No we don't.

 

But we do off topic banter and make personal comments a lot ... do you mean we don't have an editorial manual of style here?

Good engine building in the 2010s is all about crossing the Ts and dotting the is.

I'm sorry, I just wasn't ready for another cam topic already and wanted to lighten things up.


19961200, have you removed the heads already?

30,000 miles seems a little early to have to, how long are you planning on keep the bike for and how many miles do you do on average each year? Sounds like you are incurring a lot of expense for no real benefit at this point.

If you're only going to keep it for a couple of years, you will get away without doing so as you don't need to and you'll not get any of the money back when you sell it.

Cam, for sure, I can see why and your just lugging it, you want to go for the EV-13 or 23 or something similar. Adjustable rods are only necessary if you are going the cheap and quick route of cutting the old ones to take them out so as not to take off the heads and cylinders - which I would avoid doing, if only for the hassle of having removing the old gaskets and buy a top end gasket kit.

A metal breather is another $100. Again, are you keeping it or just exploring the idea of a Big Twin (I guess from your name you're a Sportster guy). If it's only a short fling, check it and if it needs replacing a new plastic one will save you.

Do you see what I am saying? The real question is how long do you really think you'll keep this for as you'll get many seasons out of it - 20,000 miles at least, or even much more - without having to spend a cent. Is it really a keeper?

If not, all you are doing is doing the next guy who buys it a favor and handing over your bucks to him. Save your money until you have to strip it.

Truth be, you'll not even see that much of difference in cams at 3,000 rpm, so why bother doing all that if you're not going to spin it?

The view from the saddle is the same, and perfectly usable as is.

 

This bike was in such bad shape that it was given to me. So who knows how it's been treated. The base gaskets were leaking and it was way over filled with oil when it came to me, that's why I pulled it all the way down. Plus my machinist buddy did all the work for free (me buying parts of course). Thanks for the info and will look at the cam post. I will stay with the stock breather. I'm also putting roller rocker arms in it, can I still go with stock pushrods or do I need adjustables with the rollers ?

 

Seafoam is good too.

 

Re: breather gear...

If you have the extra funds, I would put in an S&S gear.
I found this problem on mine shortly after I bought it (used)- three of the teeth on the stock nylon gear had sheared off, 2 or which got jammed in the oil pump gears which sheared the woodruff key on the gear off the pinion.
Could be just a fluke, but I changed mine out to an S&S, the oil pump was a serious bitch to rebuild with the engine in the frame.





I'd budget extra money on an older and especially neglected or abused bike for repairs for the first few thousand miles... stuff you wouldn't expect will break, leak, or otherwise leave you stranded, until you've gone through everything carefully. Here's a pic of my Dyna taken last week on a really beautiful day on the side of a freeway after the ignition system went tango uniform.

 

Are you a writer by trade????????????

 

Hey and welcome to HD forum. In looking for assistance, you Will need to determine your riding style. How much power do you want and at what rpm range do you want this power. That Will all be determined by the cam which Will also set the foundation for the proper compression ratio. You said your going to bore the cylinders and do the heads. What static cr are you looking for because the cam will change that number according to when the intake valve cloes. Forget roller rockers. Not really necessary and are nosier than oem rockers. Definitely do the adjustable pushrods and if your gonna do all this modifying don't Forget New lifters and pipes.... So how much torque and hp do you want and where do you want it?

 

Damn! And it had to happen on a hill like that! What a bitch!

 

Fair enough, that's a good reason. Do you have a slush fund put aside, or are you budgeting paycheck to paycheck? I'm not being nosey, I'm just the forum coupon mom.

The S&S one costs $100 - you get by now that H-D stands for that? - you can buy an Ultima or Sifton steel one for $35/$40. S&S don't even throw in a t-shirt or sticker. Equally, you'll read of folk going 80,000 on plastic ones, so it might not be an essential to do now. Unlike cams etc, it can be done later easily and without a major intervention, so if you are budgeting you can hold off. Check your own one and case for scratches.

Beware you'll need metal shims to go with the breather and some people sell them without.

I have rollers (some sweet soul ran them a few times on a dyno then decided he did not want them so I got them for a bargain price ...) but I'd agree with the others who say at the level you are talking about, and their expense ($400 etc), you really don't need them.

I'd guess you have 10,000 other things you could spend money on to greater effect.

What's your overall philosophy here? What is it you're trying to achieve?

Same goes for adjustables versus fixed. Why? Are you planning on swopping out cams at a later date? Are you skimming the head a huge amount? You don't say so, so why spend the money?

You introduced the build as a modest mid range bike. Keep it simple. I'd like to see people's justification for adjustable pushrods.

Is your friend skimming the heads and cylinders for you? That's a certainly good idea.

Or have you bought the pistons already and increased compression that way?
I'll trade you some writing for a Woods cam, or some valve springs.

 

Got 140k miles on my plastic breather.