I have 25,000 miles on a stock TC-88 and I am looking to have Andrews 26g gear cams installed. At the same time I was thinking of having the HD Stage I Big Bore kit done to bring it to 95 in. I am looking at the cam kit on ebay that has the hydraulic lifters included. Is there anything else I should consider while the engine is opened up? Do I need adjustable push rods or are the existing push rods OK?

 

if your gonna have the heads off anyhow, no need for the adjustable pushrods. you will need some addidional orings and gaskets not included in the ebay kit, but other than that you should be good to go.

 

Only thing i would suggest is considering non-HD big more kit, and possibly some headwork while you are at it. Get it all done at once and that way you won't have to worry about doing it all again later.

 

any recommendations on a non-HD kit? and just wondering, but why not the HD kit?

 

You might get more bang for your buck aftermarket, thats why you should look around. You might get a better warranty too.

Definitely do the heads up or replace them while you have the motor apart. I would reccomend S&S, you also read a lot of good stuff about HQ.

Ultimately you need to choose a mechanic you trust and be guided by him (or her). Its definitely worth looking beyond your HD dealer, I'm glad I did. This thing eats 113 SEs, its stronger, more reliable, has a full 1 year warranty, and didnt cost that much more than the SE was gonna cost. If I had installed a 113 kit I would have voided my engine warranty (according to the dealer).

 

You can find good quality kits and other great information here:

http://head-quarters.com/packages.html

 

To answer your question why aftermarket...you get more bang for your buck. The HD stuff isn't bad, and will give you a performance boost, but if you are spending you hard earned dollars, why not get all you can for each of those dollars.

HD builds their performance parts on an assembly line, and to be honest, fit and tolerances at times really suffer (cylinder taper, piston to cyl clearance, etc).

Do your homework if you really are considering 95" or even 98" can be done easily, without braeaking the bank and you will have a nice performing engine when all done as long as you dont go over the top with a bhuge cam or a compression ration that is too high. The kits from Head Quarters that was previously mentioned in this thread really do perform well and are reliable. I have over 20k miles on my 120 and it runs great.

 

On my former 02 RKC I did the 95" engine with the Andrews 26G gear drive cams. I used Wiseco pistons and had there vendor do the boring work. You can contact Wiesco http://www.wiseco.com/ContactUs.aspx and they will recommend a builder for you. Beware though the price differences between vendors can be huge. The company I used in N.C had very good prices, 3 years later they are charging list prices. If you go this route ask Wiseco for someone in Ohio. There is a company there that has terrific pricing. Can't remember the name right now but it is ................Sleeve. The advantage of Wiseco is you are getting forged pistons (I don't believe the HD's are) and if you let them bore your cylinders you will get a precision fit not just close. I put 25K on my bike and it never used a drop of oil. 84/87 HP and can't remember which and 103 torque. The thing I remember most about that build was I could hit 5th gear at 35 MPH and it would lope around without complaint. And NO it was not lugging. I used the stock push rods.
Gary

 

That would be Advanced Sleeve. http://www.advancedsleeve.com/
Gary