Hi all,

I'm going to tare my bike apart and do a 95er. This is my first time so I’m asking a couple of wrench buddies to help. I want to do it mostly with Harley parts, due to me being a corporate employee getting a nice discount on HD stuff. I was thinking between two kits. My ultimate goal is to have a reliable, durable, upgraded bike.

First Harley Kit:
1550 High Output

High flow Air/exhaust (Already Have)
Big bore Cylinders (95)
High Compression Forged Pistons
SE-257 Cam Kit
Quick-Install Adjustable Pushrods

Second Kit:
1550 High Torque (HTCC)

High flow Air/exhaust (Already Have)
HTCC EFI Intake Manifold Kit
Big bore Cylinders (95)
HTCC Cylinder Head Kit
HTCC Pistons
SE-251 Cam Kit

A lot of people are steering me away from the HTTC, any insight?

Also running higher compression would it shorting my engine’s life, or cause any problems? (I think both of these kits are 10.5 compression)

I heard a lot about cam bearing problems, should I consider a gear drive instead of a chain drive cam?

What other things should I add to strengthen the engine’s durability?

Thanks
2005 Night Train EFI – Stage one

 

You can see my build in my signature. I went with SE flattops and did some headwork. I would recommend either going with a gear drive cam or at least doing the chain conversion kit. Sorry I cannot comment on the HTCC as I don't know enough about them

 

The reason they are turning you away from the HTCC is because the setup is very tricky. You have to be very meticulous in the installation. From what I understand the deck height has to be right on. It is definatley not a straght up bolt on kit. You would propably be better off going with the high comp piston, boring the jugs you already have on there, getting the heads you already have CNC ported, and running an S&S gear drive cam in the neighborhood of the 570 or 585. You should be real close to 100/100 with a setup like this and way more reliable as you will be losing the junk cam chains and all their issues. I would give any of these guys a call to discuss more in depth. They really know their stuff.
http://www.gmrperformance.com/
http://www.head-quarters.com/
http://www.bigboyzcycles.com/
http://www.atwoodperformance.com/

 

Have you looked at the set up I have? It's called a "Hippo" build and has been done many times. I was looking for a PROVEN combination of parts that I could buy off the shelf to minimize down time that would give me close to 100/100, gear drive , compression 10:1 or less and had been around long enough for any problems with it to manafest its self. I have an 04 with 42000 miles on it and is my daily ride so reliability was a must. Many will dissagree and maybe rightfully so but "I" was not comfortable with compression above 10:1 on a daily runner. Also at 40000 miles my tenshioners were 80% new condition both but knew the potential for failure was there so with runout allowing went with gear drive. If you wanted to stay with all SE parts you could sub the 570's on my build with the 211's and have close to the same thing. With the Twin Cam to make it preforme w/o a lot of compression some form of head work must be done by porting stock or new ones. The 1st build you mention gets its ump from compression at 9.6:1 and the257's but I wonder if it is going to get on the cam at a usable rpm for you. I have no 1st or 2nd hand experance with this cam.The second is 10.5:1 and should be a real runner but there is that compresion issue for me.

 

Man lookin' good. If wanted to stay SE I'd go with 3 cams (my personal opinion) SE-211, SE-251, or the SE-257. On your first kit I'd just change the cam to the 211 & Hi Comp Cast if you are going to use stock heads. I noticed you're EFI also. Do you have a SERT or Power Commander? I know several people with hi comp builds 10.5:1 and they have no problems with over 20k logged on the motors.

I've seen alot of dyno sheets with 211's, hi comp cast, and stock heads producing 90-100hp & 95-100ft/bls torque. The 251's & 257'swould work good with the SE Performance Heads and hi comp forged pistons. I guess it just all depends what you want from the build. Low end torque, high end hp, etc....

I need a discount...hook a brother up! hahaha....Good luck with your build. I'm doing SE Heads, hi comp forged, and the 257 cam.

 

Thanks All,

The Hippo sounds what I'm looking for. I don't want anything over 10.1 compression. I typically do all my riding in the lower rpms, not liking to really rev the sh** out of it.

Regarding pistons do you think cast vs. forged would make a big difference on this build?

Also I think I’m going with a gear drive. Would there be a big increase in engine noise? Regarding gear drive what cam size what do you guys think 570 lift (I’m shooting for 10.1)

For heads what would be the better route, the Sreamin’ Eagle Performance Cylinder Heads (16952-99c) or have mine worked on? (The SE heads can take up to a 575 lift).

Also are there a lot of serts out there to get me close and put some miles on before I hit the dyno?

Thanks

 

If you're looking to save money have your stock heads ported by Bean over at BigBoyzcycles. You should give him a call and tell him what you're trying to do. He is very knowledgable.

 

Always a good idea to check your crankshaft run-out before buying the gear drive stuff, Iwould've saved some bucks if I had. The new roller chain conversionis a great alternative, but theset-up is new enuff that cam choice is fairly limited at present. I believe Andrews & Kuryakyn grinds are all that's available. But hey, works for me.

VicW.

 

Unless you know what your doing. IE Do it for a living or have a lot of cash to play with your best bet is to stay with a proven buil. Let someone else incur the cost of expermetation!lol If you like the looks of the Hippo stick with the reciepe. The 95 flatops cast work fine . Never heard of problem with pistons on this build using them. To give you a referance point on this build 4th gear throtal pined starting at 40mph motor slight lug to 45. At 45 pulling strong like I thought this build would! At 65 motor "got on cam"!! Felt like I down shifted except I didn't. Actually supprised me and had to grap bars. Pulled her to 90 and upshift to 5th and she was still pulling upward when I did. Normaly I shift to 5th at 50mph under normal ridding so 90 in 4th had me puckered up!! This builds has loads of stomp in mid range and more than enough in upper. Low range is muchbetter than stock as I ride 2up 70% of time and pulles off clean. Do not fool your self. It is not a dead stop torque monster. I can and have roasted the tire but no build will give you the best peformance in all rpm ranges. I do not like high rpms as a normal and wanted a build that I didn't have to rev on a daily basic but could reach and get it if called on. There are 3 issues with this build. 1: pistons need relievs inlarged. Latus did mine for 80 bucks. 2:Crank run out. Do some research or I will awnser piticular question. Mine was .0025 and can't tell there in there so quite. Did use undersize pinion gear. 3: Lower rocker covers need clearancing. Simple 10 min. with a drimal and I can show pics. Back in Feb. I did a long post w/pics as I did this build. Look for Hippo Build.

 

I did the HTCC build on my 03 RKC, HTCC Heads and pistons, stock throttle body, bored the stock jugs to 95" but stayed away fromt he SE cams, went with Woods Performance TW5G gear driven cam along with RineHart TD and SE AC and a PCIII tuner. Dynoed to 102hp, 115 tq. Yes, little higher compression and the cam is a .575 lift but the HTCC heads are set up to handle the lift from HD.

This is a very durable build, put 40k miles on it with no problem and it was a real puller and a blast to ride. Had an occaisional ping when accelerting in 4th or 5th from under 1800rpm, coulda fixed it by just reatrding the timing a touch, but it ran so strong and the ping was so erratic, I never messed with it.

This is a great build, and the others mentioned from GMR and HQ have had proven results.