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[HD Street Performance]

Scotty
How do you machine heads for proper squish? Are they step decked? If so I understand, if not the head has no influence on a piston down in the hole or head gasket thickness.

[HOGMIKE]

There are lots of bigger cams that will pull harder and longer on the top. You have to be willing to give it up at the bottom.
Usually not a good trade off for an RV that spends the majority of its life at 3000 RPM pulling a load.
But if your drag racing, lots of better choices than a 54.

Steve George

Take a ride on a 110 with the 54 cams, proper tune and the intake and exhaust.
Most impressive! The power delivery is very nice.
I ride mostly in the 2500 to 4500 range, and this is where the torque comes on strong!
I know some riders like to build the revs up, and never go below 3000 RPM, but, that's why you have a choice of different cams, headwork,etc. etc.
Like Steve said, these are TOURING bikes, not "TT" bikes (Tavern to Tavern).

[Unbalanced]

Scotty,

You may want to check to see if the dealer has a jigg / tool setup to check how far the pistons are in the hole.  If they dont, you may consider finding someone else to do the tear down and checks.  If you are going to correct this for proper squish this is the ideal time to do it.

[HD Street Performance]

I am in Seattle and do step mill heads

[Unbalanced]

Dewey (Don),

It might be helpful for you to explain step mill heads along with the other processes that are possible to achieve a zero deck height.  I am sure many people have no idea what you mean by step mill heads. 

Why someone wouldnt want to take material off the bottom of the cylinder vs. step milling a head.

 

[HD Street Performance]

If you pull the heads on a motor that is running fine (rings sealing well) you should always replace the base oring or gaskets just as a precaution to prevent leaks. This can be done by pulling the barrels then reinstalling them. I like to remove the pistons and clean everything because carbon can get displaced and cause issues. No problem reusing the rings and it will seal beautifully if this is done with care. When everything is clean the piston to deck top can be measured using a straight edge with piston at true TDC (determined by dial indicator) of a tool can be made to have a dial indicator directly read the distance the piston is down (common) or below the deck. From there the squish can be adjusted by either means, trimming the barrel or the head can be step milled to compensate for a piston that is too far down in the hole (common on early 07 MY bikes). I prefer to mill the tops of the barrels. I have my reasons and learned about this from the now deceased Ron Trock. To step mill the heads you chuck them in the lathe and take a cut to get the chamber the right size then the last cut is the ID of the head gasket plus a clearance amount and the depth is determined by the distance you are trying to reduce to compensate for the pistons down in the hole. You are not trying to get 0 deck height you are trying to get the squish distance to ~.030 in most cases and this is accomplished by measuring from the piston top to the top of the compressed head gasket and minus any step deck amount.

[Scotty]

Scotty
How do you machine heads for proper squish? Are they step decked? If so I understand, if not the head has no influence on a piston down in the hole or head gasket thickness.

Deweyheads

Thanks for your knowledge on this site. The service manager talked me into taking a little off the heads
and making sure they are straight for my build. He said it would improve the performance of my set up quite
a bit. When he wrote up the work order it reads "R&R HEADS-MACHINE FOR PROPER SQUISH"
Personally I thought that taking a little off the heads and the Cometic .030 head gaskets was what
effected the squish. If you can think of some questions that I should be asking please let me know.
Thanks for your input.

Scotty in Seattle

[HD Street Performance]

The term squish get used but the reality is they just mill the head for more compression, I'll betcha. Ask them if the pistons are down quite a bit in the hole (better yet ask them how far they are down in the hole if they even have measured) how milling the head corrects that. You can bring the compression up by milling but the distance from the head deck squish band to the piston top remains the same. Raising compression by that method without correcting for loose squish can lead to a motor that pings very easily and no added power. If you want have them read this thread and see what their comment is.

[Deanz]

 Does anyone have any experience with se cams other than the 255s I have now with good results? My dealership didn't have a recommendation other than staying with se because of warranty?


Any advice would be appreciated.

Crunch

Here is my experience with a HD 263E

[rlavigna]

Here is my experience with a HD 263E

How do you like the way your setup affects the ride now as compared to stock in the RPM range 1000 to 3000.  Does it feel good at that RPM range or flat? I am trying to come up with CAM for my Spiced Rum.  Thanks for your feedback.

[Talon]

Usually, but not necessarily...  It comes down to cylinder pressure.  Later closing intake and exhaust timing built into your cam will reduce the resulting cylinder pressure and allow you to run a higher compression ratio  -  without fear of piston/valve damage.

