I am posting this for my brother who is unhappy with a budget 95" build we just completed. I will post dyno graphs later. Here is the details, 04 softail EFI, samson true duals, SE 95" pistons, 0.30" head gaskets, HQ-0034 cams, and the heads had very mild massaging and a 5 angle valve job at a reputable automotive style cylinder head shop. He is also running a power commander. I know something is wrong because it was dyno tuned by a harley dealer at 72hp and 90tq! Compression is good and the bike sounds great. What is wrong! It is about the exact same as my 06 with a stage 1 kit! The reason we did the engine is because it scored a piston while it was stock so we figured we would do some mild mods while we had it apart. I was honestly expecting no less than 85hp and 95 torque.

 

I don't think you an expect much more TQ with "slightly massaged" heads but, depending on the massaging, you could get lucky and hit 95TQ. The HP number is the one I would focus on; your target of 85 is reasonable. The HP number being so low would tell me that the problem is in the heads and how they are flowing. Did the guy that massaged the heads have any experience with Harley heads?

 

Honestly we figured either the power commander is not giving the bike enough advance or the guy did more damage than good to the heads. One guy on this forum used the same cams in a bone stock 88" and got 85hp! I don't think he has much harley experience but I just thought with all the race car engines he built that it would be simple for him. Is it possible he took too much meat out of the ports and made things worse?

 

Sure it's possible. Talk to the harley head specialists, and they'll tell you they spend a fair amount of time fixing poorly done porting jobs.

Your exhaust might be holding you back a bit, too. I love the way Samson TDs sound, especially the fishtails, but I've never had any luck getting a great tune out of them.

 

Yeah he is willing to sacrifice some power for the look and sound of the fish tails. Well I guess the heads will either be getting sent to a real hd specialist or he will be putting some bone stock ones on for now.

 

very possible with the porting,we get alot of heads in,where guys have either tried their hand at porting or had someone do them,for us to see if we can "fix".porting heads is a learned science,many hours on the bench to find what works even on the mildest port job

 

Ok so very doubtful it is anything to do with the power commander if a half decent dyno tune was performed?

 

I suspect the heads are the culprit. Porting autmotive heads is a different animal from porting H-D heads. Does the guy have a flow bench? Even if he does, being an automotive shop he won't have the proper fixture to flow a set of Harley heads. The only way you would know for sure is to have the heads flowed by a porter that ports Harley heads; the flow data will show a lot. If the guy took too much out of the port "floor: the only way to fix them is to weld them and regrind he ports; Harley heads don't weld up all that good. My guess is that you will never get the numbers right with those heads.

I would bet if you find a set of stock '06 or later heads and bolt them on with a .030" head gasket, the numbers will fall in line.

 

I have seen that setup at about 85/95 even with the exhaust you are running. If the build is done right , and the tune is correct, then I agree that the heads could very well be the issue. As DJL indicated, easy enough to bolt on a set of stock heads and see if performance improves.

 

We found some stock heads and will be swapping them in the next few days.