Ok so I am looking for an aircooled V-twin. And I figured (and I probably wrong about this) that Harley engines would be a good way to do this. Can someone fill me in on what Harley engines offer good (I know I will get lots of jokes about this) performance and are cheap?
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
paging Dr. Hess. But EVO? seem to be the best. or find a Buell
My opinion? Get a Honda V-twin
Is the Honda aircooled? Also I have three books on tuning Harley motors laying around.
Ducati
There are a lot of Air Cooled honda twins. Look at Shadows 600-1100cc
Grtechguy wrote: There are a lot of Air Cooled honda twins. Look at Shadows 600-1100cc
I had an 1100 cc Shadow. Do not see any benefit from it vs any of the equivalent Harley engines personally.
I also have three books on tuning Harley motors laying around. And there seems to be more of an aftermarket.
Buell Heads are about the only thing I know to wake up HD stock motors
pilotbraden wrote: Ducati
He said cheap, too. Nothings cheap about Desmo.
Harley motors are hard to find, they have only been in production since 1901 and they don't really make that many. ;)
Why a V-twin specifically?
The big Harley V-Twins don't have intregral transmission that are usually found on bike engines.
What exactly are you looking for and how much do you want to spend? I think new 80 inch Evos are in the 3.5-4K range. Depending on your wants and check book, you can get about anything you want out of one. 800 HP turbocharged? Yeah, they do that. 100 HP/100 ft/lbs, normally aspirated with just head work and a cam? Not too difficult. There's a lot of aftermarket motors out there that are virtually identical to an Evo. S&S is the best aftermarket. I personally wouldn't consider any other one. The Koreans just don't have the same QC as S&S or HD. A used HD motor from a wrecked bike will still run you two large or better. Evo's are a very good motor.
I guess if you're a FNG, I should explain a bit. "Evo" means Evolution. Late 1984 to 1999. The best motor the company ever made. Anything before that is everything bad (and good) you ever heard about a Harley. After the Evo came the Twin Cam (AKA "Twinky".) Not as good as an Evo, but usually causes arguments with people who plopped down 25 large on a Twinky.
Ask your questions.
What are the differences if any between a late 1984 motor and a 1999 motor?
And why a V-twin? For this reason.
I figgered you wanted one for something like that.
All Evo's are good engines. Late 84 was the first and 99 was the last. Late 84 has "early" style lifters, which were upgraded/superseded about 87 or 88. Not that the 84-87-ish lifters were that much weaker, just supposed to be. I got >50K miles on my original lifters, and the later ones don't go longer than that. Changing out lifters is very easy. Other changes were the inner cam bearing went to a different style in about 92. The new style is much weaker than the old style and should be replaced immediately upon purchasing a bike/(motor). It's not that big of a job, but if the new style bearing grenades, it's a Very Bad Thing. A new bearing is probably ten bucks. 84-late 80's (87?) used "compliance fittings" on the intake. That was junk and should be swapped out to the later style intake manifold. Then there's "top breathers" and "bottom breathers." The 84's to 90-something are "bottom breathers." That is, the breather comes out the bottom of the motor. The later motors are "top breathers" with umbrella valves in the heads and the breather coming out the heads where the air cleaner bolts to the head with hollow bolts. Carbs changed throughout the years. The best factory carb was the CV. The early butterfly carbs were total junk. The later model EFI systems were a bit quirky and not too tuneable, especially today. CV carbs are pretty cheap used. Those are the major differences between the years. All are good, all will run as long as the others with minimum maintenance.
My bike is an 86 FLHT. I bought it new. I'm still riding it because it does everything I need.
Awesome thanks for the info. They are a little pricey though.
What's your intended purpose and target HP?
stroker wrote: What's your intended purpose and target HP?
See the Morgan above. Target horsepower bit over a hundred.
every Shadow i've ever seen is liquid cooled. the liquid is cooled by air though....
The Honda CX500 motor was used in a lot of Trike cars because it is compact, liquid cooled, and shaft drive. 50hp and 50ft/lb is not bad from 500cc, but I have never seen anyone pull more horsepower from one.
pinchvalve wrote: The Honda CX500 motor... compact, liquid cooled, and shaft drive. 50hp and 50ft/lb is not bad from 500cc, but I have never seen anyone pull more horsepower from one.
The 650 is the same size physically and both motors(500 & 650) came in a turbo'd version. The 650 standard pushed approx. 65 h.p.@8000 out of the box.
Moto Guzzi engines were used in Triking trikes, a friend of mine has one.
How much does a HD Evo motor weight?
I don't have that for you. I can lift a knucklehead by myself. Or I could when I was younger. I could therefore extrapolate that to lifting an Evo much easier. Knucks were all iron (jugs, head.) You might look at the shipping weights for the aftermarket motors. That would be pretty close. Check http://www.jirehcycles.com/ for the weight of their Ultima Evos, or http://www.jpcycles.com/ who sell S&S, I think. A 90-something inch aftermarket motor will weigh about the same as a stock 80".
I had a pic I took at Sturigs a couple years ago of a new 3 wheel car with an Evo up front like your pic.
Jeez, it seems to me like Guzzi is exactly what you're looking for...
On the other hand, if you're willing to go parallel twin then a Norton would be cool.
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