After our trip to BBB I've started noticing a little bit of a whurring noise coming from the bike. It definitely increases and decreases with engine RPM and not speed of the bike so I'm automatically thinking about the cam bearings. My bike only has 14K on the odometer but it's an 04 and has been used for mostly 2 up and commuting back and forth to work.
I know I can take the cone off and check things out, but getting to this point it's almost dumb not to go ahead and make some changes, but being broke, I'm wondering what the cheap fix is. I'm also wondering if I can just pull things apart and be able to find the problem just by doing some looking around.
I'm taking it to my brother in law for a second opinion (he is the family mechanic and used to run his own indy business) but he is already talking port and polish heads, better cams, gear drive, 95", etc., but I'm not sure my budget will allow it.
I know it's not good to do much riding if the cam bearings are going bad because of potential catastrophic problems if the bearing does fail..
Anyways, just hoping for some advice, whether it's what to look for, opinions on gear drive or converting to hydro shoes, budget builds, etc.
Thanks

 

Check the easy stuff first primary chain tension then maybe the cam tensioners cut your oil filter open and see if anything is in it . I checked my tensioners last week and at 23000 miles they arent hardly worn. I also seen another thread about a whirring and it was explained it might just be the primary chain riding on the tensioner just a noise it makes as it slides on it. Well dont know if this helps or not but hope its nothing major.

 

Don't think theres been very many cam bearings go that early on stock 88',

Older ones had more issues than the TC's have in that area....

 

Mine ('03) always had a whirring noise, which was more noticeable when I went to a synthetic oil versus conventional. Never really worried me, as they all make noise. And rarely do you hear about cam bearings crapping out on twinkies after 2001. It could be just the primary chain you hear like ardakota described.

If you're tossing around the idea of going into the cam chest, a modest estimate for either gears/hydro conversion, cams, pushrods, and fuel management (can't forget that), and a good tune will be between $1500-$2000. Not to mention agonizing over the age old question "which cam to I want", which is a subject that needs a thread all to itself.

Gear drive is a little noiser than the hydro conversion, but you'll never have to worry about tensioner wear again, and crankshaft runout isn't as big an issue as some will have you believe. Hydro tensioners & chains tend to be a bit more forgiving than gear drive. Personally, for reliability, I chose to install gears, and (so far) have zero complaints.

"Budget" build is a misnomer. To do what you're brother in law is suggesting will probably cost in the area of $3000 and up. Polished and ported street heads (basically stock but better flow), $300 and up, depending on who's doing your head work. 95" kit with pistons, $400+. And the list goes on.

Just food for thought.

 

I know the motor noise got a little louder when I switched to syn oil, but I never heard anything like this "whirring" type noise until about a week or two ago. I serviced the primary about 1000 miles ago and all looked well in there.
The noise almost sounds like a friend of mines old camaro that has a gear drive in it only not nearly that loud. I think this afternoon I will get home and start it up and try and really track down the location and see what I can find out.

 

Through the reading that I have done, I was kind of under the impression that all of the twin cams with the spring type cam tensioner shoes had problems with cam bearing failure??
Am I not reading correctly? I'm scared to death to even ride this thing without getting in there and finding out what is causing the noise just out of fear that a bearing will fall apart and eat up the entire motor.
When you take of the nose cone to look around, is there a gasket that will need to be replaced if I don't find any problems?

 

Cam bearings from 2002 onward were the INA bearings and rarely failed. Most do upgrade the bearing to the Torrington B148s when upgrading cams, cam plate, oil pump or anything inside the cam chest but I don't know of anyone that has opened up the cam chest just to upgrade bearings.

It sounds to me like you have a worn tensioner pad and the chain is making metal to metal contact with the tensioner pad carrier; probably the inner tensioner as they tend to go first.

If $$ are tight, forget about upgrading cam plate, etc., and just replace the tensioners. The chain is "polished" now and new tensioners will last a long time. It would be a good idea to upgrade the inner cam bearings while you are in the cam chest. Even if money is tight, check on Ebay for a set of SE204 cams; you should be able to find some for $100-$125 and they will provide an improvement you will feel and they have a nice choppy "hot rod" idle.

Yes, you will have to repace the cam chest gasket but if you replace it with a Cometic or even the new MoCo gasket, you can reuse them.

 

Only in the 1999 & 2000 models. It was the outer cam support bearing. But by 2001, the problem had been corrected.
There isn't a gasket for the cam position sensor cover, but the only way to take a look at what is going on is to remove the cam cover. And yes, that one has a gasket.

 

Thank you guys for the info...
I have tried to do as much research as I could on my own to not look like such a noob, but in the end I guess I am.
If this thing just started making noise, I'm guessing it's still probably not a good idea to do much riding on it? We still have probably another month of tolerable weather before it goes into hibernation and I will be bored and wanting to tear into it.

 

Naw. Not at 14k miles. Hell, mine had almost 30k on them when I yanked them for gears, and they weren't hardly worn.