I put a thread up a month or so back on excessive engine noise (valve train). Been working on that deal some, and have found that the lifters just aren't doing their job with these big cams and heavy valve springs.

I suspect they are Delphi (or Asian), and just too much internal clearance for high performance work.


I started out by re-adjusting them to make sure they were in the middle of their travel. Then went down 1/2 turn at a time until they were bottomed out.

The deeper I run them into the plungers the quieter the top end of the engine is at speed. At idle they are dead quiet no matter where you set them.


I ended up bottoming them clear out and backing them up 1/2 turn. Much quieter and I swear there is more power, but I haven't had it back on the dyno yet.


I ran it on the dyno at a big Poker Run we had in the area two weekends ago. The night I dyno'd the engine it made great power, making more torque and HP than every other bike there, aside from the two bikes owned by the dyno operator.


I'm loving all that, but the engine noise is driving me knucking-futz for "normal" riding.


Anyhow, I'm considering switching the lifters to Hylift Johnson "S" series. Anyone had any issues like I'm having and/or any experience with the "S" series lifters?........Cliff

 

It's a pushrod motor with high lift cams. What do you expect? Put some woods lifters in it and call it a day.

 

Check out this thread, the cost of these is low enough that to them first would be beneficial.
https://www.hdforums.com/forum/showt...errerid=280240

 

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Do you have an oil temp gauge and if yes whats oil pressure @ idle & cruise on hotter summer days like 80-85 deg and when in 95+ deg heat?

And what oil are running ,mfg ,syn or std dino & grade-wt?

Perf cams have more aggressive lobe design that even though sue hyd roller lifters can still can be noisier by design then other lower perf cams so keep that in mind that new lifters may not help much if at all.

When talking aftermarket perf cams (even hyd) they more often then not equate to a significant increase in valvetrain noise due to more aggressive cam lobe design along with stiffer valve spring rates required to control the valvetrain due to the motors new-higher rpm capability post installing new aftermarket perf cams.

With that said another question i have is do the valves/lifters make significantly more noise to the point its most annoying when the motor & oil are hot moreso then when the motors considerably cooler like running less then 15-20mins from cold not having enough time to get all heat soaked yet and oil thinned & oil pressure reduced esp on a hot day?(PHEW!/LOL!)

Is yes then if you try new lifters and the valves are still more noisy when motor & oil are hot i was having an issue with my 96" stock motor where the valve train was much more noisy when the motor & oil was hot esp above 80-85deg+ which was annoying.

From having 4+ decades 1st exp wrenching/rebuilding muscle cars & working on bikes (inc building motors too) I felt the reason the valvetrain on hd's were often more noisy when hot was due to the excessive heat the air cooled hd's create was significantly thinning the oil's viscosity .

And that was validated / proven when oil pressure dropped a lot hot(post running 45mins-1hr) to 8-10psi hot idle and 32-35psi hot cruise on my bike when oil pressure with motor running only 15-20 mins before getting all heat soaked on hot day would idle at 14-15psi & run 40-45psi @ cruise only running only 15-20 mins before oil had enough time to get overheated & thinned out.

And the oil pressure was lower/worse and valves were more noisy with syn3 syn 20-50 oil then with the spectro std dino 20-50 oil i tried after syn3.

Long story short here i installed wards cooling fans and an ultracool oil cooler with dual elec cooling fans both at the same time that working collectively together reduced oil temp 50+ deg on my bike on in 95+ deg HHH summer heat which RIGHT OFF THE BAT RESULTED IN:

* VALES REMAINED QUIET

* HOT OIL PRESSURE WENT FROM 8-10PSI AT IDLE & 32-35PSI AT CRUISE TO 16-17PSI @ IDLE & 45-48PSI @ CRUISE.

* MOTOR STOPPED DETONATING WHEN RUNNING HD'S REC 91 OCTANE FUEL ESPECIALLY WHEN RIDING 2UP UNDER LOAD UP STEEP GRADES.

* MOTOR NOT BEING AS HEAT SOAKED ANYMORE ALLOWED IT TO RETAIN MORE PWR/TRQ AT FULL OP TEMP RETAINING CRISPER THROTTLE RESPONSE TOO.

* LITTLE LESS HEAT COMING FROM MOTOR SO BIT MORE COMFY TO RIDE ON HOT DAYS TOO.

BTW,if your bike has stock type oil cooler without cooling fans it way less effective at cooling oil & the motor (part of the oil's job!) when its needed most in traffic and or when at slower road speeds due to little to no airflow thru the oil cooler sitting @ traffic lights or in slow stop/go traffic.

So if new lifters dont improve / reduce the valve noise when motors hot you should consider doing what i did above that will benefit the motor by lowering oil temp which should reduce thinning of oil enough to reduce valve noise some when hot.

But how much quieter the valves would be on your motor with oil running significantly cooler with the more aggressive perf cams requiring higher spring rates that your running is yet to be seen.

Good luck.

Scott

 

I'm certainly not expecting a dead quiet valve train, even these engines with stock emission cams in them make some top end noise.


I'd just like to find a solution to the excessive noise it's making simply from using "aggressive" high lift cams and stronger springs.

The modifications in the thread from the link look interesting. I'll check that out this Winter when I take the bike off the road for a couple of months.


Until then I'm thinking that a good set of lifters may help some, as I was able to reduce the noise some by "tight lashing" the lifters that are in there now.....Cliff

 

Have you been following this?

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/new-r...t-is-over.html

 

As far as hot engine vs cold engine I get ZERO noise either scenario at idle. It may be ever so slightly loaded fully heat soaked at speed, but it's still pretty "clackity" either way. Seems to be the worst in the "normal" driving range, 2200-2700rpm's, which is pretty annoying at times.


I also have a heavy duty oil cooler installed, but no gauge or fans.


I'm using 15W-40 semi-synthetic Rotella oil in it, same as the last 3 twin cam bikes I've owned. Might try some 20W-50 but not thinking at the moment that's the real cure here.


I do know from "tight lashing" the valves that the "big" cams and strong springs are pushing some oil out of the current lifters that are in there.

Was just wondering if anyone has tried the Hylift Johnson tappets with similar set-ups and noted any reduced noise?........Cliff

 

"Have you been following this?"


Just glanced at it, tks. I'll check it out in depth after work today, got a FULL plate at the moment, and have to get back at it.......Cliff

 

The 10/40 isn't helping you any. I'm not saying its bad, I'm saying just put in some conventional 20/50 for now. Check for rub marks on the push rods, with higher lift cams sometimes they will rub inside the pushrod tube. Taking care to align the whole rocker box assembly may help as will clearancing the inside of the pr tube. Also what valve springs were used? Some valve springs can rub on the lower rocker box and make noise. SE makes pre ground rocker boxes because this happens more than most guys think. Hard to beat S&S lifters. Takes the guess work out of the whole "is it the lifters making the noise?" deal.

 

I'll go back to 20w-50 for sure at the next oil change.

I don't know all the engine details, didn't build it here. It was done in Pheonix Az by Nick Trask.


Tune is "spot on", and it cranked out great power on the dyno. Runs flawlessly everyplace, just sounds like a "meat grinder" in the "normal" rpm range.......Cliff