Welcome to Part Three
Part one HERE
Part two HERE

Disclaimer: I am not a technician - just a regular guy who likes to wrench and learn along the way. I rely on the Harley-Davidson Service Manual and other assorted documentation. My articles are to illustrate my experiences and should not be treated as expert advice on how to do a project. Enjoy...

Head Shot

The wait was worth it. Bean came through and I am really satisfied with his work. As you can see the heads came out very nicely.

Here is a shot with the compression releases. Fuel Moto said their 107 kit does not need CR’s, but I went ahead and had them done anyway.





Here are the ports!





One more shot of the intake port:


Check out the combustion chamber. Man, that thing shines! Much better than the powder coat that comes with the stock heads.



Heads are on!



It’s time to get the Cometic gaskets positioned on the cylinders. This is a fairly idiot proof process. Just align the gasket with the dowel holes and you are done. The heads are stamped front and rear so there are no mistakes to be made here. Torqueing the head bolts is a three step process. Follow the service manual for the correct torque pattern. Coat the head bolt threads with clean motor oil so you reduce any friction and get a good torque reading.

For Non-MLS gaskets - one layer head gaskets:

Step One: Torque to 130 in/lbs. in order outlined in service manual
Step Two: Torque to 16 ft. /lbs. in order outlined in service manual
Step Three: Tighten each head bolt 90 degrees

After you do this, stop and walk away. It’s that easy.

For Cometic MLS (multi-layer) gaskets there are additional torque steps. Please refer to the instructions and follow the torque steps and values.


For Those About To Rock

Let’s install the rocker housings. Make sure you rub a little oil on the O-ring and the install it as shown:



Before you place the rocker housings on the heads you have to place a new gasket. This has to be done properly or things will get ugly! The top of the head has a breather channel that crosses the top of the head. Here is a picture with the channel circled in red.



The gasket must be installed so that the channel is covered. Here are a couple of pictures showing the wrong way and then the right way. This is an important step!

Wrong – Bad day for you! You can see the channel exposed on the top right.



Right – You are a master mechanic!



I want to illustrate how tight the working space can be. Whether you are installing or removing the rockers, space is tight. Because of the tight space, I purchased the Screaming Eagle lower rocker box tool and the rocker cover tool. I didn’t have these tools during tear down. I’m glad I had the tools for assembly.



Here you can see me using the lower rocker box tool. Much better!



More on next post.

 

Torque the rocker housing in the order outlined in the service manual. I torqued each bolt to 150 in/lbs. with blue Loctite.

Next you have to get the breather element installed on the rocker box assembly. There is not much to explain here. Push the breather through hole and press the filter element to the bottom.

Tip: The breathers have TWO gaskets. Each gasket is shaped differently. Take your time and match each gasket to the correct surface. The lower gasket has a square top. The top gasket that seats under the lid has a rounded shape. I was rolling along a little too quickly and nearly breezed right through this step.

Before installing the rocker assembly, make sure you thoroughly oil all moving parts. I had the rocker assembly completely apart so used a generous amount of assembly lube on the shafts the rockers pivot on. One end of the shaft has a notch. Make sure they are installed on the correct end. If you don’t, you will know when you cannot install the rocker bolts. Although I didn’t see anything in the manual to this effect, it appears the purpose of this notch is to prevent rotation.

Here is a picture of the rocker assembly installed.



Gradually tighten each support plate bolt ¼ turn until you reach 20 ft. /lbs. The two smaller breather bolts are torqued to 100 in/lbs.

As you can see there is not much room. You absolutely should have a dog bone wrench for this project.



The rocker assemblies are installed. Now it’s time to install another gasket and bolt on the covers. The rocker cover gaskets install only one way. Just orient the gaskets to the shape of the surface. When you seat the rocker cover you will have to peek underneath to make sure you have the first couple of bolts inserted through the gasket.

Install the rocker covers and torque to 17 ft. /lbs. Use a drop of blue Loctite on each bolt.



Push It

From here you can dive right into the adjustable pushrods. Since I covered this in my cam thread, I won’t go in extensive detail on the pushrod installation process. What I will say is you need to make sure you are at TDC Compression. For a tutorial on adjustable pushrod installation, please click HERE.

Tip: Absolutely positively buy a pushrod clip installer tool or you will bloody your knuckles and waste lots of time. I learned this when I did my cam project. My friends, life is a lot easier with this tool!

Here is a picture of the pushrod installation. The rubber bands keep the pushrod covers out of the way while you adjust the pushrods.



Pieces Parts

All the big stuff is done, but the devil is in the detail, and we have lots of detail to go through. Replace the two rubber gaskets in the throttle body and bolt it on just the way it came off. The four Allen head bolts are in a tight space but you can tighten everything up with an “L” shaped hex wrench. You can’t get a torque wrench on this so I tightened hand tight. Don’t use any muscle tightening these bolts. Just think about what you will have to take apart if a bolt breaks!



There is a tool available to quickly tighten the Allen bolts. I don’t think it is necessary unless you plan on removing or installing your throttle bodies for a living.

