I've been doing some research and am now leaning towards the Woods W6 cam instead of the EV-27. I've read some really good things about it. But if I get the SE heads or some good head work done, maybe an even bigger cam with higher lift. The Woods W6H cam has .590 lift, and I think even the SE head springs would need to be adjusted to accommodate that.

If I'm going to spring for SE heads or head work anyway, I should just do the cam/lifters/pushrods with it all at the same time, so I don't have to do *another* cam swap when I get the heads. I want to keep the engine balanced, and get good low-end and mid-range torque, and I'm concerned that the SE heads or head work might overpower an EV-27 or even a W6. I'm thinking that SE heads adjusted for the lift of the W6H cam would be killer, bit I'm not expert enough to know if that would be a good choice for long-term reliability. Seems like that much iron might get a bit finicky.

 

I believe the further one goes away from a stock motor the less reliable it becomes. Now, you sound like a hot rodder so stock for you (or me) is borderline boredom. So, we fork out $$$ to make it go zoom zoom zoom. And, we LIKE IT!

I've read and heard that lift above .5 (non-bolt in cam) requires some head work, different pistons, or something to gain clearance between valve and piston. Also it makes sense that a lift of that size or greater would require additional high performance parts (i.e. springs) to get it to withstand the increased expectations and stress.

There have been peeps on here that really liked the Woods cam. I've never had one, so I can't honestly compare it with the ev-27. Comparing the numbers of the two cams will give ya an idea of which one would be more to your liking. Others here that have had both would have a good idea of what to expect.

Sounds to me like you've got a handle on it.

Start a thread about what you're looking to do. Be specific and the engine builders on here will give you some good advice about which parts work well with each other. And, imo that's important - to find out the performance results beforehand - instead of just throwing a grab bag of components together. Ask which parts work well together to give you the torque/hp and fun factor you're after. Tons of experience on here.

Good luck with it, and when it's the way you want it let me know and we'll try out a few mountain twisties.

 

Cool, Cosmo... I'd like to ride with you! Yeah, there are so many different things that could be done... of course, money is always a factor. Sort of "dreams vs. reality". I'm just mulling over different options right now...

Hi-lift cams need the valve springs set for the lift, but the SE heads can accommodate the W6H lift with a spring adjustment (I think...). The question is would my stock pistons have the clearance for that lift? Probably, but maybe not...

The main thing I want to do first is get rid of the crappy INA cam bearing before it fails and eats up my engine. I have 46k on the engine now. So, replacing that naturally leads to putting in a better cam, which involves new lifters and adjustable chromoly pushrods at least. Then, "while I'm in there", that leads to the SE heads, the W6H, maybe pistons, etc. I'm not sure how far I want to take the bike yet. .. I would love hotrod performance cuz I LOVE to go fast, but I realize that I now have a heavy 2-wheeled Caddy and not a Porsche 911 Turbo! At some point it ceases to make a lot of sense to dump larger and larger amounts of money into it to get 5% or 10% more power, at the expense of creating a really finicky and high-maintenance engine... just buy an R1000 or a Hayabusa to go fast on!

Also, over in the "Peace and Quiet" thread, schwangster and grbrown convinced me that I really needed the TT Trackula immediately to get rid of the bagger wobble, so I ordered one that will be arriving in a few days. I only paid $689, but that's $689 that I now *don't* have for engine work (that's almost enough for a set of SE heads, dammit! Or new Velva Touch chrome blocks/lifters/rods!) I will have to take off the swingarm to get rid of the cleve blocks and put in the new bronze bearings from the kit... and that will be a PITA I hadn't anticipated either... But when I'm done, those mountain twisties will *really* be beckoning me, so I'll ring you up here! Hopefully we'll have some nice riding days this winter... and not much Might have to wait til spring tho...

I guess the bottom line is that any seriously major engine stuff will probably have to be put off for awhile. I am really worried about that cam bearing tho, and I definitely want to replace it soon, so I'll very likely go ahead and do the cam (probably an EV27 but maybe a W6!), lifters, and rods.

Thanks for the feedback, Cosmo!

 

NGH,

If I can chip in my 2 cents worth here as well! There are a few head specialists like Hillsidecycles (another HDF sponsor) Headquarters, who can work wonders and supply a suitable cam. I had my Evo done ten years ago (before my S&S 107) and would do it again, rather than just buying parts and bolting it up myself. These guys can add far more value than us doing a pick-n-mix.

 

Excellent point, Graham! I don't know nearly as much as I'd surely need to about serious engine building to make something really run great with major mods. I am comfortable putting in a cam, lifter, and pushrods... but I should probably should leave anything more major than that to the pros, lest I screw it up, expensively. The problem is getting the bike to a place like that for them to do the work. I guess could ship them my heads and have them do the work remotely, then button it all back up here myself.

Or maybe I should just save up a whole lot of pennies, and then get an Ultima 113 or something, at some future point!

 

Or maybe I should just save up a whole lot of pennies, and then get an Ultima 113 or something, at some future point!


We had the dealers and indy shops do most of the work on our evo before we purchased the Ultima 113, but this season they only mounted the tires. Depending on the dealer the bill would over $1000 on a pretty regular basis. I did not keep track, but I believe we already broke even with the Ultima 113 considering the money saved not having others work on our bike - and if it holds up another season I will be saving money. We did not ride as much as I would have liked, these days my wife is forced to work 7 days a week, and between that and the weather we don't do as much riding, just under 10,000 miles since we put the Ultima in last November.



.

 

Pajoe - how do you like your Ultima 113? That looks like one of the best deals out there for a big performance motor - way less than S&S or the others! I may just save up for one of those! They look really nice, too. I assume they are a straightforward bolt-in for an Evo bike, right?

 

That's what I did, waited and saved, I would read the threads with the other guys comments about their Ultima engines and waited for the day I could do it too. Then last year my wife was off for six weeks because of foot surgery and I knew it would be a great time to do it as we could not ride with her bad foot. I like the Ultima 113 a lot, it has more torque, over 100 pounds from 2900 up to the rev limiter currently set at 5500 rpms. More torque is nicer as we are at the maximum weight limit almost all the time. They come complete, you need to buy gaskets and yes, they are a bolt in as you describe, we did need to raise the tank. I never changed an engine and had to do many things twice to get it right but so far it is still going. I confess, I really don't want to go back to the 80", although I probably would get used to it in a short time.


joe
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Thanks, Pajoe! Great info! Makes me want to start stashing more money in the little "Harley Fund" jar on my kitchen counter! That engine sounds SWEET! I want a lot of low-end torque cuz I don't want to run the thing at 5000 RPM to get the power out of it.

I was reading on the Ultima site that they have a new 124" engine aimed at baggers. Makes me swoon...

 

The new "bagger" engine sounds great to me. I also have a bit of a desire to own one of them. Maybe some day I will buy one too, it's on my list of things I think I would like to have, but just can't justify buying it yet. A coworker that rode Harleys all his life used to say when you ride a Harley you are always wishing for something more, another gear or more horsepower or better seat, it's part of being a Harley rider. My favorite was when he would say something like, "it's a Harley for Christ's sake, it's not supposed to work perfectly"



joe