88" cam swap
 

I am about to break open my 1999 FLHTCUI to deal with the bearings and the tensioners and will swap the cams while I am in there. This is my first time in a T/C so naturally I have a bunch of questions. I guess I can start by telling what I know for sure, and then go from there.
I will be the first one to open up the motor, so it is a near stock 99. As of now I have an A/N Big Sucker, V/H 2-1 propipe, and a PCIII courtesy of Fuel Moto to make it all happen. When I am in the cam chest, I have a set of Andrews 26's to install for kicks. As of now I am not sure if I will be upgrading the cam plate. If it is servicable, I will not. I would rather not spend the money right now, and wait until I go big bore, and will likely change the cams again, to match some head work. Money is kind of tight right now, but I need to get in there and replace the tensioners and bearings.
I am going to remove the tank and rockers to upgrade the breathers, and I really do not want to use adjustable push rods. They are just another thing to have go out of adjustment as far as I'm concerned, and for now, I would rather just avoid it. I also am going to try and re-use the lifters, unless it is highly recomended not too. If i re-use the stock cam plate and oil pump, i wil go with the baisley spring to increase oil pressure.
As of now I am not sure how long it will be until I will go big bore, but figure it will not be more then two years.
So, if anyone can offer some tips and or advice, please do so. Any and all help is appreciated. I have watched a few youtube videos as well have read many of the threads here, but am still a bit nervous. Nobody wants to screw this up, right?

So far, here are the only questions I can think of; Do I need a new set of cam drive gears to work with the Andrews cams, or can I reuse the stock ones if they are OK?
Does anyone have the part numbers on hand for the outer cam bearings, particularly if they are different from stock? I have heard there is an upgrade to a roller bearing for the rear cam I believe, to handle the extra load of driving the front cam.

Thanks much in advance.

Better to swap in new lifters when you change cams. Just a good practice, and the pro builders will tell you the same thing.

If you use decent adjustable pushrods (Smith Bros, SE tapered) you shouldn't have any problem with the pushrods going out of adjustment. It doesn't take a whole lot longer to go through the rocker boxes, but once you've installed the adjustables, getting in and out of the cam chest is just that much quicker, and you can set/adjust the lifter preload. Sometimes a noisy valvetrain can be made quieter by adjusting lifter preload.

is it fuel injected. when i did my 99 roadking with andrews 26 cams i put the 06 drive plate with hyd. tensioners if you go to andrews cam site it gives you part # s i still have all the tools to do it somewhere... the power was much better and 5 gear would pull hard 2 up at 60 mph didnt have to down shift anymore. it was about 1000.00 for all the parts and gaskets .. Was not that hard at all just take your time and put timpken bearings..

He already has the cams, you have to get conversion cams to run the updated hyd tensioner system .

This is not accurate. You can use any TC88 cams if you use the Screaming Eagle hybrid kit, 25284-11.

Thanks for the heads up, not as well educated on cam drive systems as I thought I was. I guess Andrews wasted a bunch of time and money tooling for the conversion design.

I don't know about an 88 but I watched this video on changing cams in a 96 twin cam and I think I could even do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Kva...eature=related

I just did a cam swap in my '04 Softail. Never done anything like this on a H-D before. Took about 4 hours total. I got the inner bearing removal/install tools from Heartland Products on Ebay for$110 with Timken inner bearings included. I went with the updated 25284-11 kit, Andrews 37 cams, (more on that later,) and Andrews adjustable pushrods. Outer cam bearings should be less than $50. They came with the cams. I'm into it $900 or so. You will need access to a small press for removing/installing cams in support plate. They aren't very tight, but I wasn't gonna use a hammer this time. Take your time and it falls apart and back together. I would suggest if you're gonna go in there, then do it all, but I unnerstand the money thing. I am having trouble getting my Cheap Shot tuner to work with the bigger cams though. Ness was not as helpful as Dobeck. Getting backfire thru pipes and hesitation under 2000rpm. Any suggestions on that I would appreciate.

I would look at the fuel mixture, sounds to be a bit too lean.

So, I opend it up last night. Just finished a bit ago. Went in through the rockers so I could re-use the pushrods. The lifters look fine, so I will re-use. The sprockets and chain look good so I will re-use those as well. The cam chain tensioners looked so/so. Wear was not to bad, but they were starting to flake so likely it was good timing. The sprocket bolts were relatively loose, so I guess it was a good thing I got in there when I did.
Have another question if anyone knows; is it possible to change the crankshaft bearing without splitting the cases or removing the motor from the frame? I have heard this bearing can be a problem and if I can change it now, I will.