Start plugging all the wires back into the throttle body. The wires are fairly well organized so you won’t have any issues finding where they go. I labeled a couple of plugs just be sure, but the rest was fairly intuitive.

Swing around to the other side of the bike and install the horn and its bracket. Make sure you route the fuel line coming off the throttle body above the horn bracket.



Install the upper engine mount bracket to the front cylinder and torque to 22ft/lbs. Rotate the stabilizer link eyelet down and install the bolt with red Loctite to 22 ft. /lbs.



Install the ignition coil on to the square shaped bracket holders. This is also where the front fuel tank mounts. The fuel tank mounting bolts hold everything in place. The coil will stay in place and will not fall off before you get the fuel tank on.

Tip: Definitely replace your spark plug wires now. Replacing spark plug wires is very difficult without the tank being removed.



As I mentioned in part one, there tends to be lots of angst about removing and installing the fuel tank. There shouldn’t be because it is stupid easy, especially on the later models with the quick release fuel line. Go get your gas tank and sit it on top of the frame. Slide the tank forward until the front mounting holes are directly over the coil. Insert the front bolts hand tight. You can lift the tank slightly to get the bolts to spin easier. Install the rear tank bolts. Torque all tank bolts to 17 ft. /lbs.



Plug in your fuel pump cable and fuel vapor vent. Grab your console, connect the overflow tube, and place the console gently on top of the tank. It helps to hold the rubber seal around the gas gap so it does not get pressed out or distorted. You won’t believe how easy this is.



Place the plastic bracket on frame behind the gas tank. It goes directly under the console tab. Screw in the console over the bracket hand tight. Install the small hex bolt on the top of the console hand tight. Replace the gas cap.

Walk around to the left side of the bike and inspect the fuel line to make sure it is routed correctly and not crimped. Install the quick release fuel line on to the tank. Looks like a professional did the work, doesn’t it?

Let’s get started on the exhaust. Place new exhaust port gaskets. I highly recommend the stock version, not the Screaming Eagle version. The stock gaskets greatly increase your odds you won’t have an exhaust leak.



Pictures of the exhaust being installed:



I decided to mix it up and go with Rinehart True Duals. Yes, I know about the torque curve dipping and then running back up to normal, but I am going to give it a try. If I hate the TD’s, I’m sure one of you would be glad to take them off my hands!

Final Steps

Walk around and make sure all cables are plugged in and zip tied where needed. Fill the crank with your favorite oil. Connect the battery. Insert the maxi-fuse. Update your ECM or Power Commander with a new map.

Now it’s time to start!

I’m pretty nervous, but here we go. I shift the tranny to neutral, turn the ignition switch on, turn the kill switch to run, pull the clutch, press START, and…….

Click. Not a damn thing. Lights are lit, radio works, battery seems okay, connections are tight. Remember at the beginning of this write-up I would let you know what went right and wrong? Remember the part where anything can go wrong? Now is the time for a few expletives.

Battery is now charged but no ignition. The starter relay clicks when I press start, but the starter does nothing. Voltage is okay at the starter leads. Still nothing!

I took the starter apart, tested it, and it checks out ok. I traced the problem to my fuse box and repaired a loose terminal.

Everything is running and I couldn't be happier!

 

Pretty difficult to believe that just because of a teardown on such a late bike that worked well before the starter would just crap out, but not impossible. I assume when you turn the key on and then the run switch you hear the fuel pump run and then stop, right? When you get the starter out motorize it on the bench.

 

I was surprised too, however, everything lights up, the fuel pump works, all the rest of the electrical system works perfectly, and the connections are clean and tight. I can hear the relay in the fuse box click and I even swapped them around to make sure. The voltages look right. Still the starter will not engage.

 

atrain68...

GREAT series of threads to date! Excellent write ups and plenty of 'pee-turs' for us guys down in Florida!

And I thought crap like the starter dying on you only happened to me! ;-)

Subscribed...

Steve

 

I wish you had provided us with more photos. Just kidding, great write-up!

 

Yep the starter issue is Definently a kick in the nuts! Major bummer! Betcha know that bike like the back of your hand now! Hey I was thinking did you upgrade the clutch spring? Might be a good idea if you did, SE spring is 30.00

 

You have said that the starter "clicks". Is the solenoid energizing the starter pinion and is the pinion engaging the ring gear? If so, everything you have indicated so far points to the battery. How old is it? How long has it sat uncharged? Have you load tested it? Just because "it charges right up" doesn't mean it will peform under load. I have seen batterys that load test at 75% of cranking amp capacity that would spin the engine but, under load, fail to deliver the energy needed to fire up the engine. Load test the battery and if it's not at 90% of capacity, under load, replace it.

 

The starter does not click. The relay in the fuse box clicks. The battery is three years old and was load tested at 75% last month at the auto parts store. The battery was at 12.6 volts before I hooked the battery tender back up. The battery has been completely disconnected for a little over six weeks.

 

When you said about torque on the head bolts you said you used cometic. If they were the multi layered ones you did it wrong.The book spec's are for the paper type gaskets the layered ones take more steps.My gaskets from cometic has instructions with the gaskets and said this is a must.Just sayin