Whelp, I called Jamie today and got on his Calendar. July 16th, he will be tearing into my ’09 Fatboy to install his 107” Big Bore Kit, along with Cams and work his magic on the Heads. I’ve been reading every thread I could find on this build, between everything I’ve learned here and talking to Jamie today, I’m sold!

If getting the build done is half as much fun as I have had the past four months researching different builds, I’m gonna have a blast. Maybe I’m just silly, but I actually enjoy the research process and the excitement of deciding what direction I want to go as much as anything.

Now, how in the world do I make the 9 ½ week wait? This is somehow WAY worse than I remember Christmas Eve as a kid.

I guess I’ll kill some time by figuring out some cool things to do in WI while I’m waiting for the bike to be done.

BTW, thanks for all the people who contributed to engine build threads on this site, REALLY helped me to make my decision. I'm much more of a reader than a poster most of the time, but I have to say I have had nothing but great experiences on this site...

 

Please share more of your decision making process.

 

Hi Suuie,

I first decided what I will realistically use the bike for, which is all street riding, and at least half the time; two up. So I knew I wouldn’t want to build anything radical, and rideability, and reliability were key factors. I knew I was going to want to increase displacement, but I didn’t know how far. Learning on this site that there are limits before you have to go into the bottom end, I decided to go as large as possible without bottom end work.

I then started reading threads here, reading other reviews on the web, looking at other bike builds. Everywhere possible, I tried to jot down the build specs and capture the dyno curves (this comes into play later). I talked to several guys that have built their motors, and others that had their motors built by competent shops and decided pretty early that my capabilities end with bolting in the kit, I have no legitimate tuning abilities. So, I decided pretty quickly to find a decent builder.

Now, back to the dyno curves, I looked at dozens of them, and struggled with out to quantify what dyno curve was “the best” for me, beyond peak hp / tq numbers. So, I took a pretty simple approach and grabbed images of the various curves, pulled them into my trusty 2D CAD Software (AutoCAD), drew a Polyline over them and interrogated the area of the curve. I called that my overall “power” (did the same with tq). So I could see some curves that had impressive peak numbers, but did not have the same area under the curve, the same quantity of power as a few of those with lower peak numbers. I think most guys know this intuitively speaking, but I went through the exercise so I could objectively quantify it. I’m no expert, so my entire methodology could be bogus?

So then I had my favorite curve areas representing builds, I then compared them for cost (including my travel expenditures) including the kits, install, dyno tune and any miscellaneous costs that might influence the decision. I then took that info, and went to all three of my local HD Dealers to see what they could offer. None had anything at all to offer that appealed to me. They all wanted to simply do the SE 103 kit…none of them could do head work, none of them did a break in on the dyno, none of them wanted to build a custom map for my T-Max Tuner and all of them wanted more money than the build I chose wanted. I came to the realization that HD Dealers (at least the three I came to know) are more service oriented, and are truly not “builder” with the ability to extract maximum performance out of their motors.

Then my last step was I called the builder, Jamie at Fuel Moto. Literally inside a five minute conversation, he impressed me that he knows what he’s doing, is completely customer oriented, and is the man to build my motor. That conversation pretty much made my decision for me.

For all I know, my entire process is bogus, I’ve never built an HD. I’ve done my share of backyard hot rodding with Chevy Small Blocks, but admittedly, there was no science involved with that. I bought parts that I got good deals on, bolted them on and hoped for more power. I’ve done some Heads and Intakes, basic porting, gasket matching, polishing, upgrade of rockers, pushrods, lifters…and so on, but again; no ability to flow test or quantify my improvements. So, I swallowed my personal pride and said to myself “I want a great build, and I only have the ability to do a good build, I’m gonna pay the expert to do what he does best”.

Funny thing, the wife was supportive of me going to a builder. She reminded me “you still haven’t put carpet in the basement. Don’t forget, the patio isn’t done yet…oh, and the garage you are half way through finishing…”. Her point was clear. So, she’s letting me get the motor built, and I’m gonna finish up some of the projects around the house. Seems fair to me.

I hope some of this diatribe helps in some way, like I said; I’m totally new to HD’s so I could be all wet here.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience and opinion and keep us updated.

 

Man sounds awesome. Im doing mine in october i was gonna do the 120r motor but the 107 put out plenty of hp at about half the cost.

 

Really keen to hear the outcome on this. Please share some updates on the way. And good on you doing the research and making a call. I'd be excited too.

 

You bet, I hope it all goes well.

I noticed it gets pretty expensive to go into the bottom end...

Are you going with Fuel Moto?

Thanks, will do. Next bit of research will be on rear tires!

 

The other day I found that on the Fuel Moto 107" page, near the bottom, they uploaded a whole slew of "How-To" videos to do the build yourself.. which is awesome because I had been looking for things like that for a while now (although Chapter 3 of the service manual gives step-by-steps on how to do it, videos are much nicer). Good luck

 

By the length of your second post, I'm sure you'll find something to do while you wait. LOL
Keep us posted!

 

Awesome, thanks. If travel expenses were not taken into account, were there any other builders that met your requirements?