Blog Update Road King July 2011

A lot’s been done since the last entry on my Evo Road King evolution so you might want to make a cup of tea and get comfortable:

PART ONE

As planned, Geoff at Cycle Enterprises (Stoke Golding, Warwickshire Tel: 01455 213 007)
pulled out and broke the motor and put it to one side to concentrate on the unhealthy frame. He then stripped, blasted and dipped the frame to properly expose the damage, which was truly frightening. At the bottom rear loops of the engine cradle, the top of those frame tubes had rotted away, leaving only strips of cupped metal to brace and accept the swing arm assembly. Basically it could have failed catastrophically at any time, and Tony’s probing finger pushed through the paint on the gussets a year ago probably saved my life. Geoff, and other Cycle Enterprises bods, Gabby and Blackie, then chopped out and painstakingly reconstructed the dodgy areas, replacing old tubing and re-welding new plate where necessary. They’ve done a cracking job; and with the new paint laid on by Tony – who prefers paint on frames to powder-coat – it’s looking like brand new.



Tony has also been taking parts back to his workshop for painting and powder-coating as Geoff has released them, and when I went down in mid-April, he and I took the barrels and heads back to Geoff’s – all four of which Tony has sprayed with single adhesion 2K black, this glossy black engine paint looks really good and is apparently very resistant to chipping.



Tony has also had the wheels out and has cleaned them up blacking them out completely though the original intention, to polish the sides of the rims, has gone by the wayside as it was going to cost way too much. But concerned about the sheer amount of uninterrupted black with the wheels and tyres I ran it past Andy the Ed and he suggested running a pinstripe round it’s circumference in the same red as that on the original tank paintwork separating the black and silver, so Tony’s going to do that once the wheels are back in and the bike is still suspended on the lift.



PART TWO

Bruce Tessmer at S&S contacted Am-V central and asked if we would be interested in reviewing their new style SPO Touring mufflers and and, if we wanted, their new Power Tune Duals too. This was right at the time I was casting around for a new system to replace the Bubba Cross-Dressers that had done sterling service on my Road King for many years. After our understandably enthusiastic response, Bruce was careful to make sure of my Road King’s spec and we armed him with the its VIN number to make identification as precise as possible (my Road King being registered in 1994 while this model was introduced for 1995 and seeing not a few changes in a short amount of time). Bearing in mind the bike’s near stock spec and that the engine was already out of the frame and part disassembled on Geoff’s benches at Cycle Enterprises - and I guess, presumably wanting me to review the new S&S exhaust system in its best light - he also further suggested additional performance upgrades too (listed below) and sent them through at the same time.

SPO™ Touring Mufflers, (kit featuring Black End Caps, Standard, Chrome,1995-up)
S&S Catalog Part number: 550-0002:



As with the previous fully chrome S&S oval section silencers I sold to Nick the ex-bike copper which effectively started this whole project, this pair are heavy, really heavy. Hopefully this means that they carry plenty of silencing tech and won't be silly loud. S&S liken the sound of these new silencers to the low rumble of an American 1960’s muscle car, I reckon I can live with that. The Xylan® Black end caps on these new silencers should really suit the theme of the bike too and their oval section should also compliment the panniers, being mounted directly underneath.

Interestingly the S&S catalog mentions that their SPO™ Touring Mufflers offer increased performance with the proviso that they ‘work best with S&S air cleaner and/or camshaft upgrade’ both of which were included as part of Bruce’s consignment.


S&S Power Tune Duals (Pipe, Exhaust, Header, 2 Into 2,1995-2008 Touring)
S&S Catalog Part number: 550-0003:



These are a great looking pair of ‘pipes which moves the rear cylinder header underneath the frame rather than through it over the starter motor in order to protect the pillion passenger from radiated heat (a frequent complaint to me from passengers on H-D’s Touring range) and has the added bonus of really tidying up the right hand side. Whether the rear pot pipe will affect ground clearance remains to be seen, but the promotional photo of the system in-situ with the silencers above fitted to a Twin Cam Road Glide seems to indicate that the Power Tune Duals leave plenty of room. If the SPO™ Touring Mufflers above aren’t to everyone’s taste though, S&S indicate that these Power Tune Duals are compatible with any other slip-on silencers.

Apart from looking extremely clean, S&S claim their Power Tune Duals system offers an extra 8 horsepower over stock, which if true will make a significant difference to my venerable old ‘King


S&S Teardrop Air Cleaner kit (Stock CV/EFI, Chrome,1993-2011)
S&S Catalog Part number: 17-0450



Ever since I became aware of Harley-Davidsons and dreamed of one day owning one, I’ve wanted my Harleys to be fitted with S&S’s iconic Teardrop air-cleaner. It will fit my Road King’s stock CV carb and that the Teardrop also potentially offers an additional 5 horses over stock according to the catalog is near nigh perfect.

S&S 510V Camshaft (1984-'99 Big Twins)
S&S Catalog part number: 33-5124



The 510V ‘bolt-in’ cam Bruce has chosen is exactly the cam I would have chosen myself as it should offer a bit more punch in the mid-range without affecting adversely smooth power delivery throughout the range. It’s relatively straightforward to fit according to both S&S and Geoff at Cycle Enterprises (once the top-end has been pulled off the engine as mine has) and is intended as a drop in improvement for lower/stock compression, stock capacity Big Twin engines.