Higher compression ratio's combined with valve timing that creates high cylinder pressure absolutely requires higher octane fuel...

As always, it's the combination of all the pieces....

What Scott's talking about is static compression vs corrected compression. The physical piston, squish, and head volume may calculate to 10:1, but when you add in over lap and exhaust timing of the cams the compresion may be in the mid 9's. What you want to know more than CR, is like Scott said, the cylinder pressure when all is said and done. Here's a chart, I think from Night Rider.

Static Cranking Pressure Performance Implications
Less than 115 PSI Poor low speed performance, poor throttle response, hard starting. Compression Ratio and Cam not matched or worn rings, valves.
120 PSI to 145 PSI Expected range for most stock or modified street motors. This is a good range for a street motor.
145 PSI to 165 PSI Modified street motors. Static pressures in this range should produce good results. This is a good range for a street motor.
165 PSI to 180 PSI Marginal for street motors. Possible hard starting, detonation and overheating. 
Over 180 PSI These are all out race engines. A street motor in this range will be trouble. Stick to the track.



Craig

[HD Street Performance]

On the cam swap.
The heads are large (port cross sectional area) the valves large. This offers potential for HP but the big grunt many seek will not be there even with the shortest of cams such as the SE255. The SE255 (stock 110) is one of the best at pumping the 1500-3500 range. The heads have the potential to pump out some impressive power if the compression is run at 11/1 with some of these 250+° cams. What happens is the torque peak goes down and shifts to the right, hp climbs. A cam like a Woods 5 offers the potential to give the best of both worlds. Using a 1.7 rocker would be desirable for this combination would be desirable too and if it were mine I would be using Wood corrected geometry rocker supports and corrected geometry on the complete valvetrain.

[rlavigna]

On the cam swap.
The heads are large (port cross sectional area) the valves large. This offers potential for HP but the big grunt many seek will not be there even with the shortest of cams such as the SE255. The SE255 (stock 110) is one of the best at pumping the 1500-3500 range. The heads have the potential to pump out some impressive power if the compression is run at 11/1 with some of these 250+° cams. What happens is the torque peak goes down and shifts to the right, hp climbs. A cam like a Woods 5 offers the potential to give the best of both worlds. Using a 1.7 rocker would be desirable for this combination would be desirable too and if it were mine I would be using Wood corrected geometry rocker supports and corrected geometry on the complete valvetrain.

Thanks for your feedback.  I want to get the best of both worlds.  Performance at low RPMs with very little higher RPM drop.  What I am discovering is that I may not be able to get this by just doing the fuel mgt, CAM and pipes.

[Deanz]

How do you like the way your setup affects the ride now as compared to stock in the RPM range 1000 to 3000.  Does it feel good at that RPM range or flat? I am trying to come up with CAM for my Spiced Rum.  Thanks for your feedback.

I had been riding FXDF 103 w/ 255 cams, pistons and se heads and pipes, dynoed @ 104hp & 108 Tq lots of fun.  I have to say I was disappointed in the 110, I was expecting it to perform close to the 103, hence the changes. Now w/ the 263E, pistons pipes and header, this thing gets up and talks! I never ran it below 2000 rpm, and now I have tried it 6th gear from about 1800 its about like stock (or flat) to 2200, 2200- 2700 is about like my 103 you feel the tq in your seat, above 2700 rpm its just, wish I had some air tight goggles on my face fast. Does that help?

[rlavigna]

I had been riding FXDF 103 w/ 255 cams, pistons and se heads and pipes, dynoed @ 104hp & 108 Tq lots of fun.  I have to say I was disappointed in the 110, I was expecting it to perform close to the 103, hence the changes. Now w/ the 263E, pistons pipes and header, this thing gets up and talks! I never ran it below 2000 rpm, and now I have tried it 6th gear from about 1800 its about like stock (or flat) to 2200, 2200- 2700 is about like my 103 you feel the tq in your seat, above 2700 rpm its just, wish I had some air tight goggles on my face fast. Does that help?

Thanks for the feedback. My previous bike (2007 SERK) was kicking out 116HP and 113TQ.  It ran great above 2500 rpms to 5500 rpms, but I was not happy with it at rpms lower than 2500.  Trying to make this 110 a little better.  That does not mean faster.

How do you like those pipes?  Do they sound loud?  Compare the sound level to the stock setup if you don't mind.  And if you like take a ride up to NY so I can hear them.  Dress warm! LOL  Or call me and hold the phone up to tear level with the radio on and rev the engine.