Evo power

i have a 1990 soft tail coustom with stock engine.what is the best way to get more power without a shorter engine life?

bain,

there are several things you can do, it's just how much money you want to spend.

The first things I done to my 90 model 80" dresser motor was to change the mufflers, rejet and modify the needle and slide in the carb and get a high flow air filter kit.

The second thing I did was to put a EV27 cam in it with adjustable pushrods.

The third thing I did was to send the heads and the juggs to ShortBlock Charlie for porting and valve job, boring of the juggs and new flat top SE pistons.

The last thing I did was to buy an Ultima 107" motor, take the 80" off and install the 107" It's a diease I tell you. It's a diease.

There is all kinds of info on what you can do to an evo or any motor on Motorcycle Performance Guide for Harley-Davidson

The EV27 cam with adjustable pushrods and a freeflowing intake and exhaust are about the most boost for your money that you will see. After that a good set of heads sure does help. The reliability factor seems to go down after that when you start boring out the cylinders of a stock engine case. The metal in the HD cases seems to be a bit suspect and everyone I've delt with who increased their bore ended up pulling out the studs when the really got on their bikes. If you just have to get more power a stroker crank with flattop pistons seems to do the trick without sacrificing reliability.

For starters Id have somebody who knew what they were doing port and flow the heads and put on a corresponding exhaust/intake system to increase your flow and change the stock carb. These things will make your engine breathe better, run stronger and cooler and you have done nothing to decrease engine life or reliability. There are a lot of good machinists out there, Dewey's in New Mexico, Shortblock Charlie, Dave Mackie and Jerry Branch to name a few, After that if you still want more than more cubes, cam etc, or do like paco and just buy a big engine. One advantage to this I can see is if you ever decide to sell the bike you can but the stock engine back in and use the big incher in your next bike. I went with the biger engine option in my Fatboy, S&S 96". Love it!. AL

Here is what I ended up with on a stock garage queen 1995 FXD, I picked up over the summer.

Ebay found an old V-Thunder cam intended for heavy bike a Tq cam, VT-2015 it's an old grind but picked it up cheap...could not pass up the deal. New inner cam bearing, reused the original cam gear, don't remember what the cam shim was (?) and cam cover gasket.

Ebay SE adjustable push rods, SE 6K ignition module & SE air cleaner. Oh yea new lifter block gaskets, removed the lifters & blocks to check cam play for bushing install makes things a bunch easier.

Had an existing Mikuni 42 carb, this is not needed but sure gives the thing a whole new feel as the Mik throttle is way shorter then the stock CV so the response (feels) a bunch quicker.

Left the exhaust alone, it already had the stock headers with the OEM cross over & an old set of SE slip ons.

Cost W/O carb. The Mik 42 would be add about 270 bucs
New cam 60
Push rods 100
ignition 80
Misc gaskets 35
Air cleaner 60
$335

This is the best 335 investment I have made in a very long time. there are many parts available on the internet for EVO's cheap if you take your time looking...

The bike pulls like a mule & is a whole bunch more fun to ride It has all the power right where I want it from idle up to ?, it don't have a tach.

I suggest to google & contact V-Thunder tell them your riding style and see what they suggest. I did prior to installing that old bagger cam in my FXD & they were right on target.

Good luck & let us know what you ended up with...

Cracker

bump

Not trying to start anything here but a bolt in cam in a stock 80" EVO can be had for like 350 bucs...& IMO Ya get a nice upgrade in performance for the cost, don't Ya think???

I don't know much about El Bruto, i've heard that Rev Tech has got their act together after a shaky start but Custom Chrome usually backs up what it sells. But for my money make it an S&S. I have the 96" and since Ive changed speedometers 3 times I kind of lost count on the mileage but it is over 50K. A guy I know locally here has over 100K on his 96" with only minor problems like gasket leaks. I have had no problems the engine runs very strong. Al

I wish I'd listened to you guys last year when I went and rebuild my evo. A year later and it still isn't right.

HotRoadKing, I see besides a Road King you also have a 00 Heritage with a 124 in it. Bet that thing gets right down the road,got a picture? AL

Hey Ultra...did ya ever check the pic's I posted on the change to gear drive cams?

I just can't see putting in all this work to go faster... Hell ain't these things fast enough??? With the bonehead cage drivers trying to nail us all the time that's the last thing I'd what... I'd probably kill myself ...

Ringo, no but I certainly would like to, where are they? I had an American Iron with the pics at one time but it got lost by the way side

mwelch, out here in West Texas we have a lot of space and little traffic. I admit I don't get the URGE now as much as when I was younger, but every now and then, probably during the full moon cycle, I get to craving that adrenaline rush that comes with being right out there on the edge of the abyss and seeing how hard I can push my luck. Check out my avitar, I took a picture of the speedo at 100 myself, not for the faint of heart or probably the sane. Actually I had the speedo pegged at 120 prior to taking that picture, you can see my reflection in the handle bar cover. Of course the camera was strapped to my neck and alsredy dialed in so all I had to do was reach over with my left hand and push the button.
Also its nice to cruise up Wolf Creek Pass at 90 mph passing everybody and knowing you've still got half a hand full of throttle left (and that's a ride every biker should make it a point to do) I rate it right up there with the Redwood Run and the Black Hills. Some guys are into burn outs but myself I like to wind the gears out close to red line and listen to that bitch roar and tremble and beg to be set free, oh yeah. AL

Ultra Al...the cam pic's are on page 2 of the post titled "Assembly Lube" dated November 29th.