Chain drive cams to gear drive cams
Getting the tensioners out of system..
Below is why I want them out..
These were pulled after 35,000 miles, the inner tensioner was already metal on
chain..
These are what I took out this time at about 30,000 miles..
These were getting very thin on the inner tensioner.
The wheels are feeling a bit light now that most of the exterior has been shed off..
So prepped for surgery.. (wait, that was me a few months ago).. well anyway it was put in this condition to make pulling the cams (and tensioners) a little less in time. It started with a friendly call to ‘the wrench’ who has all the ‘special’ tools needed for the reconstruction of the inner workings of my TC88 and asking for assistance (HELP! Is what was really spoken). I prepped by draining the gas, removed the windshield – bags – side covers – air cleaner cover – seat – disconnected the battery – tank – right side floorboard – exhaust – and drained the oil.
I already ordered and received the new S&S 510G gear driven cam set (~$600 online) which includes almost everything you need. Since I decided to keep the solid push rods I needed to pull them out rather than just cutting them off and replacing with SE adjustable push rods. This does require you to pull the rocker box cover and rockers off to get them out of the way. I purchased a new set of SE lifters (~$264 from HD) which will ride nicely on the new cams and rocker box cover gaskets and new breather sets. While I’m at it a new set of plugs will replace the old ones.
After pulling the pushrods out and removing the push rod tubes we can get to unbolt the lifter covers and remove the old lifters. Next was the cam cover bolts and since the cam position sensor it attached we just bagged it and put it to the front side and out of the way. I took a closer look at the outside tensioner and for 30K miles it was not too worn, somehow that was not too reassuring without looking at the inner tensioner.
With the help of those ‘special’ tools ‘the wrench’ had we got the outside drive gears off
Now the fun starts… got to get the cam plate out, which holds the twin cams. A note here, it is very helpful to use zip-lock baggies to put the screws and pieces in while dismantling the engine. When you are ready to put things back together everything is separated and you won’t loose any small screw that can really take a lot of time to go and buy a replacement.
Cam plate out.. now to unload the tensioner and press out the old cams..
‘The wrenches’ special tool to pull the inner cam bearings out, nice and easy. To replace the new bearings he had the other tool set for that..
At some point here we needed to get in the kitchen and put the new cams in the freezer and let them get nice and cold, about 20-30 minutes, and just before we pull the cams out from the fridge we needed to bake the cam bearings in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Using oven mitts we place the bearings on the cams and with a slight tap they popped right on, no need to press. So back in the freezer with the cams and bearings now and wait for 20-30 minute before putting the cam plate in the oven (making sure to remove the residual oil and the 1 rubber O-ring, this would cause a very pungent odor and the wife would get a little ticked off).
Cold cams and a hot cam plate made things just slide together, very minor tapping if any at all. Now back to the bike and reassembly.
Torque the cam plate back in and then re-align the oil pump, more special tools from ‘the wrench’.
Sorry for the blur..
Oil pump aligned and torque in place, next is the out drive gears.. make sure to align the gears both when installing the cams in the cam plate and when meshing the drive gears.
The reverse needs to be done, install the new SE lifters (oil hole to the inside of the engine) and attach the lifter covers (man those back screws are a bear).
Install the pushrod tubes and drop the pushrods back in the same position as you took them out.
Now I have the breather kit and installed them, torque the rockers back on and then torque the covers back on.
The bike now has its tank back on and all the chrome has been polished. I am now waiting for the exhaust..
I will be changing the fluids and filter and put the battery and seat back on..
What about my order for the exhaust????
Maggie has been calling them and being
persistent she did get info out of them..
I should have the tracking number for the shipment today (August 5) but I don't
know if it will be delivered this week.. I do hope for it but I've been let down
already a few times from
Parts Direct.. (warning not recommended by
me or many others)
They said this was do to an overwhelming
amount of orders during the Hollister event when I placed my order on July 12..
still that does not fly with me as they told me it was ordered on the 15th and
then they told me it was shipped on the 25th then they told me it was not
shipped on the 25th but on the 30th.. and now they still don't know the tracking
number for the shipment.. not very good service in my opinion..
My opinion
DO NOT USE THEM
No problem now they are out of business
I ended up canceling the order in August as it was more than a month past (since they took my money) and no response from them.. I checked the BBB for any listing on them and I should have done this before.. They are rated extremely low and have not responded to any request from BBB about other complaints..
I ended up ordering from Eastern Performance
Cycles and they were excellent in service and I got the exhaust on the day they
said it would arrive.
http://www.easternperformance.com/
The bike is back on the road and I have noticed an increase in performance with the new setup. I will fine tune the MAP when I can get in at Horsepower Express in Campbell CA
http://www.horsepowerexpress.net/
... more to come later ..
WOW.. what a difference after Horsepower express did their work.. I had them install a new power commander USB and he mapped each piston separately .. it is running better than ever..
