Calling all FatBoy Lo Owners
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 3,048
Likes: 3
From: Central Jersey
got my new pistons/cylinders cleaned up and installed.. now i'm in that holding pattern until i get my heads back.. they just got UPS'd out today, so it will be a while.. then all that's left to reassemble are the heads, pushrods, rockerbox covers, throttle body, wires under the gas tank, exhaust, and put the tank back on..
Overall difficulty this far: 5/10
Biggest p.i.t.a. part so far: Installing the new piston wrist pin clips.
Second: Compressing the piston rings to fit in to the cylinders.
Anyone thinking about doing a cam-swap without doing a motor build, it is easier than you might think, especially if you cut the stock pushrods so you don't have to remove the tank/heads. It's very straight forward, and i know S&S has an hour-long video on how to do it, it would probably take closer to 30-40 minutes to do the entire swap (if you have the cam bearing removal/insertion tool..made a world of difference!)
From the time I got the rockerboxes off, the old heads and cylinders took less than 30 minutes to remove from the bike..
If I had to compare this to something, I'd say fabricating a swingarm bag mount is more difficult than this project.
Road Master
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,248
Likes: 1
From: Jacksonville, NC
Sorry Jim but I won't be taking my heads off anytime soon to get some normal pictures. I did spend about four hours maybe fixing the rattling in my exhaust. I couldn't fire it up tonight with a two year old in the house so I'll found out for sure tomorrow. I've had the rattling going a lot lately so today I went around and tried tightening the exhaust shield clamps and found one that needed replacing. Since I had the shield off I decided to pull the baffle and see if anything was broken there. The first one is fine as you can see from the picture. The second not so much. The mesh part wasn't tack welded to either end cap. I'm thinking the rattle was coming from the closed end that goes towards the header side of the pipes. That would explain why it went away after running the engine for a while I think, since things would heat up and therefore tighten stopping the rattle. I hope so anyways. I had to use a magnetic parts retriever to get the end cap out. I thought I was hosed for a minute when the mesh part came out but not the end cap. Anybody think I should contact Vance and Hines and see if they'll replace them. I put the stock baffles in but I think my wife and neighbors would prefer the quiet baffles. 
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 44
Likes: 0
From: Ottawa, Canada
Sorry Jim but I won't be taking my heads off anytime soon to get some normal pictures. I did spend about four hours maybe fixing the rattling in my exhaust. I couldn't fire it up tonight with a two year old in the house so I'll found out for sure tomorrow. I've had the rattling going a lot lately so today I went around and tried tightening the exhaust shield clamps and found one that needed replacing. Since I had the shield off I decided to pull the baffle and see if anything was broken there. The first one is fine as you can see from the picture. The second not so much. The mesh part wasn't tack welded to either end cap. I'm thinking the rattle was coming from the closed end that goes towards the header side of the pipes. That would explain why it went away after running the engine for a while I think, since things would heat up and therefore tighten stopping the rattle. I hope so anyways. I had to use a magnetic parts retriever to get the end cap out. I thought I was hosed for a minute when the mesh part came out but not the end cap. Anybody think I should contact Vance and Hines and see if they'll replace them. I put the stock baffles in but I think my wife and neighbors would prefer the quiet baffles.
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 376
Likes: 0
From: OC NY
BR Customs made to my specs. They are 12.5 high 1 & 1/2 inch bars. Takes 8 weeks to make so get your order in now.
Road Master
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,248
Likes: 1
From: Jacksonville, NC
From first ride impressions I think the rattling might actually be cured. Of course it was so intermittent before that it will take a week or so's worth of rides to be sure. I don't think I'm going to bother contacting Vance and Hines about the busted quiet baffle since I'm liking the sound of the new pipes more. They really aren't that much louder, at least not obnoxiously so. I'm moving so I'll probably wait until I get an excessive number of complaints from the new neighbors before I make a final decision on that one.
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Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 2,017
Likes: 599
From: Columbus, OH
And all i've learned is that this particular mod is easier than fabricating that damn swingarm bag mount was.. if you can turn a wrench, you can tear a twin-cam apart. The hardest part thus far, as I had anticipated, was removing the wrist pins from the pistons to be able to remove them, and that took a total of about 4 1/2 minutes.
New cams are in, new lifters are in, old jugs and heads are boxed up ready to ship out for core exchange/porting&polishing.. got to wash the new jugs out (as suggested), clean them up real nice.. install the piston rings and pistons, install the new jugs..then i'm on hold until I get the heads back from FuelMoto[/QUOTE]
No blood on the rags, so you must not have had too much trouble. LOL
Every engine I have ever torn down (from single cylinder 8hp Hondas to 3406 Caterpillars) has some carbon on the tops of the pistons, yours look pretty normal.
Progress looks great man, can't wait for the full review
Did you go with manual or electronic compression releases?
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 3,048
Likes: 3
From: Central Jersey
I went with manual compression releases I think.. i don't think FM gave the option, but they look like manual ones..but that's alright.
So now I get to stare at my bike until the heads get back..if I get antsy in my pantsy maybe I'll clean the thing and get all the gunk and grim out from her undercarriage.. because a nice girl should always have a clean undercarriage.. I'm also trying to find the font HD uses on their air cleaner inserts, because I need to repaint mine so it doesn't say "96 Cubic Inches - FatBoy" anymore.. I want it to say "107 Cubic Inches - FatBoy Lo".. and I'm thinking if I can't find the right font to create a stencil, maybe i'll get gutsy and pinstripe it, since I have all sorts of pinstriping brushes already
So now I get to stare at my bike until the heads get back..if I get antsy in my pantsy maybe I'll clean the thing and get all the gunk and grim out from her undercarriage.. because a nice girl should always have a clean undercarriage.. I'm also trying to find the font HD uses on their air cleaner inserts, because I need to repaint mine so it doesn't say "96 Cubic Inches - FatBoy" anymore.. I want it to say "107 Cubic Inches - FatBoy Lo".. and I'm thinking if I can't find the right font to create a stencil, maybe i'll get gutsy and pinstripe it, since I have all sorts of pinstriping brushes already