 What's your idea of performance?
- A 1/4 mile strip of bitumen?
- Sunday morning in the hills?
- Bar to Bar?
- Two up, fully loaded, towing a trailer?
The requirements of each are different. Our job is to define what your performance needs are and develop a package that best fits your budget and performance needs.
The basics: - it's got to breathe and fart. So air filter and exhausts are the first step. Stock filters are very restrictive, as are exhausts. Filters can be upgraded to K&N (Screaming Eagle type). Slip on mufflers with stock header pipes make a very good system.
Evo models will benefit greatly from a cam upgrade. Smaller cams for tourers, big cams for racers. Compression ratios and head flows play a big part here. Ignition modules with different advance curves can benefit stock motors and become crucial for large or high compression engines. Consider an adjustable system that can cope with different changes you may make.
 Cylinder head flow are important on any engine. Large valves and parts may flow big numbers at high lifts. Great for a drag bike, lousy for the street. Understanding your requirements and plan accordingly.
There's an old saying: There's no substitute for cubic inches. This is very true. There's only so much power you can squeeze out of 80 cubes and still maintain longevity and reliability.
Maybe it's time to go big. Stoker kits and bigger bores are available in varying configurations. Something to consider if rebuilding a tired engine.
How big? How much? It depends how fast you can afford ($) to go.
S&S has been building 96 and 98 cube engines for a while now. THese have proved to be economical, strong and reliable. While the new 124 cubic inch engine is an excellent unit that rests the boundaries (S&S reportedly now have a larger research and development department than Harley Davidson itself).
These engines off excellent value per horsepower and are becoming a serious alternative for some riders.
Harley's new twin cam engine is an excellent unit in many ways. Though it does have faults, it's an excellent base for making some serious horsepower. It's our experience that the stock heads are a serious restriction.
We have developed our own Rocketheads ( see Dyno Charts ) to address this issue. We have achieved nearly 90 rear wheel horsepower from otherwise stock 88 inch engines (stock cam's, slip on mufflers and air filter). A marked improvement in fuel consumption was also a bonus. Bigger bores and cams increase these numbers.
We are now doing these on an exchange basis to minimize down time, same with barrels (95 kits).
You can ride away the next day with a serious increase in torque and horsepower (as well as being a little lighter in the pocket).
Still want more? Who doesn't. We can punch your TC88 out to 124 cubic inches for "A" engines or 116 for "B" engines (or various in between).
All that extra power is a wonderful thing. Though in most cases, consideration must be given to reliability.
Anyone can put something together... Keeping it together is what we at Twin Tech do.
This is a flow chart comparison of a Stockhead and a Rockethead click here
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