+1

I agree go with a stock motor.

Also, what about insurance? Will they cover any of this?

 

If it was me I wouldn't use any part of that motor. There may be parts that can be saved, but I would never trust it completely and if something did go wrong I would kick myself for having to do it twice.

I would check with local dealers or local engine builders to see if they have a 96 sitting around, put a cam in it and get back on the rode.

I'm really sorry that happened to you...I think I would have thrown up seeing all that damage.

 

Hey I found you a brand new motor on craigs list:
http://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/mpo/4434915145.html

 

If it were our fault, no doubt we would take care of it.


Yes, there are many parts in some Motorcycle Competitions (like at the Bonniville Salt Flats) that require certain parts to be lock-wired before you can even make a run. However, air cleaner bolts are not one of them.

There are MANY fasteners inside every HD engine that are not lock wired or lock tabbed, they rely on proper torque and thread locker and they do not fail.


If you have any doubt that any part was installed properly, I agree 100%. The way to double check is to remove the fasteners, reapply thread locker, and then tighten them to proper torque settings, then go back around and re-torque each fastener again to the proper torque settings, as you should when tightening any group of fasteners, such as lug nuts, head bolts, etc.

IT IS IMPROPER to tighten the bolts without removing them and reapplying thread locker. If you tighten the bolts that are already installed with thread locker previously, you are breaking the "locked thread" (the cured thread locker) on the threads and are not much better off than if you did not use thread locker to begin with.


To be clear, there 10's of thousands of air cleaners of this design, with untold millions of miles on the road today, that have had, and will have, no problems.

This is the design used by S&S, regarded by many as the most high quality producer of V-Twin engines and components. It is also the same design used by many other manufacturers of high performance intakes.

There are also many air cleaners that have the safety tubes that will prevent the sucking in of a broken bolt, an improperly installed bolt, etc. These designs are compromises, they inhibit the flow of air, and only started showing up around the time of a proliferation of Chinese made parts and fasteners.

From what we have seen in the pictures, it is apparent that it was not a failure of one of our components or fasteners, but we are working with him at finding out what did fail, and more importantly, working at helping him get back on the road.