Cam It Up! | Fuel Moto Hop-Up, Part 2
01. The main components for this install is a set of Wood Performance Knight Prowler TW 555 cams, Fuel Moto pushrods, James Gaskets lower end gasket kit, and replacement Torrington inner cam bearings. Fuel Moto offers this kit for $549.
01. The main components for this install is a set of Wood Performance Knight Prowler TW 555 cams, Fuel Moto pushrods, James Gaskets lower end gasket kit, and replacement Torrington inner cam bearings. Fuel Moto offers this kit for $549.
01. The main components for this install is a set of Wood Performance Knight Prowler TW 555 cams, Fuel Moto pushrods, James Gaskets lower end gasket kit, and replacement Torrington inner cam bearings. Fuel Moto offers this kit for $549.
02. With a rich history in racing and performance, Bob Wood, of Wood Performance knows a thing or two about making horsepower for both automobiles and motorcycles. His Knight Prowler cams have been used in numerous builds that have taken top honors in various dyno shootouts over the years. His cams are known for their short-duration, high-lift specs that deliver exceptional torque and horsepower. The TW-555s are designed for ’06 Dynas and ’07-later H-D Big Twins. They are bolt-in cams that work with stock springs. Fuel Moto also offers the Knight Prowler Directional Lifters ($229). These lifters can only be installed one way, allowing the oil feed hole in the lifter body to be properly aligned with the oil feed channel in the lifter bore. They are hydraulic roller lifters with a freshly designed pushrod lifter cup that provides proper oil flow through the push rod to the top end.
03. While we were snapping photos of the components that were to be installed, Jim was busy prepping the lower end for the install. Since the cams were going to be swapped and new adjustable Fuel Moto pushrods were going to be installed, Jim simply cut the stock pushrods with bolt cutters so they could be removed and the cam plate could be pulled out. If you aren’t going to be tearing into the top end, this method is much quicker than removing the gas tank and cylinder heads.
04. With the pushrods out of the way, Jim removed the stock lifters, cam cover, and cam plate assembly.
05. Jim then began removing the stock cams from the cam support plate.
06. Part of the Fuel Moto install kit is new Torrington inner cam bearings. Jim used a JIMS inner cam bearing removal tool to pull the stock bearings. The new Torrington bearings have more rollers to them than the stock bearings, which means more bearing contact surface and more support.
07. After applying some assembly lube to the new bearings, Jim used the installation tool to press each bearing into place.
08. Jim then aligned the timing marks on the new TW-555 cams and installed the inner cam chain. The specs for the TW-555 cams are: 0.053 Duration Timing @0.053 Valve Lift Lift TDC Intake 21/41 242 0.555 0.189 Exhaust 43/19 242 0.555 0.178
06. Part of the Fuel Moto install kit is new Torrington inner cam bearings. Jim used a JIMS inner cam bearing removal tool to pull the stock bearings. The new Torrington bearings have more rollers to them than the stock bearings, which means more bearing contact surface and more support.
09. Once he had the new TW-555 cams in place, Jim slid the cams/cam support plate assembly into the cam chest.
10. After aligning the oil pump and securing the cam plate and oil pump in place, Jim then installed the new Night Prowler directional lifters.
11. He then installed the rear cam sprocket, crank sprocket, and outer cam chain as an assembly with the sprocket timing marks aligned. Once the sprockets were torqued to spec, Jim installed the cam chain tensioner and torqued it down.
12. The Fuel Moto Quick Install pushrods make future cam changes or lower end work much easier and quicker. They fit ’99-11 Twin Cams, have a 0.095 chromoly taper design and have been engineered for maximum strength and durability. They can be used with stock pushrod tubes and come with a tool to hold the tubes in place for easy adjustment.
13. Jim installed the pushrods and tubes and tightened the pushrods by opening them until there was pressure against the lifter. He then opened the adjustment nut three full revolutions plus two flats. Once all the lifters had bled down, he opened the adjustment nut until the rod was tight against the lifter, then he tightened the locknut.
