[Aceboympk]

Riding bikes since 1983 and just bought my first HD ('97 Road King fuel injected). Lots of upgrades and the prior owner had the top end redone by a former HD mechanic about 500 miles before I bought it. I have the receipts.

Loved it for the first two months. Except for one problem: engine stuttered while highway driving long distances at speeds 80mph or greater. From what I've recently read, the bike may have been running too lean. (Could also be sensor - will have to figure this out).

Took it to the dealership, and after testing for about about an hour they thought the PCIII was possibly failing. They removed it and the bike ran great. I don't know if the mechanic who rebuilt the top end reprogrammed the PCIII.

The dealership sent the PCIII in to get tested/recalibrated.

My bike was actually running better than when the PCIII was in it. It idled a little fast after it warmed up, but nothing major.

While waiting for the PCIII to come back, I went for a four hour ride. Took the highway home and about an hour into my ride, the bike begins to stutter again. Not as bad as it did when the PCIII was installed (it was literally almost dying when the PCIII was in it). But I was shocked. I thought the PCIII was the source of the problem. Maybe the PCIII exasperated the problem? What a friggin headache!

About 10-15 minutes later into my ride, I hear the engine start knocking. It sounded like a friggin machine gun was going off next to me. It lost compression too.

Next day took it to the same dealer and they discovered my rear piston failed. Excuse me? The top end was JUST redone!

Recommendation: send the engine back to HD to have it rebuilt. Cost is about $2600 for the engine and $1000 for labor.

Today I've been reading on this forum quite a bit about the Magnetti-Marelli EFI system, the PCIII (piggyback system) and top end kits from different manufacturers because I have to rebuild my engine. Thank you to everyone's contributions!

Seems like some forum members have had a horrible experience with Revolution Performance, so they're off my list. If it is a crap shoot, I'm going to get the crappy one.

Axtell seems to have a lot of support, and being in Iowa they're close to me. Their website is lacking (show me a shop that has a stellar website and my guess is they have too much time on their hands). But, they have some REALLY informative articles that anyone planning on doing a rebuild should read.

Having read about 50 threads today on this forum (and a few others) has given me a much better understanding of my options:
1) HD remanufacture my engine to stock
2) Axtell 97" kit (my case needs to be bored, but if I'm spending $3k to do a rebuild I'm going to go with the larger displacement for better performance)
3) Other mods/upgrades that I've learned about here.

I'm developing a plan, then going to take it step by step.

Let me know your thoughts about the Axtell kits or another kit you've had success and failures with. Both examples are helpful.

Thanks for reading this. Believe it or not, I tried to keep it brief while informative.

Ride safely,
Mark

 

[phat96]

http://www.motorcyclekitonline.com/stroker kit.htm

its a 89" stroker kit from Midwest motorcycle or try have you looked at nightrider? or GMR?

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/
http://www.gmrperformance.com/

hope it helps?

 

[Aceboympk]

http://www.motorcyclekitonline.com/stroker kit.htm

its a 89" stroker kit from Midwest motorcycle or try have you looked at nightrider? or GMR?

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/
http://www.gmrperformance.com/

hope it helps?

Thanks for the references. I spoke with the owner of GMR Performance (awesome guy!) for an hour about my options.

So, I'm going to put pen to paper and determine what option makes the most financial sense.

It would be great to hear from other forum members about the experiences they've had adding a kit to their 80" Evo, reman engines by HD, or a getting new engine.

Regards,
Mark

 

[dsvracer]

more power

If you are looking to make your 80" a little bigger then I would just go to the S&S web site and check out there 96". Great all around motor, good for riding the back roads, two up or single, good manners in town and if ya want more power just turn the throttle a little more. I have done a boat load of these and have a lot of very happy customers. Thanks dsv

 

[Aceboympk]

Thanks!

If you are looking to make your 80" a little bigger then I would just go to the S&S web site and check out there 96". Great all around motor, good for riding the back roads, two up or single, good manners in town and if ya want more power just turn the throttle a little more. I have done a boat load of these and have a lot of very happy customers. Thanks dsv

Dan,

Have you done conversions from EFI to carb on those engine swaps? My bike is a MM EFI and the suggestion I received was to switch to a carb set-up if I did an engine swap.

If you did an EFI to carb switch, what have you found the most cost-effective solution? Not cheapest, not the most expensive, the most cost-effective.

Thanks!

Regards,
Mark

 

[dsvracer]

efi conversion

Mark,
No I have never replaced a mm efi with a carb. I have read both good and bad experiances, as usual. What i would recommend is to just buy a good t/body from HPI and be done with it. Carbs are nice and they have their place, but a well tuned efi system is much better than a carb, (IMO). The HPI is a bit pricey but it will bolt on and with a good tune your problems will be over.
Thanks dsv

 

[Aceboympk]

Thanks for the direction guys. I'm following up with some folks about my options including switching from a carb to EFI.

Regards,
Mark

 

[1997bagger]

I have the 4 5/8's S&S kit (89")in my stock cases in a big bike and happy, spoke to Axtell and they feel the later model cases would hold the 97" or 106" spigot bore but still a little scared of cracking. Put some money towards the heads (John Sachs) and found the answer to matching componants for a good running engine.

Ok, for the MM deal, been around fuel injection for a while and came to the conclusion that the MM efi (modded) struggles with higher HP, ran the PC3, monitored and made changes with Wego 3 efi tuning system for 3 years being dependable but fuel delivery in the roll on areas was maxxed and allowed timing with the PC3 removed but 95 degree days was detonation prone.

The repair for the above problem was a donated CV carb that was reworked and used the Wego to tune it in. Agree that HPI would also be an answer but recovery time from selling a kidney would hamper riding time and $400 put the stone age fuel delivery system and ignition in and has been rock solid for 3 years. Currently tuning in a Mikuni 45 and removed the perfect running CV but you never know until trying something and learn from mistakes but the final word is the bike ran better with the carb than MM efi