I am the proud owner of a 2000 Roadking with 47,000 miles on it and my only current upgrades are a Roadburner true duel Exhaust set up, K and N Air intake and Mikuni carb installed by previous owner. I love my bike and it has always ran great (reliable). In doing my homework on this forum and talking to other riders I decided I was on borrowed time with the stock cams and tensioners (horror stories). I found an independent mechanic who will do the job with S & S 510 Gear driven cams, screaming eagle adjustable push rods and new lifters for $1195.00 parts and labor. While in his shop he showed me a set of ported heads, (done by another independent), 95" jugs and new harley pistons, that he has had sitting on his shelf. He said the total set up would land me around 90-100 HP and he would do the whole top end labor and parts for another grand. So total price OTD $2195.00. I ride mostly solo but my wife rides maybe 3000 mile a year with me. My two questions are: #1. Is this a good deal for $2200? and #2. My bike is reliable now, will this (especially the top end work) make it more reliable for the next 47,000 miles I plan to put on it. Thanks in advance for any input, I am still a rookie.

 

Update. The top end will have no change in stroke and 10:1 compression, head work to include returning my stock heads as cores

 

If your 'indy' does a competent job with the install, I don't see any decrease in reliability. There are thousands of TC-88's running around with gear drive cams and big bore kits. The carb will make it less expensive to tune also.
You're sure going to like the extra 'kick'!!

 

Sound pretty good, just make sure that he checks your crank runout before putting the gear drive cams in. If your crank is not within spec, you will have to spend some more money on the S/E Camplate and I would then suggest the 211 cams with your headwork. This is a very reliable and strong build.

 

"Good deal" is always tricky since it really depends on the quality of the parts, especially the heads. Anyone with a couple of cheap tools can "port" heads.

Suggestion: Ask the indy for some customers to contact who have used the heads done by the other indy. Contact them and see what their experience has been.

Also, HD introduced a newer version of the SE adjustable push rods; the older version had a tendency to rub the tubes, so you'll want to have p/n's for the SE adjustables the indy is selling you: the new version or the old.

As already mentioned, the crank run-out needs to be measured and be within spec to use gear drive cams.

Carl

 

Much thanks for the good advice I will definately ask a couple of questions based on your replies. The mechanic is going to check my crank runout before instal. I will also ask about the Push rods (new or old style) The head work is going to be done at Freds Evil Twin in Seattle Area. The mechanic doing the job has used him exclusivley for quite a while.

 

I think you will have a very nice reliable set up if you go with what you mention above. I have done 2 BB kits using the 510G gear cams in the last 8 months and both bikes are running very strong. You can see what I put in my 06 Ultra from looking under my pic. Good luck.

 

Mainshaft: I would be very happy with numbers close to what you have. I really love to ride in the Mountians and that extra torgue will be nice!!

 

I didn't see anything about hi-flo oil pump, but the cost is still very good. My indy wants about $2K w/o the hi-flo oil pump.

 

That price doesnt include a different oil pump, will the stock one be adequate??