or stroke. a really nice 95-98" build with nice ported heads and appropriate cam with the correct compression set, along with a programmable ignition and upgraded exhaust and air intake - that will give you a really nice bike that will outrun most bikes out there unless they are big motors. that would be the most bang for the buck and done properly can give you all you would want.

if you want a big motor, it depends on your riding style. a stroked motor should give more torque and snap, where an oversquare motor (bigger bore, stock stroke) will rev faster and be a little quicker to get to the higher rpms for more hp. but you will have to have a cam that matches what you want. personally i like the stroked motors. the oversquare motors may be slightly smoother. those are all general observations that would be affected by the choice of cams, exhaust, etc.
be sure to use a complete build that is proven to work together - heads, cams, ignition, compression, etc. -

 

As you can see from the replies, properly matched components, whatever your decision, won't lead you down a dead-end road with stuff left over you didn't want to own. Friends, builders, this forum, and your own riding style will get you there - just be patient until you're confident in what you want. BTW, we have more AW's in Cali than any other state. I've seen what's available in GA for mil-spec and it was OK, I preferred the internet and my pawnbroker for better deals on hardware. But of course the good old days are gone for newcomers as we have our permits from years ago. Now the Ruger Ranchsemi is all that's legal.I huntmule deer with my M-4gery.

 

i just want to say thanks to everyone for the info. i want to do this build right the first time and use my money as wisely as possible. so once again thanks, and i will be back for more info.jt