No cams - JUST 103" / port & polish

C

crazyyXD

New member
My independent shop is so unhappy with the way that the MoCo is setting the cranks in the new motors, that he told me that if the bike was his he wouldn't do a cam upgrade. At least not without splitting the cases and putting in the right bearings and so forth. He says the reason why is he's seen too many twisted cranks. He suggested that with a 103" bump from the current 96" and a good port & polish he thinks that I'd be just as happy. I was surprised to say the least, as it seems that there's a hell of a lot of people doing cam swaps, and I don't really read many of these kind of failures (too much power causing twisted cranks). Whatcha all think? Anybody just go with the 103 and a head job? All of my past FL's received this very effective (cam) improvement, and I'm disappointed that a guy I respect has decided that Harley has just gone too far in cutting corners. I appreciate your time.
 
My original inquiry was for a possible 103, cams, port/polish. I'm guessing that it would be more money in his pocket if he were to do the cams as well. I want to trust this guy, but I only know enough to be dangerous. You don't think that you can port heads for more torque?
 
I think you will get more but I dont know where in the power band it will kick in. Suggest you read a little more here on heads and cams, use the search function, am sure the wizards of HD Forum will be chiming in soon.
 
I have a Woods TW6-6 in my 2010 FLTRX, 96". I was told by the person who dynoed my bike, The Dyno Difference" to keep the rpms above 2500 to avoid twisting a crank. So I do. Normal city riding I usually shift at 3000 rpm.
I think the important thing is don't twist the throttle too much at too low an RPM. Of course that's not good even without a cam.
 
I did a 2000 88" & went to a 95" with ported heads, not for the above reason but because I was limited in time & budget & could do all the top end work myself. I was very impressed with the improvement & how well it ran, of course over the winter I added SE 204 cams & it ran even better, but I'd say there was just as much if not more gain from the BB & head work alone. Either way I would correct the deck height to bump up the comp & get the squish right, that gives you a good gain for very little extra $$$.
 
To me, that defeats the whole Harley feel. Not that 3000 RPM is typical Hyabusa territory, but I love the feel of the power down low. In fact, it's my favorite part.
 
I guess this is a good reason to stay above 2500 but the TW6-6 really doesn't start pulling hard till about 2800-3000. I don't lug my motor with my woods cams but I guess I am trying to understand how we are going to stress our crank so much that it will fail. I suppose this is another reason for the 30 tooth pulley project. I wish some of these crank failures would post on here so we knew what cam they were running and how they in the end had a crank fail because of a cam install. Just throwing it out there.
 
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