Really needing some help. Bike is a 2006 softail standard. Recently had a 95" kit with andrews 37 cams installed. 9.5 compression and the heads were cleaned up (nothing radical). Various aftermarket exhausts and a big sucker intake. Started out with a power commander 3 for the tuner. Work was done at a local indy, I will no longer take my bike to him so please keep that in mind when replying.

Here's the problem. Picked up the bike and did the initial break in. During this time was easy on it varying the throttle but not hot rodding the thing. No real issues. After the breakin period found that bike was not running well at mid to higher RPM and didnt really have much of a power increase. Took it back to the shop and the response i needed to "tweak" the map on the power commander. Mech told me it wasnt getting enough fuel. I contacted Power Commander to confirm the map for the bike and modifications. Tried to manipulate the map manually over the course of a thousand miles or so. No luck. At about 3500 rpm and at half throttle (any gear and at any stage of a ride) the bike absolutely falls on its face. Acts like it is running on one cylinder. It will back fire and miss and generally run poor. If i throttle past it the bike just runs rough (loading up) but will run. Took it to a dyno tuner locally. What he said would take a few hours turned into a 2 day project with poor results. He found that at 3500 the bike fell flat. He worked on the map but could never really get dialed in. Numbers ended up at 69 hp and 89 tq. After researching more i decided to put a thundermax with autotune on the bike. Thinking the o2 sensors would be a valuable addition. This made a huge difference but did not resolve the issue.

This is what i have figured out at this point. The issue is with the front cylinder only. I have replaced the injectors to the 25 degree (adjusted the map accordingly). I have replaced the Map sensor and the throttle position sensor with no bennefit. I have replaced the fuel filter and inspected the hoses internally (no pinholes). At this point i am at a loss. i do not have any idea of what to check next. Is it possible that the front cam is a tooth off? If the mechanic got carried away with cleaning up the heads or gouged the front head could that cause a severe rich issue? The last two long trips i have done on the bike the fuel economy was in the mid to upper 20's (25-28mpg) riding alone. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

I could be wrong but I don't think it would even run if the cam was off by tooth.?.?

If you have the same compression in both cylinders, I might suggest push rods?

What kind of push rods are you using and were they installed properly?

 

A few things I would check is the plugs (check the colors of them). I am guessing you have adjustable pushrods. I would readjust them yourself to make sure they are right. Also when they do tunes the do the afr on both the front and rear cylinders. I would get a print out of that and see what it looked it. I would look for a reputable tuner and take it there or call them. I great place you should check out is www.harleytechtalk.org those guys know there stuff and will be able to answer any question. There are engine builder tuners and everything else there.

 

The bike will run if the cams are installed off a tooth. Check ccp on each cylinder. They should be the same. Its easy to check if cams are installed correctly. Post this in the engine/fuel section. DJL and others are over there, very knowledgeable.

 

thanks for the replies folks. the pushrods are adjustable (If memory is correct they are the fueling rods). Rear plug looks good, front is black (not wet just sooty). I will look up the adjustment procedures for the rods and verify them. I verified the outer timing marks (cam and crank gear) but have not dug any deeper. Assuming it would be possible that the front cam is off but i do not have the tool to turn and lock the chain tensioner so i didnt try to remove the cam gear. I will get those tools on order.

I'll start with the easy stuff (push rods and verify compression) and go from there. I will also post this in the engine/fuel section as suggested.

 

Your on the right track

Replace plugs
Check compression
Readjust push rods
Check cams for proper timing.

Could the fuel screen in the tank be plugged? I'm not to familiar with that setup is in there.

I'm thinking there is something wrong.
Possible head gasket issue?
Compression test and all that good stuff will tell alot.

 

If your ccp is the same for both cylinders, say 180-200, then the cams are installed correctly.

 

thanks everyone. I did check the ccp. front was 185 rear was just under 160. did a leak down test on the rear and it was just under 10%. Tools are ordered for the cam tensioners. With any luck, Friday i will be able to pull the cam/crank chain and look at the cams.