TC88 description by Donny Petersen
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TC88 description by Donny Petersen
Reprinted with permission of Donny Petersen, Heavy Duty Cycles, Toronto, Ontario.
DONNY PETERSENS
SPECIAL ENGINE FEATURE
FATHEAD TWINCAM88
Twin Cam 88 + 88B "Fathead"
Where should I start? Well how about first describing this engine, 4 ½ years in the making, as a bulletproof platform for the future. Designed with durability and reliability in mind, the engineers are expecting a minimum 100,000 miles before rebuild. I’m writing this in March and as of this date they already have a Fathead with this magic mileage and it doesn’t need a rebuild.
Yeah I know of all the mythical Evos that have supposedly logged on the magic 100 grand but lemme tell you that for every rider that’s actually done that there are many more exaggerating their motorcycles prowess.
The Fathead is gonna consistently do 100 grand without blinking. In fact there are parts in that baby that will not need replacing for a few hundred thousand miles like the pinion bearing that rivals those used in top fuel dragsters. This engine is overengineered. It is a superlative effort in engine design that I’ve never seen or hope to have seen in my 30 years of working on the V-Twin.It’s a platform for many modifications that are going to be extremely reliable. It is obvious to me that screaming Eagle is going to attempt to take charge and control this engines' destiny in the hiperformance arena.
Again, by March 98, the Factory has logged 2 million miles in testing with 12,600 hours on the Dyno.
You see! This engine has been developed to run stock forever and almost forever with Harley Davidson designed Hi-performance components. This is why it’s called a platform. If your heart desires this staging area for more power it will be available, reliable, fast and durable. For more info on this aspect see "Hopping up the Fathead" elsewhere in this issue.
Skeptical as all get out, I entered the room, which was full of engineers, product marketing people and William Davidson himself. The raw emotion emanating from Bill Davidson was readily apparent as Dr. Marty Rosenblum the Factory historian watched Harley history in the making.
I had my list of Evo deficiencies such as cracking cases, leaking base gaskets, oily venting, pulling case studs…need I go on. What had they done to fix these inadequacies in the greatest engine produced by the Factory up until 1999?
Wow!
Approximately 460 component parts of the new Fathead engine were laid out in front of me on a large table for my perusal. To my right, sat a fully assembled engine in its entire splendor. To my left was a 1999 Dyna twin cam 88 cubic inch Fathead motorcycle. Talk about Harley heaven. Only about 15 of the parts are the same as those used in the Evo. It took me three minutes to throw every criticism I was about to launch out the window. For this story see "Ya’ll ain’t Gitting in der boy. Dats were de secret stuff is." elsewhere in this issue.
What followed was three days of intensive training from 6:30 am to 11 p.m. at night on the new motor. The teachers were Bill Davidson, engineers"Skip" Metz, and"Koby" Kobylarz with "Spike" Kieffer giving the overview. Steve, "who bleeds Harley oil when cut" Piehl ran shotgun. "Mr. Clean", Kenny Sutton, the VP in charge of building the Fathead showed us late at night how he was going to actually build the engines in the Pilgrim Rd. 400,000 sq. ft. plant demonstrating all the quality control features. Jerry "Mr. Smooth" Wilke VP of HD and President and CEO of Buell ably demonstrated through his every action why Harley is successful and is going to remain so. Not a big Buell fan because of its departure from traditional Harley styling, Jerry’s enthusiasm and instruction soon converted me to being a big fan. And I’ll tell ya somethin’. For anyone to do that ya gotta be smooth.
Then the Factory Race Team head honchos Steve Scheibe and Art Gomper taught us about the VR1000 in a secret f
DONNY PETERSENS
SPECIAL ENGINE FEATURE
FATHEAD TWINCAM88
Twin Cam 88 + 88B "Fathead"
Where should I start? Well how about first describing this engine, 4 ½ years in the making, as a bulletproof platform for the future. Designed with durability and reliability in mind, the engineers are expecting a minimum 100,000 miles before rebuild. I’m writing this in March and as of this date they already have a Fathead with this magic mileage and it doesn’t need a rebuild.
Yeah I know of all the mythical Evos that have supposedly logged on the magic 100 grand but lemme tell you that for every rider that’s actually done that there are many more exaggerating their motorcycles prowess.
The Fathead is gonna consistently do 100 grand without blinking. In fact there are parts in that baby that will not need replacing for a few hundred thousand miles like the pinion bearing that rivals those used in top fuel dragsters. This engine is overengineered. It is a superlative effort in engine design that I’ve never seen or hope to have seen in my 30 years of working on the V-Twin.It’s a platform for many modifications that are going to be extremely reliable. It is obvious to me that screaming Eagle is going to attempt to take charge and control this engines' destiny in the hiperformance arena.
Again, by March 98, the Factory has logged 2 million miles in testing with 12,600 hours on the Dyno.
You see! This engine has been developed to run stock forever and almost forever with Harley Davidson designed Hi-performance components. This is why it’s called a platform. If your heart desires this staging area for more power it will be available, reliable, fast and durable. For more info on this aspect see "Hopping up the Fathead" elsewhere in this issue.
