Cams/hp Gain

ALOT OF GUYS AT THE LOCAL CYCLE SHOP WERE PUZZLED WHEN A GUY ON A NEW 883 CAME IN AND WANTED TO GO FASTER THAN 80 ON THE HIGHWAY

I HAVE A 1000cc IRONHEAD FROM 1982 AND ALOT OF GUYS THAT HAVE HAD THEM IN THE PAST HAVE SAID THAT THEY ARE BEAST" STOCK " AND EVEN MORE MONSTEROUS WHEN MESSED WITH.

A GUY I TALKED TO SAID HIS 1000cc IRONHEAD HAD THE JUGS BORED .030 OVER AND HAD A NICE VALVE JOB DONE ON IT AND A GUY MADE A STICKER FOR HIM WHEN HE WAS AT THE DRAGS THAT SAID " BIGTWIN KILLER " BECAUSE IT WAS...

IM ONLY 16 AND HAVE BEEN RIDING FOR ABOUT 1 YEAR, WOULDNT MIND SOME EXTRA HORSES CAUSE I GOT A STOCK 1000CC MOTOR AND I AINT EXACLY SMALL...




ANY INPUT / OPINIONS IS WANTED FOR MORE HORSES AS IM SURE IM SPEAKING FOR MANY :gah: :roflmao:

LeRoy

Thankx for the kind words, Chuck & I'll be happy to give "82SPORTYKID" a tip - Ironheads love dual-plugged heads, it's not real expensive & any good machine shop can do it. The pistons have a steep dome & flame-travel is a problem, which is why the ignition timing needs to be pretty aggressive. But when you've got a spark-plug on either side of the cylinder, you get much more efficient combustion & you can slow the timing down - one benefit is the kicker won't throw you over the handlebars starting the bike You can run what I do in one application - a Crane HI-4 single-fire ignition with 2 dual-fire coils, one for each cylinder, so both plugs in each cylinder fire @ the same time, but there's no "wasted spark" on the exhaust stroke. Just have to figure out where to put the coil for the rear cylinder.

Also, a CV carb is a fairly easy switch & the engine will like that a lot. You have to change intake manifold & throttle cables, but those are available for Ironhead conversions. Another thing is Ironheads get hot, stay hot & are supposed to use straight-weight oil, no less than SAE 50. An Ironhead will cook multi-grade car oils in a heartbeat. And there's a Yahoo group called Ironhead Sportster Garage with a bunch of graybeards who know Ironheads inside out, fowards, backwards, up, down & sideways. They can be quirky bikes, but get one running right & they're loads of fun.

With respect to cams, those are always a compromise & I'd spend $$$ on head work, dual plugs & CV carb long before I would go with aftermarket cams that narrow the powerband & make tuning difficult. It costs so much to make an Ironhead (or any Harley for that matter) live @ high rpms that it doesn't make sense for anything other than all-out racing & they love the mid-range anyway.

Thanks for the tip Art I'm putting a CV carb on my 75 Sportty right now ...dual plug heads ...in the future.....