Well I decided to go ahead and do the pistons and jugs while I had the tank off.
I started out just going to replace the head gasket with a .030 but by the time I got it all apart I said to myself, "Do I really want to go through this all again just a few months from now?" NOOOOOO!

I called about the kit from Harley but it's actually lower compression then the zippers kit and I can get it without the big air kit which I already have.

Since I already have their tuner and they are close by to my work I decided to go for it.

I got the tank off last weekend and pretty much stopped.
This weekend I got everything off and ready to be boxed up.

I do have 1 question for you guys/girls.
When I was removing the rocker arm I noticed there was still tension from the pushrods a bit. I am pretty sure it was all the way at base circle. Looking through the exhaust/intake ports I could see the valves were closed and saw both push rods go down, moved the wheel just a bit more cause I could see the exhaust valve had just a bit more to go to be fully closed.

When I put it back together can I expect this tension on the rocker arms when I'm torquing the bolts to be ok?

Also, I notice a bit of carbon build up and the gasket glue.
What's the best way to clean both of these up before reassembly?

 

Anyone?

The reason I say they had tension is as I loosened the bolts the rocker arm assembly raised up a bit. Is that just the tension from the lifters I'm seeing?

 

When I took mine apart I spun the back wheel as you did to get on the base circle of the cam. After I found what I thought was the base circle I spun the push rods with my fingers to make sure the tension was off of them. When they spun easy I started unbolting the rocker supports. In the manual it tells you to turn the four rocker support bolts a quarter turn at a time. I assume they say this in case there is some tension left on them they will come up somewhat even when unbolting them. If the lifters bleed down and the cams are on the base circle there shouldnt be any tension when putting it back together.

 

I could spin them by hand, the front one very easily, the rear would spin but not as easily as the front.
I guess the main thing when putting it back together which ever piston I'm doing is just to make sure I'm as close to base circle as possible, valve's are closed and spinning the rear wheel should be safe to spin so I can do the other cylinder.
Once last cylinder is done just make sure I wait a bit for it to bleed down and valve's are closed also before spinning.
Does this sound like a good plan?

 

I found I had to play around a lot more than I expected to make sure the cam was on base circle, can't wait to add the S&S easy starts into the mix on re-assembly...

I also had Zippers bore my cylinders matched to the pistons I had bought. Very happy with their work.

It sounds like my plan. I am just going to be referring the S&S cam change video on youtube. Definitely somewhat of a "feel" thing.

 

That video is a great tool. I wish they would have gone through the head. I am swapping heads with my cam swap. Thank god for google

 

Can someone explain to me why it has to be on the compression stroke to be on base circle. Seems to me that the cam is on base circle on both compression and the exhaust stroke.
Do I need to put my fingers on the lifters, spin the wheel, feel when the intake lifter goes up and then when the piston is back up this would be the compression stroke and then put the rocker arm on?

My guess is I removed the heads on the exhaust stroke since I was watching the exhaust valve slowly close and once it had I stopped.

 

Ok, so if rear cam is on over lap the front is on base circle.
On the rear if I watch the intake go up/down then the exhaust go up and just as it comes down and the intake start to go up and they both move with a small movement of the wheel it is on overlap and the front should be on base circle.

Going to mess with this a bit!

 

You gotta get front piston on top dead center of the compression stroke. At this point the front cam will be on the base circle. When you get front done then spin your rear piston to tdc at this point rear cam will be on base circle. Any other questions?

 

What you have said makes sense but determining that the piston is on tdc on the compression stroke would be the part that I was needing explained.

That is why I posted what I did about the rear piston being on overlap, this video explains just that and is what I was missing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5KvamRqCis