Dyna Glide ModelsSuper Glide, Super Glide Sport, Super Glide Custom, Dyna Glide Convertible, Super Glide T-Sport, Dyna Glide Police, Dyna Switchback, Low Rider, Street Bob, Fat Bob and Wide Glide.
I see you speak my language, **** indeed!
There is one lingering issue that I must point out to you that I have with my 103 build that I've spent a pile of money trying to overcome. My first trade is automotive machinist, most of the 80's in an engine rebuild shop so I was sure that this "gremlin" I would hear in certain circumstances was pre-ignition. I was met with skepticism buy the guy that put this one together but he did put it back on his dyno and made some changes, this was a couple of years ago.
Last summer after hours of tampering with my FAR and pulling timing here there and --almost everywhere I was talked into another dyno run by a local shop. I make no claims to be a great bike mechanic. I payed the bill, jumped on my bike and went about one block, returned to the shop and handed the keys to the shop supervisor and told him to take it for a ride. Sure it ran good with plenty of power but the pre-ignition remained. They tweaked and tampered with it for hours (no further charge) and finally concluded that this issue can not be tuned out. The takeaway is this-
The guy that built this one had done several just like it over the years with no such problem. So what's up? Well- it could be an anomaly somewhere in one of the cylinders but more likely is the well known fact that the fuel Quality today is not what it was a few years ago. The only gas station that sells 94 octane that I know of in Canada is Chevron and there's not a Chevron in every town buy a far stretch. I took a tour into the U.S. last summer and the best I could find south of the 49th was 91 octane, even at Chevron and it was hot as hell around Yakama, so the pre-ignition gets worse. I can make this problem go away by using octane boost but that's a pain in the *** gets expensive among other undesirable things that one should never have to deal with. I am currently considering pulling the jugs to see if I can corner this ogre and then drop the comp ratio to 9:1.
My advice to you is- Do your diligence and research this topic, including what power you would actually gain by bumping the comp to 10:1 or higher VS the potential preignition issues you may suffer.
Because I had to pull timing and add fuel in a bid to keep the pre-ignition at bay I've lost some power, where as a build using 9:1 comp pistons that is tuned properly would likely put out just as much power without the huge pain in the *** regarding available fuel all across North America.
ps. I couldn't find the edit button as per your request to delete post# 17
I see you speak my language, **** indeed!
There is one lingering issue that I must point out to you that I have with my 103 build that I've spent a pile of money trying to overcome. My first trade is automotive machinist, most of the 80's in an engine rebuild shop so I was sure that this "gremlin" I would hear in certain circumstances was pre-ignition. I was met with skepticism buy the guy that put this one together but he did put it back on his dyno and made some changes, this was a couple of years ago.
Last summer after hours of tampering with my FAR and pulling timing here there and --almost everywhere I was talked into another dyno run by a local shop. I make no claims to be a great bike mechanic. I payed the bill, jumped on my bike and went about one block, returned to the shop and handed the keys to the shop supervisor and told him to take it for a ride. Sure it ran good with plenty of power but the pre-ignition remained. They tweaked and tampered with it for hours (no further charge) and finally concluded that this issue can not be tuned out. The takeaway is this-
The guy that built this one had done several just like it over the years with no such problem. So what's up? Well- it could be an anomaly somewhere in one of the cylinders but more likely is the well known fact that the fuel Quality today is not what it was a few years ago. The only gas station that sells 94 octane that I know of in Canada is Chevron and there's not a Chevron in every town buy a far stretch. I took a tour into the U.S. last summer and the best I could find south of the 49th was 91 octane, even at Chevron and it was hot as hell around Yakama, so the pre-ignition gets worse. I can make this problem go away by using octane boost but that's a pain in the *** gets expensive among other undesirable things that one should never have to deal with. I am currently considering pulling the jugs to see if I can corner this ogre and then drop the comp ratio to 9:1.
My advice to you is- Do your diligence and research this topic, including what power you would actually gain by bumping the comp to 10:1 or higher VS the potential preignition issues you may suffer.
Because I had to pull timing and add fuel in a bid to keep the pre-ignition at bay I've lost some power, where as a build using 9:1 comp pistons that is tuned properly would likely put out just as much power without the huge pain in the *** regarding available fuel all across North America.
ps. I couldn't find the edit button as per your request to delete post# 17
I am glad that you brought this topic up, even when my bike was stock I experienced pre-detonation, got that pinging noise under load often. Only under a good load though, if I was easy on the throttle I would not experience it. I put the Thundermax tuner on not long after I got my bike and I always attributed it to something I didn't have tuned correctly. When I tore my bike down I had a really thick crust on the piston crowns and this can cause pre-detonation so I figured that is likely what it was in my case. This go around I am going to run a catch can for the oil recirculation to prevent that from happening but I'll admit it is something I am still curious about and if it will happen again. I'll do some studying up on the topic, if I am going to run a lower compression ratio then now is the time to figure that out. Oddly enough back when I was hem hawing around with letting Cycle-Rama do the build on this thing that is something that attracted me to them, they run 9.5:1 compression ration to maintain the reliability aspect, no need for compression releases while still achieving very nice numbers but I also remember them saying they made up for it with the head and valve work done.
