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[North Star]

Been thinking about doing this for awhile- turned 30,000 miles last year, had a few bucks lying around, so I went ahead with this. I've mentioned bits and pieces about this in various threads, but I thought I'd start a new one. Local builder Don Morris of Stay Tuned Systems in Mount Hope, ON, has a reputation as a great tuner and a specialist in his performance work on the 110's. He's about 55 yrs old, lifetime HD wrench, used to race Harleys, and he has a shop with a dyno at his house. His business is all word of mouth- he has done a total of around thirty 110 bikes so far.My shop recommended him for tuning my bike a couple years ago. Ended up just doing a dyno run as he thought my bike was running very well, so we left it alone. I dropped by now and again since then, and got to know him a bit. He is old school, and doesn't surf the internet for information. He subscribes to the KISS theory (keep it simple, stupid), and seems to take an sensible and logical approach to his work. Anyhow, this is what Don's package involves:

- Head porting and valve job
- light porting on the throttle body
- re-degree the stock 255 cam and install Torrington cam bearings
- .030 head gaskets
- will install my Gaterman 1023 lifters
- dyno tune using the SEPST

He says when the 110's first came out, he didn't understand why they ran so hot and didn't make the power they should. After pulling one apart and doing some testing on his flow bench, he determined the valves are too big, and intake/exhaust flow was nowhere near optimim 80/20% ratio. This fact, along with the OEM catalyst causes these engines to run way too hot (as we know), and is responsible for causing so many premature parts failures. And here is the other thing he is adamant about, which is definitely going to get him flamed by some around here- he does not recommend synthetic oil in these bikes  . He says HD knew they had a real hot running engine, so they recommend synthetic as a band aid. Trouble is, with the out-of-round cylinders we have the oil gets up into the combustion chamber and creates carbon deposits. He has seen this in every 110 he's done regardless of mileage. The rings never get a chance to seal, and the thinner synthetic works it's way past the piston into the chamber. He says when he's done, the engine will be running much more efficient therefore much cooler, and the use of dino oil will ensure good ring seal and will be thick enough to not creep into the chambers. I was skeptical at first about this, but once I get the bike back, I'll give it a try and see how she runs.

[North Star]

I dropped by there today to take a look at what Don found inside my engine.

HEAVY carbon deposits on the top of the pistons, which had caused rub marks on the side of the pistons and the cylinder walls. The throttle body was also full of carbon deposits. Says the piston rings were damaged and were basically doing nothing. No surprise, I was using over 2 qts of oil between oil changes and had deposits on my spark plugs which is part of the reason I went ahead with this work. One of the valve seals was about shot too.

It was one of the worst he's seen he said. I bought the bike with 5995 miles and it already had a catless headpipe. For the next 24,000 miles, I took care of it religiously- I never revved it while sitting, never ran it hard when cold, didn't lug it, and always changed the oil every 5,000 miles using either Amsoil or Redline synthetic. Makes me buy into his synthetic oil theory....

Don is going to overbore the cylinders .005, so I also need pistons and rings. He says stick with HD, as they decent quality.

I forgot to mention I've seen dyno charts from previous 110 builds he's done- they are consistently making 108/130, and have well over 100 tq from 2000-4500.

He's not sure how much he likes my exhaust set up- Fullsac b x-pipe and 4" Rineharts with 2.25" baffles...he usually uses gutted OEM headpipes, and either re-cores the stock CVO cans or uses Cobra mufflers, but I think my set up will prove it's worth. He was also iffy about my RSD AC, so I agreed to switch back to my stock Ventilator with a K&N filter.

[murphy]

Had a few bucks laying around?

[North Star]

Hey Murphy, long time no see. Well, I exaggerated maybe- I rarely have money burning a hole in my pocket, but since I'm back to where I started at work I have the opportunity to make some extra $$ again 

Is your bike all sorted?

[murphy]

Sorted for the moment, was running one of those "light weight" HD clutch hubs... the ones with only half the available splines... thank goodness I caught it in time... this time.

Was thinking yesterday that I have two autos I bought in 2001, one with 200k and the other with 260k, both totalled just over what I paid for this bike... all I've really had to do is routine maintenance on them, I've put roughly 10k into the motor on the bike now replacing failing parts, bill would have been more but I'm repairing it mostly myself... it just doesn't make sense.

Sure wish I had some extra money laying around!

[North Star]

10k? No wonder you dont have money laying around.

Coulda had a new S&S engine for that, but who would have known. I know what its like- fix one thing, then another and next thing you know youve spent 10 grand.

[FlaHeatWave]

North Star,
I agree with your tech on the synthetic issue. When my '09 SERG is put back together, I will run dino, at least for awhile . My pistons had a good bit of carbon on the tops, but the cylinders looked new, no scuffs or scratches at <10k mi. and used little to no oil. My '09 had the front rod bearing going out. I, like yourself, never rev up my bikes with no load, or lug the motor, and always warm them up before getting into it. 
I have also heard that the valves are too big on the 110's. What is your Tech going to do with your heads?

[North Star]

Replacing whats needed only in the heads- valve seals in my case, head porting and a radius valve job I think he said. Its an $800 head job he says. He has his own flow bench and ports it enough to achieve the 80/20% flow ratio.

[TorqueInc]

   Curious,what is a 80/20% flow ?

 

[North Star]

I dont know which is which- you tell me...he's talking about the optimum intake flow/exhaust flow ratio. What is it supposed to be?

[TorqueInc]

  Not sure I want to open that can of worms at the moment

  Thought there was something I was missing,I don't understand why you would spend $800 on portwork and keep the schoolbus/geritol cam.

  The heads as they sit on the bike are capable of upwards of 120 horsepower and torque

[North Star]

The build that Doc quoted me also leaves the 255 cams in. All I know is I'm confident in what the end result will be. I know how an engine works and what the parts do, but half the technical stuff the builder tells me goes over my head, so all I'm doing is putting my faith in him due to his repuatation and the results I've seen him get, and hope I get the same.

I figure there is more than one way to skin a cat-if there was THE ONE great combination of parts that work together, everybody would be doing the exact same build, but nobody does, and there are tons of companies that sell different cams, head porters that do different things, and builders that combine everything in different ways.

If the end results are the same or better than what most get with cams/larger valves/headwork, etc, I'll be happy.

[TorqueInc]

   Rock on 

[rw3673]

Northstar, I use Don as well. I just picked up my heads from him tonight for my 04  Seeg.  When i dropped them off I saw your bike in his shop.  just happened to glance at this thread and noticed his name
My 04 was bone stock when I bought it last winter, so I got him to do the same deal on my heads.  I had him get my 1995 Ultra that was carbeurated running right 15 years ago.  The dealer could never seem to correct the issue and finally someone set me up with him. He is a very knowledgable and well respected, especially when it comes to his machining and tuning ability.  He was one of the first guys around here to start dynotuning on his own.
 I am putting a Zipper's redline 575 cam and a set of Drago's 2 into 1pipes on this bike. He was a bit skeptical about my choice(because a lot was based on Internet "propaganda), but he took the time to look at every aspect of the cam I had chosen and agreed that it probably will be a decent set up.  I was going to bump my compression a bit, but he has convinced me to leave it alone.   I will get my bike back together in next week or so.  We will see

[North Star]

Small world because if you were there at 630, I was the guy there waiting. I was dropping off some parts for him.