I am a bit confused by everything I read on this and other sites. I have an 08 Ultra that I just did a stage 1 build on. Rinehart, K&N with Cobra tuner. I am happy with the performance. I ride one the highway about 100 miles/day. What I would like to do is have more punch at 70 mph to pass the a-holes who hog the left lane. I thought about doing cams but then thought if your doing cams/lifters why not do the jugs and pistons at the same time. I have also heard the real improvement come from the heads. The real questions who is the right builder? To be clear I, really don't care about dyno numbers just true riding performance. I am a tool maker/engineer by trade and see shops advertise tinker toy machines for doing precision work. It just doesn't ad up. I talk to one builder and he says bad things about someone else and one philosopy differs from another. Where do I go?

 

I had the same questions this winter. What is enough motor work and where do you stop?
Just Cams? Cams and 103? Cams, 103 and new heads? Cams, 103. new heads and new starter?
So many different opinions. I got so confused, I left my motor stock and just down shift.
3rd gear has plenty of power. It's working for me.

 

If you are looking for a shop, just get on the phone and talk to them (except Head Quarters of course). Call Scott at Hillside, TR at T-Man, Steve at GMR, etc. Tell them what you are looking for, and see what they tell you. Bottom line is go with who you feel comfortable with.

I wound up going with a shop in Ft Worth after talking with them several times and have no regrets. Simple 105" build with forged pistons, 1.900 intake valve, ported intake and ceramic coated exhaust ports, etc. Set at 10.2:1 static and pulls hard, cruises good, and averages 40mpg with the Oklahoma wind (seems to always be a headwind no matter which way I'm going). I think (and my dyno guy agrees) that it will be a good reliable motor that I won't think twice about loading up and hitting the road. Any reputable shop should be able to deliver good results and stand behind their work if you have any problems.

 

i did the 103 thing and iam very pleased with the performace my dealer did mine but i also did my own reserch. i asked alot of questions on this forum got alot differant responses went and talked to the wrenches at my dealer. reserched my parts went to the tuner in my area and pulled the trigger and iam very happy today. i did forged pistons, se heads, se cams, adjustable push rods, manuel compression releases, super tuner. just my 2 cents but do what u wanna do.

 

just get yourself a nitrous kit and be done you will have all the passing power you need. and the stock motor will live fine under 6200 rpm. stock motors are tougher than people think.

 

Head work won't do much of anything for you unless you already ride in the upper half of your rpm band. Lots of guys have reported good results with changing cams in an otherwise stock 96. The general rule of thumb with cams is to go milder, rather than more agressive. To take advantage of a high lift, long duration cam, you would need to increase compression. Otherwise, the cams work against you in the lower rpm range. SE204 or SE255 cams both work in pretty well in stage I 96 motors.

The general rule in building hot rod motors is that displacement equals torque. If you increase your displacement, your torque will increase in roughly proportional amounts. Hp will follow.

There's more torque in a stock 96 to be had, and a good set of cams will unlock that. If you increase displacement and change cams, you will compound those gains. If you're a reasonably competant weekend mechanic, you can learn to change cams yourself. Changing jugs and pistons is a little more involved than most of us want to get. If you can do the cams yourself, I'd do that first. If you're going to have to pay a mechanic to do it for you, I'd probably do the jugs first.

 

i know some here think hq builds are not so great. I had a 07 fatboy. Went to my dealer who recommends them and does them mostly over others. I ended up with 106 hp and 115 tq. Went to pass two cars doing 60 in a 70 zone, with 2 up. Passed them quickly. Looked down and was doing 103 mph. That is quick in my book. Never left 6th gear.

my dealer stands behind them.

Had screaming eagle heavy breather, v&h pipes.
I was very pleased. Put over 10, 000 miles and no problems. Later sold it and got a roadking. Probably wont build this one but if i did i would do the same.

my 2 cents.

cost about $3000 completed. Build and labor.

 

You are right in that Headquarters will usually not have a live person on the phone immediately due to business volume and e-trade. Go to www.protwin.com, which is the retail site for Headquarters, leave a message for Kevin and he will call you back. The actual Headquarters site refers you to ProTwin, and also to their tech forum.

I primarily use HQ for the builds I do for others, and always use HQ for my own builds.

That being said, there are others on the site that do a nice job also, and one is a sponsor, Scott at Hillside. You should check around, ask for references, talk to others that are actually running the parts or builds recommended, then make up your mind.

 

If you just want a little more put in a cam, I put a HQ500 cam in my bike last winter and it made a large difference in the performance. This winter I added a 49T ring gear in the primary an that added as much performance as the cam did.
A slightly lower gear ratio and a slightly larger cam work real good together.

 

I am still putting on some break in miles on my new build and man this thing hauls azz,I looked at the 105" 106" and different cams/heads and so on.It seems there is many options,So i went with SE 103" had short block charlie port polish and added 1.9 valves with acr's, andrews H50 gear drive cams with S&S adj. push rods also he cc. the heads to work with this cam.I dont have numbers yet but all i can say is WOW.I have a dyno appt. on the 13th we will see.