Another SE-255 cams install with pictures

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*Pickles*

New member
I know that iclick has done an excellent write up on this cam swap and I just thought Id do another and throw in a few pictures. I bought some extra tools he didnt buy because Im a tool freak and to me, having the right tool (even if not neccessarily needed) make the job easier and more fun. I bought the Gary Beatty tool, the SE cam lock tool, the SE lifter magnets and the SE pushrod tool. Thanks for the heads up on the Beatty tool goes out to iclick for posting it and to dawg for pm'ing me with instruction on how to get this great tool at a great price. Hats off to Mr. Beatty for making a good product at an affordable price.

Here I am just preparing to get it.




Just opening up the cam chest.






Notice I marked the chain with a sharpie to maintain original rotation.





Cam tensioner removed and cam locking tool installed.







Rear cam sprocket bolt and washer and Crank sprocket bolt and washer removed.
 
Rear cam sprocket and Crank sprocket removed.




Pushrod tube clips removed and time to bust out the bolt cutters.


Sorry I didnt get pics of the cam plate taken off. There are two cam tensioner bolts on the backside of the cam plate that must be removed. My hands were a little greasy at this point and I couldnt get any pics. Plus I think I was getting a little excited by this point and I forgot to take a picture.




The next picture is with the cam plate off and the INA bearings still installed.


Torringtons installed.




Cams installed and front adjustable pushrods installed.
 
Last but not least, all adjustable pushrods installed and all thats left is the cam chain tensioner and cam cover.



I have a dyno tune scheduled for Friday morning at 9AM. I'll post those results here when I get them. I have the SEST and no auto tune so the dyno is a must. I took the bike for a short ride and it feels like it is going to be an outstanding upgrade for a big heavy bagger. I think this cam will cure what ales me...for a while. When I initially started the bike and rode it down the street, I noticed a little more chatter from what I thought was the valve train. I pulled the bike back up on the lift and put the air cleaner cover on and the chatter was completely gone, so, the chatter may have been there before the cam install and I just never heard it because I had never ran the bike with the air cleaner cover off. Hope this helps someone debating on trying to decide if they are going to do this or not. If you have the right tools, theres really nothing to it and I really enjoyed myself on this project. I cant wait to get her dialed in just right on Friday.
 
I got my dyno tune done today. The results aren't quite as good as I'd hoped for on paper but it's been in the mid 90's here with high humidity so I'm sure that hurt my numbers. My horsepower is 78.43 and the torque is 93.11. My number before the cams with just the thunderheader, SE air cleaner and stock cams was 83.32 torque and 70.79 horsepower. So the cams raised the torque by 9.79 the horsepower by 7.64.

With that being said, as others who have done this cam change have stated, my exhaust is quite a bit louder, throttle response is not a lot better but you can feel a definite increase in low end grunt which is nice for highway riding, especially in hills and traffic. I can let the bike get down to 50 mph and just slowly roll on the throttle and it picks up speed fairly well. In 6th gear rolling throttle on from about 58 mph it really picks up nicely. Sixth gear is much more useable without downshifting to 5th in passsing other vehicles and going up hills.

For whatever it's worth a stock CVO (screamin eagle) bike with the factory 110" bike was also dynoed. It's numbers were 80.22 horsepower and 95.49 torque. That's only 2.38 more Ft lbs of torque and 1.79 more horsepower.

I'm happy with the way the bike pulls now reguardless of the dyno numbers. The service writer at the dealership asked why I didn't put the 211 cams in and I honestly have not studied those cams much. My knee jerk reaction to his input was "what kind of numbers do those cams make?". He said he couldn't remember and that was the end of that. I think he either upset that they didn't get to charge me for the cams and labor on the install or he has a different riding style than me. Or I guess he really believes in the 211's. I told him I ride two up quite a bit but didn't go into the fact that sometimes when the OL rides with me we put the tourpak on and she has it so full of shit it's about to burst open and also one saddlebag just as crammed and leaves me with one saddlebag for my stuff. All in all, I'm happy for now. I'll think about a big bore later in the off season and when my warranty is over next year.
 
I have always believed that what you feel in power is more important than numbers on a graph... especially in the range you are riding most of the time. If you can feel the difference in the seat of the pants... it is a good thing.
 
Question for you...

Did you freeze your Torringtons before putting them in, or did you just go ahead and press them in?
 
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