14. After finishing up the cam swap, Jim then began working on porting and polishing the throttle body and intake assembly. The throttle body was removed from the engine and Jim taped up all the plug openings to prevent metal debris from entering them.
15. With the backing plate still mounted to the throttle body, Jim took the assembly to the porting/polishing station. In this process he cleans up the backing plate and throttle body ports and makes sure their ports match up perfectly by cleaning up any drops or steps at the mating surfaces. He’ll also clean up the casting imperfections in the throttle body left by the casting process. It’s a three-step process that involves light grinding, sanding, and then polishing. Fuel Moto offers its throttle body porting service for $169.
16. Here’s what the surfaces look like once they are ported and polished. The finished results will allow the incoming airflow a smooth and even path into the engine.
17. At the backside of the throttle body, Jim cleaned up the runner ports as well. Often times the ports aren’t exactly the same size with one side of the port being thicker than the other, causing the port to not mate up with the intake port of the head perfectly. Jim cleans up the runners so that the air will rush into the cylinders unobstructed.
18. Here’s what the runner looks like once Jim is finished.
19. After bolting the throttle body back in place and buttoning up the rest of the bike, the install was complete. All that was left was for Jamie to flash the ECM with the new map he had created specifically for this setup via the Dynojet Power Vision EFI module. As we discussed last issue, Fuel Moto worked extensively with Dynojet as a technical partner on the development of the new Power Vision, and Jamie has spent many hours creating maps for a myriad of hop-ups/part combinations. With its easy-to-use touch screen surface, Jamie had the new map installed in about a minute.
20. Once again, even though the bike didn’t need to be dyno-tuned since Jamie installed one of his preconfigured maps, we wanted to see what kind of result this hop-up created. With the Fuel Moto pipes, air cleaner kit, throttle body porting/polishing service, and the Knight Prowler TW-555 cams, the bike churned out 94.99 hp and 103.15 lb-ft of torque. That’s a gain of 45 percent more horsepower and 32 percent more torque over stock. And the nice broad torque curve is well above 90 lb-ft from 3,000 rpm to nearly 5,000 rpm.
21. Overall the combination of parts between the two install articles really worked well with each other and delivered excellent results. Most importantly, Jason rode away one very satisfied customer who didn’t need a dyno sheet to tell him how well the hop-up went—he could feel it from the snap in his neck when hammering the throttle.
Last issue we showed you a basic stage one upgrade on an ’11 Street Glide using Fuel Moto’s Jackpot stainless steel 2-1-2 head pipe, 4-inch Touring Mufflers, Stage 1 Air Cleaner kit, and Power Commander’s new Power Vision EFI tuner. A simple bolt-on affair, that install made for a great performance improvement over the stock 65.34 hp and 78.16 lb-ft torque numbers with the bike putting out 80.28 hp (nearly 23 percent gain) and 94.41 lb-ft of torque (21 percent more torque) with a nice torque curve above 90 lb-ft from 3,000 to 4,500 rpm. The owner really liked the sound and noticeable seat-of-the-pants gain in power the upgrade provided.
While we agreed that the bike had a nice growl without being too loud, we liked the price (about $1,400 in parts) and overall performance the install achieved. The results made it clear how serious Fuel Moto owner, Jamie Long, is about ensuring his company’s proprietary components make good power, and that his hours on the dyno developing maps for Dyno Jet’s new Power Vision EFI module squeezed the best results out of those components. It also became evident as to why many of Fuel Moto’s customers come from more than 100 miles away from the shop’s Little Chute, Wisconsin, home base to have their bikes hopped up and tuned.
Satisfied with the first stage of his hop-up, the Street Glide owner, Jason Staniak, decided to let Fuel Moto dig a little deeper into his bike by installing a new set of cams and porting/polishing his throttle body and intake. Of course we continued to shoot over the shoulder of Fuel Moto’s head tech, Jim Monson, as he performed the install. HB
**Source:
Fuel Moto **
(877) 729-4754 | fuelmotousa.com
