The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I should not cheap out by reusing the lifters.

I found a set of lifters on eBay for a decent deal.

Crane Cams big axle lifters 3-2050. I picked up the set of four for $189.95 including shipping.

Oddly enough I was able to find the big axle lifters for slightly less than the regular ones even though they were both crane cams.

I found a decent deal on roller rockers but after reading numerous complaints about noise, I decided to stick with the stock rockers, especially since the ev13 is such a mild cam.

I also got to thinking about the cam bearing and instead of taking the chance the shop would install whatever they had or maybe not even change it, I went ahead and picked up Crane Cams cam bearing 7-0400 after reading about it. I found it on ebay for $15.51 including shipping.

I know there can be a lot of variation with the quality of gaskets, and instead of taking a chance the shop would use whatever cheap gaskets they might have laying around, I decided to order Cometic gaskets myself after researching their website. Another factor is I want the head gasket to be .030" thick to work well with the amount of material I am planning on having removed from the heads. The plan is to removed .050" from the heads and then use the .030" head gaskets, which would give me compression of 9.5: 1. Normal gasket thickness is .040" or .060". I read that it is best to not exceed .050" when shaving the heads for a mild cam and instead use the thinner gasket to get the compression higher. I got a Cometic top end gasket kit with the .030" head gaskets and a Cometic Cam Service gasket kit on ebay. Part numbers and pricing, including shipping are as follows:

Cometic Cam Gasket Service Kit C9624F was $19.04
Cometic EST Top End Gasket Kit w/.030" Head was $87.39

I am not trying to be a post ***** here. I think documenting the parts I purchased, along with part numbers and prices can be of benefit to someone in the future. I edited this particular post to add a lot more information.

 

The last of the parts showed up on my door step today. Now the tough decision. Weather is beautiful, sunny, and temperatures have subsided to just being cool at night and warm in the day compared to the heat that has been making it almost too hot to ride

(I quantified that with almost, although the Evo actually started to overheat in a horrible traffic jam caused by road construction, causing me to shut the engine down and push the heavy Heritage in heavy traffic a little over two miles, before traffic started flowing enough to justify running the engine)

So, since the work is a little more extensive than what I am comfortable doing, I am taking it to a good shop to get it done. I have 11 days vacation which started when I left work at 5 PM this evening. With this nice weather, I might just hold on to the parts and bring the bike to the shop just before my vacation ends. Alternatively, I could bring the bike to the shop, then take off on an impromptu out of state road trip in my Jeep and then the bike will be ready when I get back, with the rationale being I am anxious to see the results of the upgrades.

Something I observed a couple of nights ago that was interesting. The temperature dropped down to 70 and the dew point was 67, so it was a cool evening for a ride. The bike ran so good and felt like it had so much more power. It ran so smooth. If it was like that all of the time, I would probably not even bother with these upgrades. I think since this summer was especially hot, it made the engine feel tired due to lower air density.

 

Never mind, I was asking about pushrods and I see you already bought some adjustables.

 

LA?? I would be holding onto the parts until after Christmas then drop her off. you gots lotsa good riding weather left yet. no?

 

We get a lot of rain down here. I have gotten drenched badly repeatedly recently and the bike is still filthy from it.

 

Yep, adjustable chromoly adjustables from Crane Cam. I got a decent deal on them. The Andrews ones were a lot more expensive and I found no evidence of them being better, especially with the big difference in price.

Regarding milling the heads, I am going to ask the shop if they can CC them first, because apparently there is a lot of variation and loose manufacturing tolerance to where what may be the perfect amount to remove from one particular engine may end up being way too much causing problems, or too little to even make a difference.

I know what cranking pressure I want to end up with and what Andrews recommended for static compression ratio.

Andrews recommends 9.25:1

Taking .040 off combined with the .030" gasket will probably be fine, but I want a measurement to make sure. If the shop I intend on going to can't do it, then there a couple of places I found online that do it and mill the heads relatively cheap in which case then it just becomes a matter of assembly of parts with a bolt in cam, which I can do during my vacation. When I am not on vacation, I work way too much to this stuff anymore. My job is like a jealous mistress and demands ALL of my time, causing me to often question why am I working since it often seems like I work for the sake of working with no regard to time off, personal time, and enjoyment of life. Gotta love being salaried management.

I got the 4 cams in my 92 sportster right by myself without internet help, so this should be easier. My main concern has to do with end play. With the sportster, I actually was changing out parts due to grinding damage from a crash. Harley offered a chrome replacement piece that came with matched cams, making that very easy, and just an exercise in patience trying to hold all the parts together with the teeth aligned right at the same time.

 

Air density makes a huge difference on performance. Drag racers use a rule of thumb of a tenth lost for every 1000 foot change in density altitude. Nowadays we are all out there checking the Drag Times app on our phones to gauge how we will run as the temp drops at night.

I think if I was in your shoes I'd enjoy the bike and weather while on vacation and have it fixed while you are working.

 

Unless something changes in the forecast, I am bringing it in Tuesday, since the shop is closed Sunday and Monday. 40% rain in the next few days.

 

I started it up and loaded it in my trailer and dropped it off at Acadiana Custom Cycles. After I got all the ratchet straps off and rolled it out the trailer, I went to start the engine to ride it into the shop, I heard a popping noise that was it. No power at all no matter what position I put the ignition switch in. No lights, no nothing. It was running fine when I loaded it in the trailer. Pissed me off.

I went over what all I needed done and dropped the box of parts off with them. I asked them to fix whatever is wrong with nothing happening when I turn the ignition switch as well as change all oils/fluids. I told them to use Amsoil as I have good luck with it and last time I used Harley Synthethic which made me notice a little more mechanical noise in the engine which I do not like. They tried to talk to me about something called Red Line to use in the primary which looks like Pepto Bismol, but I told them that Amsoil works fine in this bike.

I told them to take .040" off the heads and with the gaskets I provided should end up being just right. I left them some print outs from night rider regarding how much material to take off as well as a table about cranking pressure. I showed them each part in the box and they were happy with my selection. They will get started on it when they can as they have a handful of bikes they are working on and on Monday he is going to bring the heads to get milled. Apparently he gets the machine work done elsewhere.

I felt nervous about it because I guess it's like dropping your kid off to summer camp or something. It started raining a couple of hours after I dropped it off, so I am not really missing any riding time. I sure hope this turns out good.

 

Sounds like a wire broke on your ignition switch.

It has happened to me a couple of times.