SE ignitions

I am getting answers from all over the board... Even my local harley dealership wont give me an honest "yes or no". I would like to put one of these Screamin Eagle (SE) ignitions on my bike (they are hard as hell to find but on Ebay occasionally they pop up). The unit for my 2002 sportster 1200 is 6800 rpm rev limiter. My question is will a stock cam and other stock internal engine components hold up to this 6800 rpm (I believe stock its a 5200 rpm)??? I am in the process of rebuilding my carb, high flow exhaust & K&N filter, SE plugs - coil - wires. I really just don't want to blow it up first time out 2 blocks from my garage... Thanks all!

The stock valve springs are the weak point, I would not rev it that high. There are aftermarket units that will let you set the rev limiter where you want.

NO. You can make a Sportster engine live @ over 6000 rpm & my race engine makes peak HP @ 7200, but you can buy a brand-new Sportster for what it costs to do that. And with stock heads, cams, etc. there's no more power to be found much above 5500 rpm anyway.

But Sportsters love the midrange & that's where they run the best, so for normal street / road riding, it just makes sense to me to use it. After all, HP is just a mathematical function of torque: HP = (torque x rpm) / 5252, and that's why when you look @ a dyno chart, the HP & torque curves (should) cross @ 5252 rpm.

HP may still be rising, but torque is falling off & with the factory rev limit, you're running up to peak torque & staying within a range where the engine won't shake itself apart. Yes, you can safely go up to 6000 & gain some HP with headwork, cams, etc., but above that, you need valves, springs, rocker arms, pushrods, etc. - the valvetrain is the weak link in the chain.

And for normal street / road riding, I happen to like the stock cams, as they're symetrical & have only 4º degrees of overlap. Tuning's pretty simple & you get a nice, smooth powerband without any peaks or valleys in it. What it boils down to is that although you can make substantially more power in a given (narrow) rpm range, what you can actually use while you're out riding is what matters.

I wouldn't bother with the SE plugs,wires,ignition or coil,but I would add the SE breather kit( or Ness Big Sucker,if available for Sporties) with a K&N filter instead of just adding a K&N filter to your stock breather... It doesn't take much to wake up a Sporty...more air in faster(SE breather kit) more air out faster(cycle shack slip on mufflers or similar) and retune the stock carb and you'll think you have a new bike.

I already have SE plugs, wires, and coil... Got'em cheap... I stick with the stock ignition. I also already bought the K&N kit (not just the filter). It comes with all the stuff (breather kit, backing plate, etc). I plan on putting on some Vance and Hines Straight Shots. That ought to be enough to get me started haha.

I agree with LUCIFER....Do the cycle shack mufflers and the air cleaner ! Then rebuild the carb so the engine can breatheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Dont think you should do so many things at one time....reason being...whice one really worked.

We all know an engine is nothing more then a big pump....gas goes in..exhaust comes out...simple the trick is getting the air into the carb with little restriction....and getting the exhaust out quickly....but heres the RUB! A Harley Engine needs "BACKPRESSURE":fight:
Straight pipes suck and there harder to tune for the street! Save your $$$$ and go for the cycle shack slip fit mufflers...$183 bucks and they make 3 styles!
I would do the carb, exhaust and air cleaner / filter stuff 1st...get it all dialed in..and after a few days or weeks of stop light hole shots and revving it up 10 times every 3 or 4 seconds....come on guys....now you can hear that motor...and you want everyone else in a 5 block radius to hear it 2! I did all of this to my roomates 883 2006 sporty and what a difference !


Then maybe I would change the wires and coil...maybe! But I doubt you will notice a change in performance !

One more thing vale springs can be an issue....but dont worry about 5800 rpm vs. 6800 rpm...when that lean condition is gone...{ALL NEW HARLEYS ARE TUNED WAY LEAN } And the air in fuel circuit is richer, and the exhaust out is taken care of......your power increase will be very noticeable.....! PEACE !

:angry:One more thing! Don't get to caught up in buying things from H-D and S-E stuff There dealers....if they cant give you an answer it's because they dont know ! And most dont know Jac.....

Dont waste your $$$$$$ There are a lot of great places to buy and save $$$$$ on High Performance upgrade items.





When I was learning things.about Harleys....and got into Drag Racing....I would go around the pits and ask ???? write down what the guys that were winning with were using....As far as an after market Ignition goes Call Crane up and ask for the tech dept.

We have been using there products for years! Also look into Andrews Prouducts out of the N/W burbs of Chicago IL They make some of the best valve springvalve train and cams for all the Harleys....I started using there tranny gears and parts in the 70's !

Also look at Daytona Twin Tec for a very programable ignition...good stuff....easy to install....very tuneable and you can run it in the Single fire or dual fire mode! The only thing is in the single fire mode...you need a single fire coil.....We run a single fire on our Race bike and our street bikes too! My 59 panhead runs so much smoother with the single fire set up! Got rid of about 40% of the vibration....on my OLD POS!
Look up single vs. dual fire Harley ign to understand what Im talking about.....

Motorway engineering on the east coast make some great stuff there also known as Vulcan There making complete PanHead motors now How Cool is That!....Got a 96 Cu.In. Pan motor on paper that there going to build for me....Should be about 120......great stuff!

Buy American Ride American ! Hell New Harleys have enough foreign on em....:cussing::rant:

Dont buy any thing from Kuryakan its all CRAP!:gah: