I'll throw my rims in the ring....
Year: 2003
Model: Fatboy (FLSTFI)
Eng size: 98”
Transmission: 5sp Harley tranny, with Heavy duty Zippers trapdoor and backcut by Zippers
Pipes: V&H Propipe HS
Seat: Le Pera Bare Bones
Wheels: Harley Mirror Chrome Disks
Accessories: Well let’s see:
R&R Stage II CNC ported stock heads w/Ferrea/Manley valves
TP compression releases
Crane Thermo-Cool valve springs and Viton seals
Revolution Performance cylinders with CP 10.5 pistons
Cometic .030 Head gasket
Redshift 577 cams with S&S gear drive
Baisley 1.685 roller rockers
Feuling Cam plate, oil pump, and pushrods
HD lifters with S&S limiters
HD crankshaft - balanced and pinned by Darkhorse
(B engine balancers removed)
Timken bearing upgrade
Bandit clutch
USA Racing inline oil pre-filter
HD Heavy Breather intake on Wimmer base plate,
with external breather tube to Doherty Powervent
Marren 5 gm/sec fuel injectors
HD EFI TB and manifold, bored to 49mm by Gerolamy
SERT tuned using Twinscan II+ and track data
Progressive Airtail Suspension
Wild1 560 drag bars with internal wiring
MSD shift light
Diamond Engineering stainless head, intake, exhaust, and brake caliper bolts
HD Speedo/tach combo
HD oil pressure gauge on Russell hose
HD oil temp gauge in oil filler
HD Anniversary Radical Flame paint set
HD nacelle headlight with horn hidden inside
HD chrome front forks
HD braided hoses and cables
HD floating brake rotors with Lyndall Z brake pads
Controls all swapped for HD chrome pieces
Kuryakyn Led brake and turn signals, and halogen driving lights
And the story:
I’m a “new” Harley rider, having bought this Anniversary Fatboy in the fall of 2002 after starting out with a 1981 Honda CB750F. I ordered my Fatboy through an overseas sales program while stationed in Asia. I had seen the radical blue flame paint set on-line when I was checking out Harleys and decided that was what I wanted. It took me almost a month of phone calls from overseas to “stateside” dealers to find the paint, but I did, and ordered it before my bike ever arrived – not knowing what color bike I’d receive.
My silver and black Anniversary bike arrived in December 2002, but it was almost another year before I got home to put some miles on it. When it first arrived I was a bit intimidated about changing the paint, and the silver/black kind of grew on me. I changed some controls and put a Stage I kit and SE pipes on it, but rode it in that almost stock condition for a year before figuring out my first real upgrades. After reading the heck out of this forum, I settled on a .510 cam upgrade, 98” Revperf cylinders, and ported heads for my first build. I bought the manual, read a lot, asked a bunch of questions and then broke out the wrenches. Hey – it wasn’t that bad! The build was pretty easy – but the power wasn’t what I expected. After tweaking, tuning, and upgrading to CNC’d heads, I was there. I had a 100/100 bike that ran well and didn’t look all that bad. By then I had installed new bars, new pipes, and a chrome front end.
But then the, “should have been expected” happened! Since the 2003 didn’t have a Timken, the crank bearing came apart. It turned out that my crank runout was terrible and the bearing retainer had come apart in chunks. Metal got pumped through the engine, and instead of riding through the fall I was facing a complete rebuild. I bit the bullet, read a lot again, researched the forum, and talked to a number of builders – and decided to do all the work that I could by myself.
By the time I was done, I had stripped every nut and bolt off the frame and sent the crank out to get balanced, a Timken bearing installed in the case, and the transmission to get backcut. I changed to a .577 cam, weighed, measured, checked, and clearanced everything that one could imagine, and even changed the drive belt and handlebars. The Harley really is pretty easy to work on! And just because of a zonked crank bearing, I finally got to install my, still new in the box, radical flame paint set!!
So that’s how this beast was born this winter. It looks pretty good. It runs low 11’s in the quarter-mile. And it rides smooth around town. Best of all, I did it all myself. So now I have to figure out what to do next year….