S&S Quickee Pushrod Set (for use with Hydraulic Tappet below and 80"-98", 113", 117", 124" displacement, 1984-'99 Big Twins)
S&S Catalog part number: 93-5120
And
S&S High Performance Hydraulic Tappets (aka lifters, 1984-'99 Big Twins and 1986-'90 XL)
S&S Catalog part number: 33-5352

These high-quality steel pushrods are adjustable to work with a variety of different cams and don’t require replacement pushrod covers. The Quickee Pushrods can be installed without removing the rocker covers. The High Performance Hydraulic Tappets are intended for all Harley-Davidson Evolution Big Twin engines and come as standard fitting on S&S’s own V-Series engines. They’re designed to reduce stress in the motor and ensuring both the top and bottom-ends won’t get starved of oil.

So Bruce at S&S has sent both the pushrods and the lifters to make best use of their 510V cam (which itself has been sent to make best use of their new exhaust system), the new ‘internals’ are designed to work together and therefore we’re maintaining an integrity throughout the valve train … everyone knows what’s where. Hopefully then there shouldn’t be any surprises other than happy ones. If everything above works out as planned when fitted to my eighteen year old, previously close to stock 1340cc Evolution, then I should expect a significant (though possibly not too major) performance improvement. I’m hoping that the upgrades will enhance an engine which still feels recognisably mine, but with more mid range power.

PART THREE

With hopefully more power, it’s a good idea to look at up-rating the handling too. Progressive Suspension have just announced their 940 Ultra Touring shocks, which will drop the back end of the bike down – Street Glide-style – without compromising suspension travel , and last issue’s news (Am-V 46) tells of their new Monotube Fork Kit, which slots a much improved cartridge damping mechanism into a conventional fork – and which come with one or two-inch lowering options. We’ll be reviewing both, to see how they’ll transform the ride of this evolved Evo, and would be foolish to pass-up the offer to see how Progressive’s Touring Link chassis stabiliser fares in stiffening up the bike’s handling. Both the rear shocks and the stabiliser are now with Geoff, and as soon as the monotube fork kit arrives I’ll get that down there too. However as the front end is more or less a separate component in it’s own right it won’t hold up any other work on the rest of the Road King.




In early June I loaded the car with the new S&S goodies and drove down to deliver them to Geoff at Cycle Enterprises picking up Tony from Classic Approach on the way down who saw an opportunity to clean up the bottom end while it was out of the frame. Finding a handy plastic tub we loaded the bottom end into the car and took it back to Classic Approach where using super strong and sticky carpet tape to mask it’s internals Tony has dipped it in Nitromors, cleaned it, swilled out the internals and re-painted it. We’ve taken the now lovely bottom end back to Geoff’s and there’s little to stop him putting the motor back together with the S&S upgrades.



Geoff will hopefully port and polish the heads too, an intricate sculpting process that improves gas flow, aiding a cleaner burn and therefore better petrol efficiency and more power: quite literally more bang for your buck. This might be an Evo, (often seen as the first modern Harley engine) but casting and machining technology were still relatively crude when it was new, so hand finishing and applying proven principles in terms of the shape of the port can make a worthwhile difference to the performance.

Tony and I also took away the petrol tank/s (which are in one piece under the speedo console) which Tony has cleaned up and worked his polishing magic with his mysterious compounds to bring the showroom brightness back. The tanks are great quality and we might not need to re-lacquer them as the original paint both on it and the mudguards (18 years old and un-garaged - well done H-D) are in great nick and virtually un-marked.

Later on Tony will take away the tired and flaking sub-frame covers to strip off the chrome and then paint black. He will also take the mudguard supports and the pannier supports to strip and re-paint that lot too. Tony suggests leaving the mudguards in place on the bike and he’ll polish them up in-situ. He’s also taking the rear disk brake rotor and will paint the middle black and maybe even pinstripe red to match.



However the floating front rotors, the centre carriers of which I intended to get painted black too have hit a sizable snag. Geoff pointed out last time I was down that the fully floating ductile iron disks have seized on their bobbins. Geoff indicated that I might need possibly some new discs as there’s no point going to the trouble of painting these carriers. Tch! My 6-pot calipers, rotors and carriers appear to be discontinued GMA items possibly rationalised when GMA were bought out by BDL (Brake Drives Limited). A brief look on the internet:

(here and here)

has found what very much appears to be the GMA 6 piston differential bore caliper and rotor kit fitted to my Road King (I realise under normal circumstances I ought to know exactly what’s fitted to my bike but the kit was handed to me unboxed as a rather cool present). Further net research has also indicated that anybody’s rotors might do at a pinch, fully floating or otherwise - but they’re not cheap either. So I originally wondered whether I could get away with treating my rotors as if they’re solid and get the carriers painted anyway as a stop gap, a pair of new rotors added as another item on the ‘Would Be Nice To Do Later’ list (which already includes tidier switchgear housings, foot boards and foot controls). However there are other options to explore first; I’m going to contact BDL and ask if they can supply me with two sets of replacement bobbins (looking at Billet’s replacements indicate that they should work out at about a fiver apiece hopefully) or if they’re out of stock perhaps the engineering drawings that a good custom engineer over this side of the pond could follow and knock out a set on a CNC machine. It’s got to be worth a try, the GMA 6-pot conversion up front has been a boon to the bike.

I’ll let you know how I get on

Rich