Think SYSTEM rather than parts

I'm just one of many people who have preached think SYSTEM rather than individual parts, like "bolt-in cams" & a friend of mine stopped by with his 2006 Fatboy which is further proof. Sportster heads / valves / cams / carb settings, etc. I know, but the right combination for a "Twinkie" Twin Cam engine converted to 95" I don't & "Lucifer" helped me identify the "Screamin' Eagle" parts on the Fatboy my friend bought used. The previous owner had spent a LOT of money on parts that even the dealer he had do the work said wouldn't be the right combination, including SE cams that would be better suited for a 103" Twinkie @ the drag strip.

My friend rode over from the indy shop I go to for things I don't have the machine tools / equipment to do myself (ECS Engineering, Bessemer City, NC) & now the bike is running great! The heads were professionally worked, the SE cams replaced with Woods "Knight Prowler" with a gear-drive setup & the 40" drag pipes with no baffles were replaced with Vance & Hines "ShortShot" pipes. The carb was rebuilt, rejetted, ingition timing checked, etc., but my point is that the 1st question was how / where / when do you ride this bike?

What the right combination is for one rider will NOT be the same as it is for someone else & you can spend a LOT of money on the best parts in the world, but get bad results - all those parts MUST be designed to work together. First determine what it is that you want your bike to do - then consider which combination will accomplish your goal - very rarely will one "bolt-on" part do it.

I agree with you 100 % Most guys...and now ladys who are riding....go fo a new exhaust setup by LQQKS only ! Heads, Pistons, Cams, Bore & Stroke all have to work together.....good call Art

I started to put my comments on a "cams" thread, but I started a new thread just to make a point, which applies to ANY bike, no matter which brand it is, or what you want to do with it! I see so many people spend a LOT of money on cams, pipes, etc. & end up with a bike that doesn't run as good as it did stock & I hope that some will think, wait just a minute - what is it that I want to accomplish & what will it take to get it?

I've had the great pleasure of being involved in Land-Speed-Record Racing, where there are over 1800 motorcycle classes! You can run any bike ever built, in Production classes if it's stock (or close to stock), modified, altered, whatever - if it's got 2 (even 3) wheels & an engine of some kind, you can race it! Anything from a "Moped" to a fire-breathing monster running 100% nitro fuel & a supercharger! Or a turbocharged Suzuki tuned with a laptop computer & set the track record @ a tick over 250 mph !!!

Now not everything that works @ the racetrack works on the street / highway, but a lot of it does & it all boils down to SYSTEM - you either got the right combination for what it is you want to accomplish or you didn't. There is no "silver bullet" - these cams, those pipes, etc. will NOT be the magic solution to what you want to accomplish - but the right combination of parts designed to work together will.

Friend of mine who bought an '06 Fatboy earlier this year just got it back from the independent shop I sent him to & it's definitely "system" there (ECS Engineering in North Carolina). He got a good deal on the bike @ an area dealership & the previous owner had the dealer make several modifications, which were supposedly done by their best mechanic.

But the bike carboned up spark plugs in no time, the carb rubbed on the cylinders (couldn't even remove the float bowl without removing the carb), there was an intake manifold leak, the engine coughed, spit, backfired, definitely had way too much cam & didn't have as much power as a stock '06 Fatboy! Here are the basics of what was done @ the dealer:

95" kit with SE heads, pistons & 264 cams, Mikuni 45 carb, open drag pipes.

Here's what the indy shop did - professionally work the heads, including ports, combustion chambers, unshroud the valves, etc.; rework the carb, including getting it & the intake manifold to fit properly; replace the cams with gear-drive Woods "Knight Prowler" cams, which have LESS lift, duration & overlap than the SE's & from different pipe choices given, my friend chose V&H short staggered duals - the baffles were NOT removed.

Now the bike starts so quick you don't even hear the starter & has WAY more power - it runs like a professionally modified 95-incher should! Many would think that with baffles in the pipes & less lift, duration & overlap in the cams there would be less power but that's not true & the key is that now the heads, cams & exhaust are all designed to work together in harmony - and they do. The 45 mm carb is really too big & a 42 would be better, but the indy shop owner has so much experience with those carbs that he got the bigger one to work with this system, saving my friend the expense of another carb.

Below is a photo of what the bike looks like now & it runs even better than it looks !!

"Why is there always enough time to do it over, and never enough time to do it right?"

An absolutely key point & I knew the 1st questions the indy shop owner would ask my friend would be where, when & how do you ride? On the backroads around here? On the interstate? Do you carry a passenger often? What is it that you want the bike to do? Until you know the answers to those questions, you can't even think about cams, etc.