My buddy's 124

OK here's another thread on big block motors. Over the years I have a good friend that's like a brother to me .Rick has been my riding buddy for over 10 years just one of those guys you know you can trust on any road on any state because you know how they ride and he knows how you ride and what your abilities are on a bike.

Gumba has met him we all had breakfast together one year going up to Daytona together.well for the last 10 years this dam 124 has beat the shit out of me I spent more time in that primary side of this motor replacing starters rotors clutch hubs you name it I have done it and got it were it has been finally a dependable starting motorcycle . With that being said a lot of this issue was poor planning on the builder who put this build together and the owner .

To make a long story short it was also built on twin cam b cases and it's in a softtail frame it is a heritage .don't CRY HRK! any how he came into the shop a week before we were ready to head out for Daytona again and he said I think a exhaust leak has developed. I said let me have a listen if so I'll pop a new gasket in we will go over the bikes for a safety check change fluids and head out with peace of mind for our road trip.

well looks like we are not taking the soft ail I said it's blown a head gasket. At that point I had a stern talk with him and asked if he had played with the timing or had rejetted the carb at all .he said I don't touch what you set on my bike. Good way to stay friends !lol well after months of not being able to tear the engine down because of how busy I have been at the shop I got around to it .it was set up as follows .se heads with jims 4.5/8 stroker wheels axtell 4.125 cylinders with je pistons looks to be a set of Jims h beam rods with length spec of 7.600. Childs Albert set of rings .cams are red shift 647 cams set of v thunder springs set at 1.804 giving plenty of seat pressure being able to run up to 675 lift if needed witch to be honest is an over kill on springs any how.

Upon initial tear down this motor was put together extremely dirty and sloppy! Cylinder bores were scuffed all the waY around the bore and rings were loose in the lands head bolts were not torqued correct and loose I'm surprised it even stayed together as long as it did .and we did a lot of riding and playing around on this bike we made a lot of metric bikes cry.

So my plan of attack witch will be a little work because of different specs sns top end jug kit I have the heads torn down on my bench now and I will go through them as I see fit .the crank is perfect thank god no up and down movement at all and wrist pin bushings look great.new sns pistons rings and jugs new cometic complete gasket set new sns lifters .cams will stay as 647 red shifts .

What I am going to do is go with the reverse dome lower compression piston .as the heads have already been milled down enough that it will make good power at 10.8. Instead of 11.5 that it was before .I will post pics when I get back in the shop and as parts arrive and show you the difference between the Axtell and sns quality of parts .

Yep, Gumba here. I remember that 124. I took him in all 5 gears! Next time maybe he'll start the bike when I race him!

Sorry and thanks HRK! Ya IM known for not spacing out correctly. Lol

You must be spacing out pretty good now with the pain meds

Paul is always spacing. Its natural for him. Lmfao

OK I ran into a huge snag! spent most of the day on the phone and on the tablet trying to find shit to fit this motor combo. This is an odd ball because of the rod length
7.600 rod is no longer used and the deck hight is also very low on these cylinders . I have called S&S. called jims and they said that this is a modified version of there 116 kit and they no longer service that kit.looked at t mans kit and it will not fit the rod length either. I called Ron at axtell gave him the part numbers and he said he had parts to service that kit and they were the ones that early on were doing them for the Jims company .
it looks like I'll be having to rebuild this motor with axtell jugs .I am hoping that these cylinders will not give me any issues being that they are the early models .the later model cylinders had air voids in the castings .and we're giving people issues with cylinder to rings seal problems. Hopefully they can bore and hone the cylinders we have and put this motor back together. I'll keep ya posted.

Why not change rods to something more standard so you won't have to go through this again? Or is the case so manipulated that you can't?

That means splitting the case half and spending more money on a crank work and parts .fine with me not fine with the customer/friend

Yep. Then it is what it is. JMO, may ebd up with the same issues then.

Well the way I see it it won't be put together dirty or sloppy. Clearence will be checked and set perfectly so it has a fighting chance that's for sure.

I know it won't be sloppy that's for sure.

NOT push rods .connecting rods on the flywheels .you knuckle head.lol.regular twin cams are built on 7.667 rods these jims fly wheels are built on 7.600 .it would be nice if I could get off the shelf pistons .but no dice.

They don't make adjustable connecting rods?!?! WTH? There's an invention that could make us mega bucks!

Adjustable connecting rods? May I have two? Stroker for one red light race, then high RPM crotch rocket at the next red light! And electronically adjustable at the handlebars, please! To heck with the new Livewire...

And I'm the one eaten pain killers? Hmm mm lmfao

I was looking to do one of Axtells kits years ago.
Hate I did somebody elses.