best cam???

Hello I am new to this sight thanks in advance. I have a 2003 carb FatBoy. I am going with a 95 big bore kit, SE Heads, 10-1 flat top pistons, Muk. 42 carb, SE air filter, ign mod. The $64000 question is what is the best cam for everyday driving? I am not a big fan of redlinning the motor. I want a good set up that won't run down the life of my motor, but one that I will get the most bang for what I am doing. I am open to chain or gear. It seems like I ask 10 diff. people and get 10 diff answers. Any help to stop the confusion would be great!!!

On many forums I've read they highly recommend the Andrews TW-37G gear drive cams with setups similar to yours. Not sure if your screaming eagle heads will perform as well as a set of deweys or short block charlies heads...but with the 37G cam they get to that magical 100/100 mark and it all in the streetable power range. If you're interested in saving a little money and having your heads done, a couple highly touted ones I mentioned earlier have web sites here:

http://www.deweyspegs.com/products.html#tc88porting

http://www.motorcyclemachine.com/services-hd-head.html

Cheaper and probably better than the Screaming eagle heads....they will port your heads to work best with the cam of your choice. Not that these are the only ones out there...but I've heard overwhelming support for the value of their work....There are dyno runs of the 37G deweys heads build on their site.

Have fun with it.

Okay the buck thirty two ¢ reply.

1. You do not mention exhaust. The exhaust system is a cornerstone in the performance equation. 2-1, 2-2, desired looks, pocket book all considered but, since we are talking bang for the buck, Cycle Shack 2-2, Pro pipe, Big Shot staggered.

2. TC88B's should not be seeing the far side of six k RPM too often unless you like balance weight drive chains flying around inside that motor. Get a Crane, Daytona Twin Tech, S&S IST are all good choices. I set the RPM limiter lower than what I feel is a safe RPM max to allow for missed shifts.

3. Mikuni HSR42 EZ kit, Ness Big Sucker will get the air into the engine just fine. Save the extra $$ over the SE kit as the Ness is better from the get go.

4. Address the oil pump while you are in there to begin with! For newer engines, the Baisley relief spring and a shim sold by Zippers will do. Best would be a Feuling oil pump and lifters but it is not an absolute.

5. Cam drive: The stock chain drive is fine...well almost anyway. The problem is the tensioner shoe size and the material used. The original material used from 99-01 or 02 was too soft and brittle. The newer material seems to work better. The surface area for the amount of load is still too small IMHO and leading, trailing edge breakage will continue. With chain drive, you will need to check both the outer and inner tensioners about every 18-20k if I remember the TSB correctly. With a gear drive, you have bigger up front costs and you might have to send the cam plate in to S&S to have a sized gear put on but, after that there is zero worry.

6. Cams, cams, cams... First, look at two or three things. One is the engine it is not high revving in line four capable of 67 quadzillion RPM, it is much like a tractor engine where we want torque, torque and more torque. The FLSTF is a mid-heavy bike and responds to torque much better to low-midrange torque than high end HP. So, we want a cam that develops low end to mid range torque. The TW37 is an excellent choice for this or, if you want a little more midrange torque, the TW44 will work nicely.

Seahag , CD
Thank you very much for you inforamation. It is very helpfull. One of the reasons that I am going with the SE heads is that they were on clearence...I like to pinch pennies too The TW37, TW44, and the 37G were all recomended from you two...How do these cams compare to the 203? This will help me with a better perspective. Thanks again

I think this question is better left to someone with a little more technical knowhow as to how it works. I will just surmise it to say that the 37 cam loses a bit of low end that is regained with the compression boost...but is supposed to have longer legs than the 203.

With 10 to 1 compression the TW-37 (b or g...b is chain drive, g is for gear drive) is supposed to darn near pull your arms off down low...and rips to the limiter as I've heard it told.

Look at this guys review of a deweys heads TW-37G build...

http://65.38.172.84/forums/showthread.php?t=50990

The 44 is going to be a little taller and have longer legs yet. A better option than the SE 203 is the SE204 if you are intent on staying with the Harley parts...but the 37 will beat em both.

Like I said...I can't spout the technicals of the "why" as far as valve opening and closing/timing etc...and I have no first hand knowledge of anything other than the 203's which I was very dissappointed with. My Andrew TW-55G's just got put in and I haven't had the weather to ride and test them yet...and I'm waiting on a backordered pipe from directparts Got that coming yet CD?

Thanks for that information it helps a lot. Whould there be any advantage to porting the SE heads or is that overkill?