I'd have to reach out to Fuel Moto and see what they say cause my heads are already done and money has been spent. If anything, at the end of the day, I'll just have to run an octane booster and/or try to have it tuned out. As of right now I am planning on trailering my bike to Steve @ GMR Performance for the tuning, wish I lived closer to a good tuner though for instances like this where I need more fine tuning.
Thanks for clearing out that post, I appreciate it!
Let's talk wheel and axle swaps I have a few larger tasks on hold until I get the wheels figured out, I purchased the set of 2017 FXDB wheels from snake_eyes, rather than trying to source the narrower 1" bearings or buying the vulkan kits and paying someone to swap everything over I decided to get used 25mm axles, in hindsight I am seeing I should of just swapped the bearings.
It seems the rear is kosher, 25mm axle with my 1" spacers lines everything up as it should be. The front wheel is giving me a bit of trouble though, I have searched A LOT which pretty much all lead to swapping the bearings out, the few posts I have found for swapping the axles do not have complete information - just someone chiming in that they did it and the spacers had to be changed to different sizes.
I've done some base measurements and from what I can tell the right hand spacer (opposite of the caliper) will need to be 3/16" taller than the original 1" spacers to get the rotor sitting in the same spot. Now I did try to mount up the 25mm axle with it's spacers and the wheel spins freely but not quite as freely as the original wheel did, it's just a tad tight between the pads. I am assuming if I add 3/16" to the right hand spacer I would need to take an amount off the left hand spacer. I also measured full width with spacers 1" vs 25mm and found the 25mm setup to be at 7" and the 1" setup to be around 6-7/8".
The best I can come up with is I need a 1.66" wide spacer for the right side, not sure of the left side yet. I know someone around here has done the axle swap with success I just can't find a post that has the exact information for what was done.
2017 Wheel with right hand spacer width
2007 Wheel with right hand spacer width
2017 Wheel Mounted up with 25mm axle and 25mm spacers
I am glad that you brought this topic up, even when my bike was stock I experienced pre-detonation, got that pinging noise under load often. Only under a good load though, if I was easy on the throttle I would not experience it. I put the Thundermax tuner on not long after I got my bike and I always attributed it to something I didn't have tuned correctly. When I tore my bike down I had a really thick crust on the piston crowns and this can cause pre-detonation so I figured that is likely what it was in my case. This go around I am going to run a catch can for the oil recirculation to prevent that from happening but I'll admit it is something I am still curious about and if it will happen again. I'll do some studying up on the topic, if I am going to run a lower compression ratio then now is the time to figure that out. Oddly enough back when I was hem hawing around with letting Cycle-Rama do the build on this thing that is something that attracted me to them, they run 9.5:1 compression ration to maintain the reliability aspect, no need for compression releases while still achieving very nice numbers but I also remember them saying they made up for it with the head and valve work done.
I'd have to reach out to Fuel Moto and see what they say cause my heads are already done and money has been spent. If anything, at the end of the day, I'll just have to run an octane booster and/or try to have it tuned out. As of right now I am planning on trailering my bike to Steve @ GMR Performance for the tuning, wish I lived closer to a good tuner though for instances like this where I need more fine tuning.
Thanks for clearing out that post, I appreciate it!
Pre-ignition and detonation are two different things and can be difficult to tell the difference when you hear them, there can be different causes for each of these issues. You mentioned a carbon build up on your old pistons, that build up (if just the right conditions) could harbor a hot spot that could pre- ignite your fuel air mixture. Another cause could be a poorly machined Sharp edge of one components or another in the combustion chamber that would remain hot enough to pre-ignite the mix (akin to holding a sewing needle over a candle and you'll see the fine tip glow red hot". Too high compression for the octane of fuel will lead to the same symptoms. I know there are other sources that could explain this better than I can so - do research the topics "pre-ignition and detonation", Some of these issues you can never make go away just by tuning mate, so do the research and do the job right the first time.
Sorry, I had just looked very quickly at your post before I answered. Let's revisit this.
There is nothing special about this front wheel "Swap" ... You should Not have to do anything "custom" if the correct OE parts were used and assembled correctly.
1. Did you remove the front bearings since receiving the wheel(s) from snake_eyes ?
2. Are both the 25mm spacers being used approx .985" ? ... (btw, it's the Left spacer that positions the wheel for proper caliper to rotor alignment)
3. Already received a "straight" 25mm axle ?
4. Did you install the Rotor on this side of hub ? (with the original Hub Plate still on the other side)
.
Last edited by multihdrdr; 01-14-2024 at 01:17 AM.
01-11-2024, 12:03 PM
I have a few larger tasks on hold until I get the wheels figured out, I purchased the set of 2017 FXDB wheels from snake_eyes, rather than trying to source the narrower 1" bearings or buying the vulkan kits and paying someone to swap everything over I decided to get used 25mm axles, in hindsight I am seeing I should of just swapped the bearings.
