I thought I would update everyone on the how my initial feelings now that my winter mods are done.
I'd like to first say thank you to all that gave opinions and insight into what I did. Hopefully this update will help others that are thinking about similiar mods.
1. Screamin' Eagle® Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioner and High-Flow Oil Pump Upgrade Kit 25284-11 - I had the old spring tensioners in my '03 road king and with 28K wanted to not worry about what could happen. I striped the bike and removed the camplate. Tensioners looked surprisingly good. I striped the top end so I could reuse the stock pushrods. I read everything I could about the adjustables but still didn't seem real clear on their adjustment. Everything went fine and I loaded the dimantled bike in an enclosed trailer and took it to the dealer. I had the dealer put the new camplate in with cam because I was having them switch out my inner cam bearings anyway. They put in the bearings, cams and camplate.
Now...
Putting it back together, I had everything separated, bagged and marked so I thought everything went smooth. Crossed my fingers and hit the starter. Only firing on one cylinder!!!! This project had taken all of my limited free time of two months, and my patients were gone. Back on the trailer and to the dealership.
Turns out that to top of one pushrod was not seated just right and when it turned over the first time, it unseated and wedged itself between the rocker and the rockerbox cover keeping the valve open (no compression). The dealer tech inspected the valve (OK), pushrod (OK) and put it back together. Fired right up. One simple thing and I would have succeeded with doing it myself. I'm thankfull and lucky that everything turned out the way it did and that nothing got damaged!
2. SE 204 Cam Kit 25149-00 - Drove it with the new cams for the first time last night. First impression on start up is it definitely doesn't sound stock anymore. Nice lumpy idle. Exhaust note is different with my VH 2+2's. More harsh but in a good way. Throttle response is much improved and it races to redline now. I did switch my head gaskets to Cometic .030 while I had the bike apart. Compression was at 183 CCP in both cylinders. I'm definitely impressed with the initial ride. I'm waiting to get it dynotuned but the map that Jamie at Fuelmoto (Thanks!) sent me seem to work just fine for now.
3. Heritage Handlebars 56569-09 - Found these at a local dealership that had the exact bars on a used road king they had on the floor. They felt really nice on the bike that was basically just like mine. Heard that they may or may not need longer cables and wires. Heard people with both experiences. Took the chance. This was probably the most frustrating of the whole winter upgrade! It took forever to get everthing bent, routed with the headlight nache. Finally finished and the original wires and cables do work.If the bars were any taller....you would need new and/or extended. I did end up running the clutch cable thru the nache instead of the outside. They feel really nice vs the stock King bars.
4. Harley-Davidson® FLHR/FLHX 1997-2007 Wide Smooth Touring One-Piece, No Studs 75464 - This upgrade was more for my girlfriend than me. I fell into this one. Craiglist ad from my hometown. New seat, no travel, no shipping, half the price! The bonus was that he had a bike like mine with similar bars installed. I got to see how it felt before I bought! Girlfriend loves it. 14" compared to 10.5" makes all the difference I guess. For me, the seat puts me what seems like at least 2" higher. I'm 6ft and my footing on the ground at stops isn't nearly as stable but not enough to scare me though. Definitely not for shorter people but a very nice quality seat!
Sorry this got so long but wanted to contribute my experiences for the other people that are researching these items.
I'd like to first say thank you to all that gave opinions and insight into what I did. Hopefully this update will help others that are thinking about similiar mods.
1. Screamin' Eagle® Hydraulic Cam Chain Tensioner and High-Flow Oil Pump Upgrade Kit 25284-11 - I had the old spring tensioners in my '03 road king and with 28K wanted to not worry about what could happen. I striped the bike and removed the camplate. Tensioners looked surprisingly good. I striped the top end so I could reuse the stock pushrods. I read everything I could about the adjustables but still didn't seem real clear on their adjustment. Everything went fine and I loaded the dimantled bike in an enclosed trailer and took it to the dealer. I had the dealer put the new camplate in with cam because I was having them switch out my inner cam bearings anyway. They put in the bearings, cams and camplate.
Now...
Putting it back together, I had everything separated, bagged and marked so I thought everything went smooth. Crossed my fingers and hit the starter. Only firing on one cylinder!!!! This project had taken all of my limited free time of two months, and my patients were gone. Back on the trailer and to the dealership.
Turns out that to top of one pushrod was not seated just right and when it turned over the first time, it unseated and wedged itself between the rocker and the rockerbox cover keeping the valve open (no compression). The dealer tech inspected the valve (OK), pushrod (OK) and put it back together. Fired right up. One simple thing and I would have succeeded with doing it myself. I'm thankfull and lucky that everything turned out the way it did and that nothing got damaged!
2. SE 204 Cam Kit 25149-00 - Drove it with the new cams for the first time last night. First impression on start up is it definitely doesn't sound stock anymore. Nice lumpy idle. Exhaust note is different with my VH 2+2's. More harsh but in a good way. Throttle response is much improved and it races to redline now. I did switch my head gaskets to Cometic .030 while I had the bike apart. Compression was at 183 CCP in both cylinders. I'm definitely impressed with the initial ride. I'm waiting to get it dynotuned but the map that Jamie at Fuelmoto (Thanks!) sent me seem to work just fine for now.
3. Heritage Handlebars 56569-09 - Found these at a local dealership that had the exact bars on a used road king they had on the floor. They felt really nice on the bike that was basically just like mine. Heard that they may or may not need longer cables and wires. Heard people with both experiences. Took the chance. This was probably the most frustrating of the whole winter upgrade! It took forever to get everthing bent, routed with the headlight nache. Finally finished and the original wires and cables do work.If the bars were any taller....you would need new and/or extended. I did end up running the clutch cable thru the nache instead of the outside. They feel really nice vs the stock King bars.
4. Harley-Davidson® FLHR/FLHX 1997-2007 Wide Smooth Touring One-Piece, No Studs 75464 - This upgrade was more for my girlfriend than me. I fell into this one. Craiglist ad from my hometown. New seat, no travel, no shipping, half the price! The bonus was that he had a bike like mine with similar bars installed. I got to see how it felt before I bought! Girlfriend loves it. 14" compared to 10.5" makes all the difference I guess. For me, the seat puts me what seems like at least 2" higher. I'm 6ft and my footing on the ground at stops isn't nearly as stable but not enough to scare me though. Definitely not for shorter people but a very nice quality seat!
Sorry this got so long but wanted to contribute my experiences for the other people that are researching these items.
