Hey forum, doing alot of research on doing an engine upgrade myself or have a indy do it. What I want to do is go from an 88 to a 98 bolt on kit along with cams. Contacted Fuel Moto and S and S and a couple more they all said it is not bad at all for me to do it if I can turn a wrench. An indy quoted me 3500 to 4000 bucks to do it. Wow, over double the price. My question is what will an indy or any shop do different that I would do? There are so many videos out there and basically the same on doing it yourself and with no special tools. What would you do if you were decent with a wrench? I know a few guys on here done this themselves. Hopefully get replies on this. Thanks for any feedback...Raymond...

 

The short answer to your 1st question is nothing, if done correctly. I upgraded to 95", added cams and did it myself. I would recommend to do-i-it-yourself because you save money, you know that's it done correctly or if you screw up, it's your mistake not someone else's, you learn a ton about your bike and you get a great deal of satisfaction from the whole experience. There are some special tools that you need but there are ways around them, do searches on here for info about tools, process, budget and most importantly, cam choice to fit your riding style. You need to have the service manual and a parts manual helps as well. Success on this depends on planning, lots of it and just take your time once you get started. I bought a video from kiwiprocycle that helped me, being reading challenged. Youtube is helpful and this forum has it all covered and you have members to reach out to if you get stuck.What year is your bike and is it carb or EFI? You have to decide if you want to upgrade your cam plate. Depending on your budget,you don't have to but if you don't, install a Baisley spring (http://www.baisley.com/oil_spring_product.htm) that will help with oil pressure and r&r tensioners from cyco gaskets. Another decision is push rods, adjustable or perfect fits.If I had to do it over again, I would DEFINITELY do headwork, stage 2 if budget permits. Call Scott Palmer at Hillside Cycles and Machining in NY, they're a forum sponsor and he's a great guy to talk to about these types of projects. Good luck! You won't believe the difference in performance when you're finished. People look at you funny while you haul *** down the road with a big grin on your face.

 

Well it depends on if you like to wrench and are meticulous about your work. These motors are fairly simple and if you order your parts from reputable dealers and get the right stuff it can be a fun project. You need the facility where you'll be doing it to be half a$$ed clean and be able to lay your parts out where they won't get mixed up. Tag and bag all parts. Inch and foot pound torque wrenches. Dial indicator and a puller for cam bearings. Maybe a press or a good vice if you change cam style. If you can watch Utube videos or get the Fix my Hog videos it'll show all you need to know. A bike lift is a big bonus to(I'm old).

 

All of the above.

 

If you have a certain budget, then you will get more bang for the buck buying parts and installing them yourself. Its not real hard, a little tedious and a little time consuming. Keep in mind getting it tuned and a tuner costs money. Depending on your year, you could add O2 sensors, harness and bungs to your pipes and tune with TTS. When I was looking into this Power Vision would not allow you to do this unless you also change out the controller module.

 

Thanks for all the replies, feedback and advice. Can't wait to start this... Thanks everyone