Thanks, it will all work out I know. Hey and I did ask about headwork and his Genesis 577 cam, it looks really good on paper, I just wanna hear it in person when I go see him and go from there.

 

GMR - You guys have the 100% right idea- go with an experienced and good reputation builder who has the "formula" down and knows what works. I hope the OP with the Breakout issue and planned cam upgrade is paying attention

 

+1 - I always heavily caution against choosing a cam with no real thought or understanding behind it- It is far easier to select the wrong cam than the right one. Good thing is though, as you mentioned, these types of mild upgrades on current 103 motors are so common now that there are quite a number of good sources to go to for the correct, no-brainer info.

 

Thanks for the feedback. This is the first time I've had any real motor work done on my bikes. Don't know a lot about cams. The harley shop here in Colorado Springs recommended that cam based on how I ride and what I'm looking for in increased. They show me some of their dyno results using the setup and they were getting around 113 lbs of torque. Haven't had much time to research to much just got the ok from the wife to drop the cash while they have it torn apart. Any advice is welcome.

 

I'm paying attention just today was my bday and I was tossing back a few with friends. I'm at the local harley shop here in Colorado Springs and am taking some advice from the tech that actually took the time and effort to do the necessary tests to find out what was wrong with the bike in the first place. Apparently the first tech just did the service and "couldn't replicate the problem" and called it good. This guy actually listened and asked for the bike to be sent to him. Not saying he's the best by any means but based on other riders around here he knows what he's is doing. I'm not rushing into this which is why I was asking for some much needed advice before they start in on it.

 

I looked at the 510 cam specs and it's really not too much different than a stock cam. I seriously doubt you'll get much bang for buck, let alone 113tq. I could be wrong, but it seems odd. Plus that SS cam has a stupid high price tag, I hope they are at least giving you a good price.

Go to Google search and type in "S&S 510 cam for Harley" - you'll get a group of 510 cam threads from HD Forums and V-Twin forums. Have a read on what others have seen with this cam, costs, etc.

I honestly would recommend calling Woods and T-Man cams, Dave Mackie, GMR, and even Hillside Cycles - Ask what cam they would recommend and why, tell them what your dealer recommended. You'll need to always tell them your current setup and riding style, and IMPORTANT, tell them the final compression ratio (CR) of your planned compression upgrade- your wrench should know this, it is imperative for correct cam selection.

Most of us want a cam that comes on early and builds TQ early (say 2000 rpm then starts dropping off around 4500), which is the RPM range where most of us ride).

Anyway, doing this type of calling around is very good for educating yourself and is worth the hour of time invested- I do this myself. All of these places are typically very friendly and enjoy sharing knowledge, especially on the topic of cams.

 

I went with woods gear drive cams and I'm really happy but I also did a lot of other motor work as well.

 

Here is an example of my cam selection on a custom Evo build- I spoke with several cam makers (Woods, TMAN, Mackie, SS) before doing the rebuild. When possible, it is always optimal to choose your cam and then build the motor around it. The selected cam works best when the rest of the motor is designed to the cam's optimal parameters.

Anyway, the short of it is, I wanted a cam that brought big, stump ripping TQ very early and then built big HP as the RPMs spun up. This gives me hard pull off the line and then plenty of HP on tap when my RPM's are up.

In the chart, green line is TQ and red is HP. Ideally you want a cam that gives you something similar- although it won't be this extreme - But having TQ come on early and be strong within your typical riding RPM range is good, and having a cam designed as well suited as possible for your current motor setup is the way to go.

Important - Since you mentioned upping the motor's compression, this gives you a bit more cam selection choices since each cam has an "optimal" static compression range that it is designed for. This also means you have potential for making more HP/TQ with the right combo of higher compression and cam.

And don't get hung up on the static compression ratio, be sure that when a wrench starts telling you about "compression" that he is clear on BOTH CR AND DCR ratios- Your focus should be on the dynamic compression (DCR) the cam will give you. If you have too high of a static CR the bike will be hard to start without compression releases. Too low of a DCR and the bike will be a dog. DCR is purely dictated by the cam's intake close event.

You want a cam that gives you a dynamic compression ratio of over 9:1 but no more than 9.5:1, and you should keep the CR around 10:1 to 11:1. Your cold cranking compression should remain well under 200psi otherwise you're gonna need compression releases to start the bike.

I know this sounds technical, but the good cam makers I mentioned understand these parameters and will not sell you something that's going to shoot you in the foot later on, or force you to install compression releases, etc. This is also why a lot of the members here go with the SE cams, there is not much drama with dropping them in and they do work well without changing anything else in the motor.

Your cool benefit here is you are planning to raise the compression, so you end up with more choices in cams, and you can pick a cam that works best with the planned static compression (CR) as well as your riding style. - You do know the planned CR correct? If your wrench can't tell you that, be very wary- you CANNOT choose the right cam without first knowing the motor's final CR (10.3:1, 9.86:1, etc). It's simple math!!

 

Hell yeh- From your sig looks like you did some serious work- Did you do the work or have a shop do it?

Reason I'm asking, the cam was only part of the equation in your build. You did pistons, head work and a lot of other things. More than likely, the cam was selected first and the rest of the motor built to be within optimal CR for that cam, as well as int/exh flow volume. So your cam may work for cr@p in a different motor with different specs. Woods makes a damn good cam though, and priced reasonable. I really like T-Man cams equally as well.

Point is, the same cam will work differently in different motors. One of the main things typically overlooked in cam selection is the dynamic compression ratio the cam will provide after it is installed.

For example, let's say someone purchased a specific cam for his 103 and it's running 10.5:1 compression, the cam is designed for an optimal static CR of 10.3:1 to 11:1, and the cam has an intake close event (.053 timing) of 41 degrees after the piston travels past bottom dead center (ABDC) and is on it's way up for the compression stroke. It's probably going to work great and give a dynamic compression ratio around 9.5:1. However, another guy with a 103 running stock compression of say 8.9:1 chooses the same cam, the bike is going to be weak sauce and not see any gain at all, and may even run worse, and he goes on a forum tirade of cam bashing about "oh that cam sux".

So for cam selection, it's really about knowing a few basic parameters of the motor and doing a bit of simple math before selecting the cam- and that is what we rely on with a good wrench or builder. if they can't tell you exact (or relatively close) numbers for your motor's existing CR and calculate the approximate DCR of the intended upgrade cam, go somewhere else.

 

FYI- The S&S site says the 510 cam is designed for motor static CR below 9.7:1, which makes it acceptable for a stock motor, but your DCR is going to end up lower so I'm not sure how much added grunt it's going to give. It's probably the wrong cam if you meant to bump up your CR higher than that, or will do so later on. E.g if you are doing nothing else besides cam swap and stage one, its probably an ok choice (although not my first choice). Probably not a good choice if you'll be upping compression and porting heads.