[Budman]

Hey guy's. I'm wanting to get the opinions of the folks who build motors and are familiar with the setups. I have quite a bit of experience in motors and have been working on them for some years...but, I would appreciate the input of others before I make this decision.

I have a 2000 FLSTF that has a hypercharger, thunderslide jet kit, V&H straight shots and the SE ignition and coils. The bike runs strong and is stone reliable, but I want just a bit more when passing while riding 2 up. I know that cams and heads are the way to go but I want to make sure, if I can, that the components I choose will work efficiently as a package. I sent this question to Donny Peterson and he eventually gave my a very non-commital answer...which amounted to no answer at all.

I want to add a set of SE heads and Andrews cams. The cams are the TW37b model and I believe that they are the best grind for my riding style. Please give me some input as to how you think all of these will work together as a package. Am I overlooking anything? have you guy's heard of any issues surrounding any of these components? My goal is to have a very stout motor that is reliable and maintains great drivability.

Thanks,
Budman

 

[HIPPO]

You'll have a hard time to get a straight answer.
Hard to say without knowing the person riding the bike, the intended use, etc.

You may want to be pretty conservative with a "b" engine.
Some of the parts you already have are likely not ideally suited to run a lot of cam.


You can get decent #'s with SE parts, but you can do much better with matched aftermarket kits and reworked heads.
If you insist on SE heads, they seem to like 211's, but most people seem to think they ride in a much higher rpm range then they actually do.

Most anything can be dialed in to some extent, but well matched components are much easier to get right.

 

[Budman]

Thanks Hippo, I ride pretty close to center actually. I putt putt around town, high tail it through the mountains and blast across the sand plains at 80mph for hours. The cam grind I was looking at was pretty middle of the road as well, not specifically for torque and not specifically for high end horsepower. I also know you never, and I mean never, want to spin the TC88B above 6200 rpm. I use the Harley tach and my SE ignition is limited @6200 rpm.

Do you think it would be worth the money to convert to the gear driven cams or stick with the stock type of chain drive? Seems to be a lot of good reasons for going to the gear drive, but since I'm not drag racing or looking for high rpm numbers I wonder if it's more hype for a fellow that rides like I do. Your input is appreciated.

Budman

 

[HIPPO]

The main advantage of the gear driven cams is that they reverse the direction of rotation of the cams, so you eliminate lobe to lobe clearance problems. I can see them with high lift cams, but sometimes they are noisy.

I just polish the backside of both chains to a mirror finish, where they run against the adjusters, it costs nothing and it seems to work just fine. I have a feeling the reason some adjusters wear excessively is that the finish of some chains is pretty rough and works like a chainsaw.
I don't like engines that sound like a washing mashine with a pocket full of change in them for the street.

In some applications they may be advantageous, but that demo they have where you turn the cam gear drive by hand and compare it to a chain drive, is a bunch of **** for rookies. How come they don't do the thing with a valve train attached. The apparent major advantage without a valve train, becomes very small once you add the effort needed to actuate the cam train.