I've just bought a 98 road king with 10k miles from its original owner. He has had the base cylinder gaskets replaced with an aluminum gasket and put on all the Harley stage 1 stuff (pipes, breather, jets). I don't know much about evo harleys (this is my first) but I do all my own wrenching on BMWs. Here are my questions...

1) My search for a service manual keeps coming up with a cylmers shop manual. Does HD make a service manual?

2) I've read about inner cam bearing issues here and on other websites. When or what mileage should I consider replacing this bearing? While I'm there should I change pushrods, lifters, & cam? I'm not interested in building a rot hod. Reliability is what I'm after.

3) Does anyone know of really good independent shops in the North Texas area?

Thanks for any help. I'm real excited about getting this evo and having a little fun with it.

 

I have a '92 flstc ..nothing done to it that it didnt need and that is basically nothing.Id leave it alone here on out and ride it.You can order a HD service manual form any dealership in person or online form a dealer.Ive never had any leaks or bearing issues.Doing a bunch of internal mods may invite issues down the road.If you dont want a hot rod,ride it as is.The factory did a fine job . There are a few riders here from north Texas and you will hear from them on indys in your sector.

 

Yes. You can get it at the dealership. While you're at it, pick up the parts manual and the electric service manual (if there is one) too.

The MoCo used an INA bearing on the EVO's. It 'should' be okay with a stock camshaft. However, SOP for installing an aftermarket or performance cam was to replace it with a Torrington.

The 'best', starting upgrades for a 'stock' EVO, IMO, are:
1) Replace the air cleaner assembly with a highflow version.
2) Replace the exhaust with a freer flowing (not necessarily obnoxiously loud) system.
3) Replace the cam. I'm running an Andrews EV27 and it's sweet for a heavy bike.
4) Upgrade ignition. You don't need to go single fire, but you'll like the higher rev limits.
6) Retune the stock CV carb. It's a decent carb on a stock displacement bike.
7) Think about porting the heads and raising the compression to 9.5 or 10:1.

Can't help you on that one. Try and find a shop that has someone that knows how to work on an EVO. And has an in house dyno - and knows how touse it. Trust me,finding someone that has experience withEVO's is almost getting like trying to find someone that knows how to work onaShovelhead.

You can do all the above upgrades, except the porting, yourself. And even then you can send the heads and jugs out to have them done. Then do the assembly yourself. Just doing 1-6 will increase the 'smile factor' dramatically.

It aint rocket science. If you've wrenched on your Beemer, the EVO will be a snap. My 93 EVO puts out 75hp/80tqwith all the above mods except the compression increase.

 

he doesnt want a hot rod...just reliability...its only got 10,000 miles.pipes,breather have all been upgraded.Again ,id leave it alone.

 

I would not touch it at all. With only 10,000 miles on it....just ride it. It will be very dependable and reliable.

The only thing I might would do...is wait until around 50,000 miles or so. Then I would probably replace the INA bearing to the Torrington bearing. Until then, I wouldn't even worry about it.

You've worked on BMW's....Harley's then will be a peice of cake for you. We certainly are not dealing with new technology.

 

Service manual part #99483-98,$42.90 from Zanotti's

 

Thanks for the part number. How did you find it?

 

hd's site

http://www.harley-davidson.com/gma/g...bmLocale=en_US

 

Cool. I've just order the service and parts manual from Zonetti. Your link was most helpful in finding the other part number I needed.

 

Go through the other posts in this section. There's lots of information and opinions about Evo's. Then make up your own mind about what mods you might want to make.