That is good news, nice to see they are still standing behind the products in these tuff times. Now I hope Apple does as good with my laptop that died.

 

Beast - wish i knew something about the primary. im runnin open belt, but i can't help thinking it should be seperate from the engine oil. on older bikes i would close them off (automatic chain oiler was a term they used for breather) and run a gear lube. try this number for Matt at Midwest. perhaps he can shed some light. 314-773-3064

 

Known Ultima guru is John Sachs in Plantation Fla, I listed a crate motor that he did some surgery on, dyno sheets were attached but I'm not smart enough to transfer them, John knows his chit and this info was posted in a dyno section

ULTIMA 113 94 FXLR SACHS HEADS 139.8 HP / 131.5 TQ
This is my 1994 FXLR with a Ultima 113 basically out of the crate with the exception of a few mods. Here's the build:

1.Heads clipped and cleaned up by John Sachs
2. H-D "B" lifters
3. Rivera Tapper lite push rods
4. DTT external ignition
5. S&S "G" carb modified by John Sachs
6. Bassani Road Rage
Cam is the Ultima cam along with the Ultima pistons
Timing curves were set using the dials on the DTT no custom map

 

Yes I got a reply back from Matt they said to open the bottom breather which I did but there are still some problems.

 

Yesterday FedEx showed up with my replacement head from Midwest Motors. It has taken a month of emails and phone calls and each time they ask the same questions - seriously? Each email has all the engine info such as serial#, size, finish and all of my contact info.

Maybe I should be happy they decided to do anything at all. The 6 mo warranty was up b4 the bike was mok't, painted, titled and on the road. I suppose they could have told me to go pyss up a rope.

Ok, so it's finally here and it is complete with valves, guides, springs AND all associated caskets! OH HAPPY DAY. That is untill I notice a difference in the valve set up. The original front head that was removed (it has cracks, see above posts) has dual springs on each valve and a larger heavy duty keeper. The new one has a single spring of smaller guage and smaller keeper. Not good. I'm sure the original rear has the same as original front so I'm gonna end up with 2 different valve set ups? Great. Doesn't make sense to me.

I call Matt and get voice mail - no suprise there. I took pix and emailed them to him. Here we go again.....


NEW EDIT:


I have since learned that the new spring config is called a beehive spring that uses an upside down cone shape (smaller at the top, larger at the bottom) that allows more tension with less spring. I'm told it's a trick that hot rodders use to allow more lift without bottoming out. AND that Harley is beginning to use this also. I wish Midwest would have been a little more forthcoming with this type of information and trust me, it's not from the lack of asking. I am however, swapping to the old config of dual springs on this new head just for the simple fact that if one fails, the valve won't drop and do more damage.

 

Looks like I may be talking to myself on here, but this is my venting avenue so here I go again.

It's a week later and still no reply from Midwest. This is not at all what I expected after reading other posts on here about how Midwest picked up a guy's motor, rebuilt it and returned it to his door without charging him a dime. Still others relay how they have been treated great even after warranty expires. That's awesome.

I must have a dark cloud over my head or they think I'm BS'ing them. I can't get any answers from them to save my ***! I had to hound them to take a look at my problem, but once they did it was determined to be a materials defect. I was told they would replace the cracked cylinder head. I wait. I call and get voice mails. No return calls. I send emails and I am careful to be polite and ask when to expect the part, what they might need from me, will it be complete, etc. No reply. Finally, after I sent an email and leaving another voice message that my patients is wearing thin, I get a one line email "shipped today". When it arrived I noticed a difference between the new one and the one that I took off.

AGAIN I get nowhere with inquires. This is bordering on rediculous.

I have no probs doing the wrenching, but some of the tech Q's need A's. Alright fine, it's become obvious they have washed their hands of me so I set out to gather my own info, chat rooms, forums, visit reputable area shops and make my own decision. I made the changes to the new head myself (actually with help in a bud's shop with the right tools) and after all that it only took about two hours and the bike is back on the road. Just answering a couple Q's could have gone a long long way and saved time and a lot foot work.

So here it is...I still like the frikin product, but getting anything out of the manufacturer is like pulling damn teeth. The dealer I got the equipment from - during the chopper hayday - is no longer in biz.

My advice to anyone that may be considering an Ultima motor or tranny or any thing from them is that I would strongly suggest you go through a known and reputable shop. One that you can be reasonably sure will be around down the road should you have a problem so you can deal with someone face to face and let them handle the factory.

 

Your not a lone. I went through similar crp too.

zoood

 

I found out why the primary oil was getting in the motor, I bought a Compufire 3 phase 40amp alternator the spacer supplied was .005" smaller than the stock one on the seal surface, the coils also burnt up, it looks like a loose connection I only bought this in May and the dealer told me I was on my own!!!! Hopefully I will get some help as this is an expensive piece. No more oil transfer once I put the stock spacer back in. Not too impressed with the quality of this.

 

I bought an Ultima in the spring, ... I broke it in in very cool weather, and I was very happy with how it ran... and as I got more miles on the Engine the power got better as did the fuel economy.....

But the Engine has some issues .... right after I got it installed, it it had an inner seal leak, which had to be replaced, (done on warranty). I rode it for quite a few miles, and on one of my longer rides a bolt on the cam cover (cone) lost a bolt... or rather it broke off. I did not notice it was gone until later, which was fine as it did not immediately start to leak oil. However toward the end of the summer, during a run, I noticed it began to leak a little. Then I did a 1000 km run, and just outside of my hometown, something started knocking, coming from the top of the engine.... so I took it to the Harley Dealer that installed the motor (it was factory built).

I had taken it in primarily to get the bolt replaced, and have them investigate the knocking on the top part of the engine.... the bike still ran well despite the knocking. A mechanic listened to it and thought it was a misadjusted pushrod... but when they took to top part of the engine off they found a loose (or broken) rocker cover bolt.... but with the encouragement of Ultima, they went down further to the cylinder heads, and Harley "did not like what they saw"... so they sent pics in, and then shipped the Engine back to the Ultima factory as per Ultima request .... that was a month ago....

The Engine had 7400 miles on it or about 12,000 kms.... yes I rode it alot.

 

Just over 3 months on Ultima Coil and problem returned. Same side of coil, just wondering if anyone else has encounterd this problem.
Jireh is crediting 2nd coil and I ordered a DynaTech, cost more but hopefully I wont get the problem back!!