I'm looking at installing the big bore kit on my 01 FLHTC. I see I can get the 95" kit for about $499 and the S&S 97" kit for about $795. That's a big difference is cost and I read some where 95" is the highest you can go safely, but S&S has a special way to do it I supposed. I just don't know if the extra 2" in displacement is worth it. Does anyone here know?

Thanks

 

I have the 95 inch kit on my RKC, stage II tune and am very pleased. I believe the 95 kit is bigger bore without stroke lengthening and the 97 is bigger bore and slightly longer stroke. when HD went from 88 to 96, I think what they did was stroked the motor only. Again, I could be wrong. Short stroke with larger bore generally equals more torque at lower rpms and faster revs. Increasing the stroke, increases displacement which can increase HP and torque, but at a slight cost in increased mechanical leverage.

 

have the S&S 97" kit,se air cleaner,Rinehart true duels,heads done by TMan,cam 625 .......dino @ 103/109 and gets 45 mpg............can't quit smiling

 

Wow! Those are great numbers! How much for the head job?

 

In reading the S&S web page the 97 is just a bolt-on kit. No change in stroke. Are your carved or EFI. Mine is carbed and I got a new Mikuni 45 I will be installing

 

That's absolutely wrong. There are thousands of 88" to 98" Big Bore motors running around with no problems what so ever. I done 3 myself and one of them has in excess of 70,000 miles on it.

Rick

 

The difference in bore size between 95, 97 and 98 kits is actually quite small. A 95 kit has 3.875" bores, giving 94.34 cu in; a 97 kit has 3.927" bores, giving 96.89 cu in; a 98 cu in kit has 3.938" bores, giving 97.44 cu in.

You can see that the difference in size between a 95 and 98 is just 1/16" on diameter and that some artistic license is used in what size they actually give.

 

Yep, but all else being equal 3" is 3" and IMHO there's no reason not to go as big as possible. Go with a reputable machine shop and you get cylinders bored to the pistons you're going to use and rings fitted properly rather than an "off the shelf" kit from HD.

Rick

 

The S&S Cylinder fins look a little different then the HD versions.

 

Any of the Three Kits (95, 97, or 98) will give you + 100HP / + 100TQ.
I have over 50K on my 05 98".
Love it.

Its all in the $$$$

Ken