I recently got back on 2. I have a 2000 Sportster Sport with a 4 plug Blockhead engine. I had it rebuilt and rewired by Denny's Harley Davidson in Springfield Mo. ( great job guys ! ) while I was in the process of relocating from Illinois.

I have been told a lot of things like there is no engine called a Blockhead it's an Evo. The 4 plug engine was put in a lot of Sportsters during the 90's - 2000 to it was only put out in a few Sportsters from 99-2000. Oh and the best one...there was never was a Sportster called a Sport.

Can anyone fill me in on ..is this 4 plug called a Blockhead ? How long was it produced ? How many Sportsters was it put in ? Is my bike called a Sport ? Thanks

 

No Sportster has ever been called a block head. Thats some internet old wives tale.

 

I did some searching on this forum and did find that Harley did initially call the 4 plug engine a Blockhead but it was not popular and it was of the Evo design. However, some still refer to the 4 plug version a Blockhead and the common 2 plug is an Evo. I should probably contact the factory.

 

Not sure who told you there is no such thing as a sportster "sport" but they are mistaken. Not sure how long it was a model for but I believe it was only 98 to 00 and they were the only model to get the 4 spark plugs. More recent models may have gotten them but none that I am aware of. If somebody said anything about it at a dealership I would let it lay where they spit it.

I was told sportsters like low RPM and I should be using 6th gear on the highway by a service writer.

 

The 1200S Sportster Sport was made from 1996-2003.

The first two years, 1996 & 1997, they used the regular XL1200 Hemi heads of the day, which were single plugs, and the same "D" cams that were in all the other Sportsters of the day. So it was just a regular XL1200 motor.

In 1998, they put dual-plug "Lightning" heads on them as well as "W" cams. Lightning heads first came out in 1996 on the Buell S1 Lightning (go figure). But the ones on Buells were all single plug and silver in color. The ones on the the 1200S were dual plug and black highlighted. Same chambers and valves and ports though. Dual plugged Lightning heads and W cams continued in all 1200S models through the end of the model in 2003.

Single plug Lightning heads were also offered as an accessory (this pre-dates the Screamin Beagle stuff):





Notice the "Lightning" script above the pushrod area.



Later, when Screamin Eagle was launched, these heads were offered with "Screamin Eagle" emblazoned on them and they were drilled and tapped for the second plug, although they provided you with a bolt to plug the second hole if you didn't want it. That head was identical to the 1200S head except for the SE script on it.

The Lightning head was really the first generation Evo Sportster factory performance head. The valves and ports were actually identical to the stock XL1200 hemi head of the day. The only difference was more material added to the chambers, to drop the volume from 67cc down to 62cc, thus bumping the compression up from 9:1 to 10:1 when used with flat top pistons.

The second generation of Evo Sportster performance head was the Thunderstorm, which came on certain 1998 Buells (S1W, S3, S3T). It was then included on all Buells from 1999-2002. It was massively improved over the Lightning head with much bigger valves and better ports. Also to unshroud the bigger valves, they went back to 67cc chambers and used a dome piston to get the compression up to 10:1. Big, big improvement over Lightning heads. Everybody had to have Thunderstorms back then, they found their way onto lots of Sportsters and pre-Thunderstorm Buells.

And finally, the XB head that came out in 2003 was the third generation Evo Sportster performance head. It improved on the Thunderstorms with better hardware, better ports, and better chambers. Same valve diameters, but with smaller 7mm stems and a beehive spring pack. XB heads found their way onto all XL1200 models starting in 2004 and XL1200's still ship with this same basic head to this day. There were some minor changes in 2007 but they're not a big deal, it's still basically the XB head with different cosmetics.

 

I've never heard the term Blockhead in reference to a Sportster at all.

 

I would say that if the 2000 Harley Davidson sales catalogue described it as a Sport , then it's a Sport . So which model Sportster has six gears then ?

 

I sincerely agree with you that a sportster sport is a sporster sport when thats the trim Harley called it. And none of them came with a 6th gear, thats the joke. mate.

 

"Block Head" was a Big Twin Evo

Good Info aswracing

 

They've been calling Evo's the Blockhead since 1984.