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[radian]

Still in process of cbanging cams from a SE 203.  Trying to figure out if Gear Drive is all its cracked up to be.  Cost is definatley a factor, going from the $275 range straight upto the $700 range for the ger drive cams.  I've been told about reliability being better with gear drive, but I've always had chain drive on my bikes without any problems?  What about the performance and timimg end of things comparing the two?  Realisticaly what tpe of performance increase would I see (comparing to cams of similar characteristics like the woods TW 6H vs. the TW 6H G.  Is it really worth an extra $400!!

[geezerglide]

For my 02 FLHTC, 95" Build with Wiseco 10:5.1 Pistons, Stock Heads Ported & Polished, Woods TW6H Cam, V7H 2:1 HS Pro Pipe, 44 mm CV Carb with Woods K3 Needle, bike Dynod at 98.6 HP and 114 lb.ft. Torque. Ran Great until hit Hot Climates i.e Death Valley, Wyoming & Montana, also chitty gas in Califronia. Bike would detonate, at apprx. 3800 rpms, brought up to 4200 rpms would stop pinging. Adjusted the Crane HI 4TC Module would help. Pingin due to probaly compression being apprx. 11:1?

TW6H Great Cam, has .590 lift, louder than I expected with chain drive.

For 03 Road Glide, 95", SE Heads, ported & polished by Short Block Charlies in Tempr, Arizona, SE Flat Top Cast Pistons, aim is to keep compression down to around 9.8:1, S&S Roller Rockers, Feuling Pump & Lifters, SE 251 Cam, V&H Pro Pipe 2:1; EFI, have yet to install HD Racer Tuner running a Stage II Map. Ran over 2,000 miles up and down the Baja from San Diego to Cabo san Lucas and back, bike ran great fast as "H" yet to dyno.

Winter project have an SE 04 103" Engine, have yet to decide what cams to go with and what to do with the heads. Not much info on the SE 253 Cams and the Heads, supposedely built for dependability - reliabiltiy, not hot rodding. Am pulling heads soon to have a look and will probably snd to Short Block Charlies to clean up and report on size valves and check for CC's. Suppoedely I have heard, just change to K&N style air cleaner and Big Sucker type backing plate and better flowing exhaust and you should be good for 100/100. Has anyone done only this?

[radian]

Geezerglide:

Thanks for the amount of info greatly appreciated.  When you said that the TW-6H was louder than you expected, you mentioned chain drive, did you mean gear driven.  The only reason I ask this is because usually gear driven cams make more noise.  If in fact chain driven, what kind of noise was it making that surprised you?  I have a 95" with the SE flat top cast pistons currently with the 203cam and 42 Mikuni.  

One of your setups is similar to what I'm thinkng about doing.  I wouldn't mind keeping my jugs and flat tops just as they are and re doing my heads Port/polish or screamin eagle performance head the non HTCC, then adding either the woods TW-6H or maybe the S&S 570 Gear drive, or screamin eagle 257.  Would be very interested in your thoughts on this combo keeping my flat tops and jugs as is.  According to Harley when using their performance heads with flat top cast pistons on 95" you get 10:1.  I think this may be a good compression and wouldn't worry about detonation?  But still able to bump the compression from where I'm now approx. 9:5  

thanks

[geezerglide]

Radian,

I am aware the TW6H Cam is Chain Drive, that is what I had, the noise was probably due to the fact that the TW6H was a high lift short duration cam. It was basically the noise with chains the cams rising and falling rapidly. When I pulled the cams, checked tensioner shoes and they were pretty bad shape, but that could have been the way I beat the CRAP OUT OF THE BIKE. Also, maybe another  contributing factor was I took off the "football" style air cleaner set up and used the Woods 640 CFM air filter with the old syle round air filter cover that allowed more noise to to be trapped behind the fairing, just a thoght.

You mentioned if you stuck with HD cam you were thinking of the SE 257, ithas a .569 lift were the SE 251 has .579 lift, I am running this cam and I like it a lot. I was considering the woods TW8G cam, however it is very close to the SE 251, exception of course chain drive.

I guess I will be experimnting with different combos forever, now that I have a 04 SE 103" engine to play with over the winter.

geezerglide

[dyno]

I HAVE SEEN MANY BIKES AT 9000- 14000 MILES ON THEM AND ALL HAVE HAD DAMAGE TO THE CAM CHAIN TENSIONER SHOES, AND FOUND LITTLE PEICES OF THE SHOES IN THE PUMP AND OIL SCREEN.....YES GEAR DRIVE IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO.....MR D.

[SERK03]

I have to agree with Dyno.  I replaced my tensioner at 13000 and they were trashed.  I would have gone to the gear drive at that point but a series of bad, hurried decisions led me to reinstall the chain.  I have run gear drives before and they do tend to make a little noise at idle.  Its really no big deal for the peace of mind that they provide.

SERK03