hello guys

writing this from Poland and working on my first HD. had dozens of other bikes and still own a couple of Beemers. In my life did a LOT of wrenching on bikes and feel pretty confident with my own hands.

have my imported 1995 FLHR with 32k miles in march this year and the bike WAS quite as a church mouse after doing the primary maintenance before I put the bike to good use: jobs were replacing the cam bearing, new camshaft seal, new Feeling lifters, S&S adj pushrods.
The old cam had a bit of scoring from the INA bearing already going south so when money allowed I got myself a new EV13 cam and this is when it all has started but lets read on.

While pulling the nosecone for the first time the gasket of course went so I made a NEW gasket from proper gasket material and not being able to get a good print off of the engine side I made a terrible mistake of NOT punching the oil hole for the oil passage to the nose cone. Rode like that about 1000ks and the bike was ok with no ill effects and working quiet until the very end.
When I got the new cam finally I pulled the cone again and only then I realised what I have done :/ The pulled gasket even had a little balloon deformation from the pressure trying to get through.

Fitted the EV13 and slapped everything together with a properly made gasket and apart from a turbo-like whine of the gears not being the right size for a pair I was welcomed with a VERY loud noise of the top end - as if the valves were on the loose side.
Pulled the nose cone again, swapped the gears between shafts and still the top end noise is there.

I run Feuling lifters and 24TPI pushrods - the lifters call for 2.4turns from the initial contact, I went from there to 4! turns and this does not help at all. Also the Feulings bleed out pretty quickly so even used the original lifters in the front block - 15 vs 2 minute bleed time - no change to the noise.

When I start the bike in the morning it is quiet. As quiet as an evo could be I think. In the matter of 1-2 minutes of running you can hear the racket coming in from the normal operating noises to valve clatter that on hot engine is audible even with ear plugs, more audible on the exhaust side - bike runs great, returns good mileage, starts hot and cold from a tick, no oil consumption.

what I checked until now:

• good oil pressure: 20PSI idle with original bypass spring. 4mm preload brings idle to 40PSI so no problem here I think - manometer fitted into the pressure sensor hole;
• pulled rocker cover - when cranking with no plugs, within 1 second there is instant oil flow through the rocker arms, when idling with no cover there is no oil flow proportional to the revs - if cranking gave me a nice stream of oil idling should bring a shitload of oil but this is not the case and I do not understand that;
• there is a nice oil return to the tank, no sumping, the oil filter is dry and the plugs are nice light tan colour;
• lifter block filtering screen clean and with no damage;
• no excessive lateral or axial play in rocker arms.

I could think running the motor without the supply to the nose cone for this period of time could have done a damage to the bushings but the pressure is there so I think there is no bleed through the nose cone - especially when the machine is idling and doing the usual rabied sawing machine noise. Even given the nature of the EV13 cam which could be a bit more noisy than the stock there is not possibility the motor wants to run that clattery.

I have run out of ideas and slowly turning grey...
The only thing I have not done is extending the pushrods to the very end of the hydrolifter stroke and backing it half a turn. IF this is not going to bring any change I will go mad.

One thing I do not understand is lack of oil gushing up there while the motor is idling - although oil is there then given how wet everything around was - rather changing the flow into droplets...
Second thing I am not sure of IF I measure the pressure at the pressure sensor does it give indication of pressure at the lifters AND the nosecone combined or just the lifters? I guess the latter as the lifters should be pressure primary focus.
Contrary to ALL of the above and IGNORING all of the above the last ultimate test could be pulling the nose cone just 2-3mms away from the engine case and inserting a piece of thin plastic sheet blocking the flow to the cone just for the test. If things go quiet... then I am fukced... as I already know how shitty waters that's gonna place me into.

Did my fair share of reading before writing this post and checked ALL that IMVHO could bring as much into the case as possible. If only you like to read that through [img alt=""]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img]

Hope someone chimes in.

