I have a '06 Night Train, with SE stage I, with Vance and Hines big radius. I just ordered a stage II big bore with 203 cams. Is there a better piston, or cam, or combination for more performance with the new head design?

 

The stock heads are rather poor performers. They need to be sent to a speed shop to enable their true performance abilities. As for kits,pistons,cams etc, there are numerous aftermarket parts that far surpass the SE in line in quality and performance. To pick out the right package for you, you should tell us what your budget is first off, second tell us about your riding habits(single, 2 up), and where you want your powerband.

 

I actually bought the SE 95" because of the warranty. I ride solo, and don't race or anything, I just like to go fast, and faster.

 

Does anyone know of a shop in the DFW area that does good head work?

 

If this is a solo cruiser type barhopper, I would recommend something similiar to my build. Its not cheap, but you can make around 120-125hp on a 95" motor. www.cycle-rama.com is well known highly respected headporter. His headwork will cost about $1250. If you already bought the cylinders, I would consider his work. Great turnaround time of only a couple weeks. A cam like the Woods TW-9BG will get you a very wide powerband. You will have over 100 foot pounds of torque from about 2500-6500 which is the majority of the twin cam powerband.

There are a million things you can do, and you can make a 95" motor into a screamer, but you need to be specific on realistic budget and what you want. The combination above would probably require roller rocker arms, forged rocker support plates,adjustable pushrods, gear drive conversion(to do gear driven cams), an upgraded clutch pack etc etc. Thats why I asked about your budget. You can dump $5-10,000 into your engine without even blinking.

 

It sounds like I will do the 95 as is, and then work my way up. I am finding out that getting a good tunning module will cost me next, and then heads, cams, rockers, etc.
I thought that if there was maybe a better set of pistons, or easy cams I would do them with the same install first, but for the money of tunning something out of the ordinary, I am going to have to do it as is, with the standard HD tune, and find a good tunning module first.
This is all new to me, and I don't even know where to start.

 

Personally I wounldnt buy a single thing till youve done some research. Not a fan of the 203 cams or SE pistons(or the 95" cylinders for that matter as they are thin and tend to warp easy, your better off boring out your stock jugs to 95" instead of buying new jugs). You got all winter to do research.

 

I am reading alot, and trying to learn. I also got a smoking deal on the SE 95". So I guess the money is part of the deal, since it is only a toy for me. I think for the warranty, and the money right now I will most likely do the SE setup, and then upgrade as I go. Any suggestions for doing the SE 95"?

Thanks so far--

 

First off, your warrenty is intact no matter whose parts you use. What the dealership tells you is complete and utter BS if you think you have to use SE parts to keep the warrenty intact on your bike. There were some threads already concerning this subject in the Softail section of the forum. You can use any parts you want, the warrenty on your bike is still intact, unless they can prove with no doubt that the aftermarket part or parts you installed was the direct result of another parts failure.

The SE big bore kit is really kind of a big waste of cash. They give you prebored out jugs that I have found many times are very much out of round when properly torqued down. Its cheaper and more importantly will almost fully garentee a much better running engine(due to a better piston ring to cylinder wall seal)by having your stock jugs bored out to 95". It will result in a cylinder that will maintain a round shape when torqued down in your build.

 

So if I ebay'd the 95' where would you start for around $1000. From here to back on the road? Tunning and everything.