Skeptical as all get out, I entered the room, which was full of engineers, product marketing people and William Davidson himself. The raw emotion emanating from Bill Davidson was readily apparent as Dr. Marty Rosenblum the Factory historian watched Harley history in the making.
I had my list of Evo deficiencies such as cracking cases, leaking base gaskets, oily venting, pulling case studs…need I go on. What had they done to fix these inadequacies in the greatest engine produced by the Factory up until 1999?
Wow!
Approximately 460 component parts of the new Fathead engine were laid out in front of me on a large table for my perusal. To my right, sat a fully assembled engine in its entire splendor. To my left was a 1999 Dyna twin cam 88 cubic inch Fathead motorcycle. Talk about Harley heaven. Only about 15 of the parts are the same as those used in the Evo. It took me three minutes to throw every criticism I was about to launch out the window. For this story see "Ya’ll ain’t Gitting in der boy. Dats were de secret stuff is." elsewhere in this issue.
What followed was three days of intensive training from 6:30 am to 11 p.m. at night on the new motor. The teachers were Bill Davidson, engineers"Skip" Metz, and"Koby" Kobylarz with "Spike" Kieffer giving the overview. Steve, "who bleeds Harley oil when cut" Piehl ran shotgun. "Mr. Clean", Kenny Sutton, the VP in charge of building the Fathead showed us late at night how he was going to actually build the engines in the Pilgrim Rd. 400,000 sq. ft. plant demonstrating all the quality control features. Jerry "Mr. Smooth" Wilke VP of HD and President and CEO of Buell ably demonstrated through his every action why Harley is successful and is going to remain so. Not a big Buell fan because of its departure from traditional Harley styling, Jerry’s enthusiasm and instruction soon converted me to being a big fan. And I’ll tell ya somethin’. For anyone to do that ya gotta be smooth.
Then the Factory Race Team head honchos Steve Scheibe and Art Gomper taught us about the VR1000 in a secret f
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
TC 88 description by Donny Peterson
I do believe that article is "years old". If he has written an update lately...please point me to it so I can see if this guy has a different opinion.
I must admit though, that I am still riding one of the first TC-88's off the assembly line. Mine is a 99 with an engine build date of August 98 and it has not flown apart yet. It sounds like it will at any moment but I just keep riding. Yes...I did replace the cam bearings a long...long time ago, but the chain and tensioners have 40K on them and after a recent inspection...still looked just fine. The TC-88 is likely the most ungraded engine the MOCO has ever built and a lot of the upgrades are offered by the after market just to keep the thing running. I do have a friend that has 145,000 miles on his TC-88 dresser and it has had one rear drive belt and one set of tensioners installed over those 145k miles.
I must admit though, that I am still riding one of the first TC-88's off the assembly line. Mine is a 99 with an engine build date of August 98 and it has not flown apart yet. It sounds like it will at any moment but I just keep riding. Yes...I did replace the cam bearings a long...long time ago, but the chain and tensioners have 40K on them and after a recent inspection...still looked just fine. The TC-88 is likely the most ungraded engine the MOCO has ever built and a lot of the upgrades are offered by the after market just to keep the thing running. I do have a friend that has 145,000 miles on his TC-88 dresser and it has had one rear drive belt and one set of tensioners installed over those 145k miles.
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I have 80k on my 04 Heritage. Problem free up until recently. In the process of addressing the tensioners we read so much about now. Other then that theres not a single bad thing i can say about it. I love my bike and will never get rid of it
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
04....if you got 80K out of the tensioners...you were one of the lucky ones. I too plan to ride my early TC-88/95 right down into the ground for as long as I can get aftermarket parts for it. Most of the people that see you on your bike have no idea what model-year you have anyway. That friend I mentioned above with 145,000 miles on his at that time has just rolled over 160,000. He has been through two sets of tensioner shoes and 1 drive belt.
I would strongly consider the hydraulic tensioner upgrade. I had to be sold on it before I did it. It's money well spent and possibly the last time you will need to worry about tensioner shoes. Hang onto it....the newer ones just get more complicated.
I would strongly consider the hydraulic tensioner upgrade. I had to be sold on it before I did it. It's money well spent and possibly the last time you will need to worry about tensioner shoes. Hang onto it....the newer ones just get more complicated.
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 3,846
Likes: 171
From: Simi Valley, CA
I have an '02 TC-88B Duece with 80,000 miles on it. It still runs perfectly. The only things I've ever done to it besides regular oil changes (2,500 miles) is changed the cam tensioners at around 50,000 miles. I actually converted to gear drive so the cams changed too.
As far as the tensioners go, I only changed them because of all the horror stories I was told about them. But when I took mine apart the tensioners looked perfectly normal and I'm sure they would have went another 50,000 miles with no problem. If I didn't already buy the gear drive and cams before taking it apart I wouldn't have second-guessed one bit simply buttoning her back up with the original parts.
As far as the tensioners go, I only changed them because of all the horror stories I was told about them. But when I took mine apart the tensioners looked perfectly normal and I'm sure they would have went another 50,000 miles with no problem. If I didn't already buy the gear drive and cams before taking it apart I wouldn't have second-guessed one bit simply buttoning her back up with the original parts.