All,

Okay, I am dumb. I see her and other sites about stage # 1 to stage # 4. What exactly is involved in each one? Is each one supersede the last?

Inquiring mins want to know.....

Thanks in advance as well.

 

Stage 1: New, freer flowing air cleaner and exhaust system. If you do both, you need to retune the bike.

Stage 2: Add new camshafts to the above. Retune needed.

Stage 3 and 4: A combination of big bore cylinders, higher compression pistons, and reworked or new heads for freer flowing intake and exhaust, plus bigger throttle body. Retune needed.

These are the "generally accepted" stages. Hope that helps!

 

I saved this a long time ago... its from another forum back in 07..

But it still applies today...

Stage One
You can spot a Stage One bike very easily indeed: the air filter isn’t sunk into the plastic molding that fills the gap between the air filter cover and the motor. It’s the tip of the iceberg, but it is the most visible part.
Stage One engines generally require no internal mechanical modifications: all you are initially doing is changing the means of getting the fuel in and the exhaust gases out, but they can include ignition mods if you’re feeling flush. You can go as far as you want, but the most common basis for a Stage One is a Screamin’ Eagle High Flow Air Cleaner kit and a pair of slip-on mufflers.

Stage Two

Now you’re motoring, but now you’re more likely to need the assistance of a professional.

First thing to do is to carry out all the "Stage One" stuff that you want to do before you start, because they are the basis for the next round of modifications: there’s no point sticking hot cams in a strangled motor. By the same token, there’s no point getting carried away with the need for a Stage Two if you’ve not taken your bike to Stage One yet – you might be quite happy at first base.

Stage Two is largely about cams. You’ve got the means to draw fuel into the motor already, and to get the gases out. This is about how long you open the door to let the fuel through, and how wide you open it, and that is determined by what sort of work you want your bike to do.



Stage Three

There are those who would say that the first thing you should do to make a Harley work properly is to sort out the heads, but that is generally where "Stage Three" comes in.

The combustion chamber on Harley V-twins has benefited from better gas flow characteristics with every evolution, but the standard porting is not best suited to high performance. Porting is a subject in itself, and will be dealt with in the near future by someone who knows what he’s talking about, but we have reached the point where you’re really not going to sit in a shed with a bastard file and an heirloom toolkit. If you’ve got a fully equipped workshop – and we are talking fully equipped here, with lathes, milling machines and a space heater – you’ll know much more than I do already, and I’m amazed you’re still here.


Stage Four

Anything goes. Turbos, blowers, nitrous, strokers, billet motors, massive motors built for the purpose from parts that have never seen Auntie Janet’s bar and shield logo.

Quite bizarrely, a Stage Three bike would be the better bike in the vast majority of cases, and when compared to some of the bikes that drop into the Stage Four category, is likely to be quicker for longer in road use because there’s no guarantee that it’ll be hand assembled to the same standard as a Stage Three.
That said, you could always get a Stage Four engine and get it blueprinted it to make it better still – unless you’re 100% certain of the ability of the original builder and you’d be foolish not to entrust to an engineer who you did trust implicitly.


hope it helps ya sort things out...



.

 

In summary;
stage 1 = open breather & exhaust, with or without a tune
stage 2 = stage 1 + cams & a tune
stage 3 = stage 2 + head work
stage 4 = stage 3 + high compression pistons & may include welding/truing crank, better clutch, throttle body, etc.

 

where does the big bore kit fall in there? stage three or four?

 

^^^^^^^^


Actually, a BB kit consist of components which will allow you to "up" the entire top part of your engine.
Heads, jugs, cylinders, pistons, rings, cams, etc.

 

Stage1: $700-$1500
Stage2: $1200-2000
Stage3: $1800-2700
Stage4: $2700-????
Hope that helped.

 

That's about right, but it should be mentioned that each stage is an increase in cost,,
First you do stage1 at $700-1500,, then do stage2 for another $1200-2000, then stage3 for another---- each step is added cost, get it?

 

Stage 5: You blew the danm thing up!

 

fixed it for you