Thanks for the input guys. I saw alot of good things about Head-Quarters. Maybe I will start there.

 

I did a SE 103 stage II with 255s last winter taking advantage of the dealer's specials. The 103 with 255 cams and a new tune with my SERT cost me about 1600. Which based on what I have seen was a pretty good price. I already had a stage 1 with Fatcats 2 to 1 pipes. It was a big good improvement in low end torque and it was worth the money for me.

However the dealer did not recommend CR's so I had the problem of hard starts and some detonation. I later took it to another dealer with more expertise in tuning and the detonation is pretty much gone and hard starts are rare. The tune makes the difference.

Having said all that, if I were doing it again, I would go with the HQ 103. Probably cost twice as much but much better power and equal or better durability. I got 89 HP and 103 Tq with the SE big bore vs 100+HP and Tq from HQ with fewer issues.

 

Head Quarters is good stuff, but I like the consistancy of the R&R cnc ported, about the same money with better street manors. The RR525G cam is the best all around cam I have seem for this kind of application. It is a cam you can build with, if you don't go to ported heads right off the bat it works very well, if you bump the compression to 10 to 10.2 to 1 it works very well with proper quench. I very rarely install compression releases with the stage 2 and stage 2-1/2 cnc ported heads and this cam, not needed.

 

Over 17,000 miles ago I made the BIG mistake of getting the S&S 106 kit. I've hated it ever since. Hard starting, detonation, horrible gas mileage, hotter than hell, NOISY as hell, hard to ride... The list goes on. I miss my HD 95 so very badly. Some idiot (not me) put stock cam bearings in with my SE211 cams... Ran like a bat outa hell for 28K miles, till the bearing disintegrated & filled my motor with tiny pieces of very hard metal... I've regretted the 106 decision every time I've ridden that bike since. I hate it and can't wait until it blows up again. The WORST $5000 I've EVER spent.
Of course, that's just my opinion....
I've got a 99 FXDWG with over 75,000 miles on the frame. I loved the 88ci motor but I LOVED it even MORE after punching it up to 95ci. Cheap, easy, dependable, QUICK... God I miss that motor!!!!

 

did the same idiot do your S&S 106" kit,we`ve done alot of them,quality is leaps and bounds over SE stuff,they all run great,run quite and VERY strong,we used our STAGE II heads and are making over 110 hp on all of them,sounds to me like yours was assembled wrong & tuned wrong
kirby
vee twin racing
www.veetwinperformance.com

 

jeroark, where are you located at? Give Don Dorfman a call over at Deweys.

http://deweysheads.com/HDBD_home.html

He's an awesome guy to talk to. I've never heard anything bad about the S&S 106" kit at all.

 

Nope, the idiots that put the 106 together were me & an HD/Custom Chrome mekanik. Did everything by the book. A VERY complete kit, and if you can work thru all the warnings/note, some OK instructions.
Finally got the Daytona Twin Tec ignition hoping that would help, it does, a little. Still miss my 95...

 

I am going to assume, the 106 kit that FXRider is referring to is the stroker 106, to make an 88 into a 106?

This is way different kit than the 106 BB kit for 07 up bikes. The newer 106 kit is just pistons and cylinders.

Ummm.. hot? hard starting? runs rough? all that is tuning maybe?

 

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just wanted to make sure nobody makes the same mistake I did.
Didn't know that the '07 kit's just pistons. I did the whole kit & kaboodle. Dunno what can be done to fix my mistake, other than to wait for it to blow up....

 

17k miles doesn't seem that bad to me for reliability... The hard starting, detonation, fuel mileage, heat, etc. may be in the tune? FWIW, I have the same kit as you and so far, so good... I know where you're coming from though!!


K.