I have a friend with a 2003 roadglide, who was CONvinced by the idiot dealer to build his motor up as follows.

95" big bore kit
SE HTCC CNC ported heads
Domed HTCC pistons for 10.5:1 compression
SE 203 cams
Stock intake
Kuryakyn twin velocity air cleaner
V&H classic slipons
SERT

Needless to say, the cams don't behave well with this setup. He's tried to live with it these past few years, but now thinks he can spring for one of the S&S or Andrews gear drive package specials you can find online for a good rate. For that reason, we are looking for recommendations in those lines, unless you know of someplace selling one of the other manufacturers options for the comparable pricing on the sets....hell, for that matter does anyone know if anyone is still selling the gear drive packages for around $550.00? I did my father in law's bike and my own a few years ago with similar deals on Andrews TW-55G cams; but that was through directparts, who's since gone out of business. I know Jireh used to offer the same, but I've had no luck finding the 'kits' on their web site.

Anyway, I appreciate any helpful input. I've kind of lost touch with the tech aspects since I have both my bikes built up and HD has now made my old TC-88 engines 'obsolete'...or at least old news.

To save on labor, I planned to help him do this on our own as well. One of the considerations I took into account when picking the TW-55G cams for my FIL's build and my own was that the cam was well under pushing the limits of the valve lift for our engine combos, so I didn't have to worry about pulling the heads to check for valve/piston clearance.

Anyone know what that HTCC setup is supposed to be able to clear anyway?

My FLHT had the complete Branch top end, so I checked with them and was assured anything under .600" lift would easily clear....still I turned it over slowly by hand several times just in case.

 

well, very few people have had good luck with the HTCC parts, personally Id pitch all that crap and start over. the Andrews 55 cams are old news for sure. the newest Andrews grind that is popular now is the 54 cam, which is building more usable torque #s over the older 55 cams.

the HQ cams are very street friendly and very torquey. the Woods 6 cam makes for a great street/touring cam aswell.

 

R&R 615/585 cam great in this build i ran it on my set up just pay a little more attention to valve to piston clearence.
also teh woods tw6hg with a 2 degree advance was recomended to me by DOC and GROCK a few yrs back for the htcc build
set it up for a .030 head gasket and .035-.040 squish will put the compression right where ya want it
just make sure you clay the top end and might have to releive the valve releifs in the pistons some.
its a little more work to properly set these heads up but if your patient and take your time once set up it will rip.
you can even go with the se cam 251 or 257 properly set up will haul the potatoes.

 

Deluxe-

I appreciate your advise, but honestly I do not want to put in that much work for my friend; and he's pinching pennies so the dealer service route is out. If this were a winter mod where I could take my time tearing down his motor to clay everything, it would be different. If this friend and I were as close as we used to be, I 'might' be willing to bust my *** like that for him.

What I'd like is a cam I know I can just bolt in and it will ease his problem starting, and bring his dynamic compression back in line to a safe level, before his motor self destructs. He hasn't been riding because, as he says, "it doesn't seem healthy".

BTW: I told this friend four years ago when he bought the bike, to make them swap that cam for a 211 or 257 before he took it home, but he'd had such a nightmare experience dealing with them, he said he'd take care of it later.

So even if the performance isn't optimal, we're looking for an improvement in motor well being, with a simple cam/bearing swap on the lower end...an afternoon project in his garage.

 

My buddy did a similar build, but with street ported heads, and made the mistake of using SE 203 cams. He rode with me and decided to put in HQ 0034 cams after we did a 2K roll on and his '02 RK wasn't as fast as my bone stock 88 '04 EG--both bikes have Rinehart TD's, but different a/c. He's much happier now with the HQ 0034 cams--a simple bolt in cam; no clearance issues at all.

If you want more cam, call the vendors (like Doug or Kevin at HQ) and see what they have to say about options/clearance.

 

Do a static compression test and with the 203 I think you might be pushing over 200 psi. if it is built as listed. You are looking for a cam with intake valve closing around 48-54 deg depending on what the actual compression is. Adjustable push rods will open the cam choices a bit.

 

I can't stand dealers!!!!!!! That build condradicts itself bad. In my opinion those heads shouldn't be on anything under a 103 with those torque robbing 2" intake valves. Yet I always here dealers reccomending them for 95's. The easiest fix is what FXSTDSE2 says to go with cams that close the intake valve around that range, lots of options. Sorry to hear about that build!

 

Thanks guys...I believe we've settled on the Andrews TW-67G cam with a 48* intake closing. Cam packages available on Ebay for $519.00

Wonder why I'm not getting email notifications of these replies?