 

You rode the bike 1000 ks. what is ks? Or are you saying 1000 kilometers, which is roughly 600 miles. If so running/riding the bike that long without the oil port to the nose cone will blow out the pinion bushing and could be why you are not getting oil to the top.. You will need to disassemble and inspect.. The Service manual should have the max tolerance of the nose cone pinion to bushing spec.. Too much clearance, If that is the case you will need to replace the bushing and then have it line bored to match the case/pinion shaft.. Or you can try to find another nose cone (preferably OEM) and hopefully it will match pretty well. Is there any damage to the pinion Shaft?
Also when it comes to setting the preload of the pushrods, a 24 TPI pushrod will only require a 19 flat preload.. That's 3 full turns and 1 flat..

 

Hi, and thanks for chiming in.
there is no damage to the pinion - as far as I could tell.
your math is about right - that would be 600miles - however as you could gather from the text I have measured the pressure and it is NOT low or non existent even in idle so I am not really so much into the nose cone bleeding off theory - well I would like this NOT to be true.
when attaching the manometer to the usual pressure sensor spot I am guessing this is the pressure in the main oil line TO the lifters? OR? 20PSI in idle is not a bad value and I can get is as high as 40PSI with shimming the spring by 5mm shim.

As per the adjustable pushrods AND feuling lifters - the combo calls for 2,4turns. Tried this and ended up at 4 turns. To no avail.

Can somebody explain the EXACT path of oil from the pump up? Where does the TOP/BOTTOM split happen?

 

You should get a factory service manual..

 

The info on the place where the oil splits and how are the two paths of oil in relation to the pressure read at the top certainly is there That is exactly why I am asking people with potentially experience in wrenching and not so much in reading.

 

If you blocked off the hole going to the cam cover, the crank / and pistons weren't getting any oil.. Lower end is shot.. What you are hearing could be piston slap because they weren't lubed.. The crank is fed through an orifice to roller bearings on the rods.. Splash from the rods lubes the pistons. If the rods are bad, oil pressure won't change but the most likely issue is the upper connecting rod bushing and the pistons.. There is still some oil leaking down from the top end lube into the crank case..

 

I do understand the gravity of your words but get this - the bike was working like a clockwork until the new cam came in.
stethoscope picks the tick ideally from the sides and tops of the rocker covers
really do not think what I am hearing is the piston pins having fun with the conrod bushings.

 

You say motor was fine after the cam install and you put 1000 klicks before the sound happened? That is what I'm reading. May not be a rod bushing but scuffed skirts on the pistons.. The oil hole that goes too the cam cover feeds the crank. Look at 7B in the drawing. If it's blocked off, the bottom end only gets oil from the head returns which is not very much. There isn't much to lube the underside of the pistons. Stock EVO motor does not have piston oilers.

Find an endoscope and peek at the cylinders though the plug hole..

By all means, find another opinion.

 

English is not my first language but I said explicitly the engine was working like a clockwork UNTIL the new cam came in.
And that was with the nosecone pathway blocked off.
New gasket with the proper hole in it and new cam and clatter aboard.
When I listen to the cylinders themselves there is no disdernible sound.

lucky for me sort of the feulings are high flow
lifters and the oil that was not going elsewhere ended up dripping to the crankcase.

I have run out of ideas. Thinking about bottoming the lifters next and backing
half a turn just to have it done and then I will start tearing the rockerboxes apart.
it sounds as if something is ticking agains the lids - but I run the engine with plasticine on the lids and there is still 2mm of room for the rocker. No sign of contact also.

 

Diagnosing the problem over the net is very difficult. Even if I were there, I'd have trouble locating the noise.. My hearing is shot. Many years ago I use to be pretty good with a mechanic's stethoscope.

If you are convinced that it's valve train noise, you might want to pull the rocker cover and inspect the rockers arms. I would remove them to see how they look. With a EV13 cam I doubt it's a clearance issue.

I had a similar valve train issue on a 113 ci SnS Evo motor. The motor had a tick that picked up when warm. One thing that I found was that the pinion gear on the crank had come loose.. That might be another thing to check.. I don't know if you removed it..

Still, You may have been lucky that you didn't kill the crank with the feed passage blocked. I'll bet that you reduced it's lifespan.