HarleyTechTalk

Billet fuel rail is not warranted in a stage 2 application.
Nothing gained except a lighter wallet.

On a side note, I've found the Andrews 465B to be a great alternative for a 114, and it's $100 cheaper than the CR cam, if that appeals to you.

Watches like an oil commercial.

I wonder what all the other vehicles are doing?  I'm sure e85 isn't at the pump for just the hot rod Harley guys. 

Hey guys -

I'm getting ready to do a cam swap on my '21 Street Bob. List of parts at this time is:
CR480MT cam
Fueling lifters
S&S lifter cuffs
Fuel Moto adj push rods
Fuel Moto aluminum intake
Fuel Moto 5.5 injectors

I noticed S&S came out with their billet fuel rail to replace the OEM plastic one. Is there a high rate of failure? I realize it is pretty inexpensive, and I will be that far into it to where it would make sense to replace. Just curious if others have experienced failure of the plastic OEM rail.

Zach

Any top rated high performance oil should be fine. We use Brad Penn synthetic 20-50 and Schaeffer synthetic in an alcohol sprint car engine with good results. Watch the color of your oil. If it starts to get a little bit milky then you have alcohol dilution.

Quote from: rigidthumper on April 23, 2024, 03:43:40 AMThe shop I used to work for followed then current ESP guidelines- if the bike was still under factory warranty (0-2 years old), use the flat rate manual; if out of factory warranty (2-5 years old), but still covered by ESP, flat rate X 1.25. If greater than 5 years old, flat rate X 1.5. This helps account for rusted/frozen hardware, + the older a bike is, the more likely it's been hacked up at some point. 
The closest job I would believe applies is 4321, Replace side door gasket, 2.8 hours, x 1.5 ESP multiplier, for a total of 4.2 hours.
16 is just criminal...

2.8 hours, 1.5 multiplier, 4.2 hours is the same rate that comes up in my SMP (Service Manager Pro) labor guide.

Might even just have a clamp that is not tight. I also have replaced quite a few elbows that were leaking.

Quote from: JSD on April 24, 2024, 07:52:52 PMI was just reading the latest engine labs about using the fuel. They also mention what it does to your oil. I don't know how to upload pictures from my phone on this site. But worth a read.
Andy

I saw that one, and I posted regarding that article on Tuesday.


https://harleytechtalk.com/htt/index.php/topic,121694.0.html

Quote from: speedzter on April 24, 2024, 04:04:55 PMIt appears that 5/5 % gain is the number talked about in un-boosted apps .
I could see a huge downside would be keeping moisture out of the fuel.
Do you live in a humid climate ?
You would (should) likely need to flush the system with regular gas between rides .

I'm curious, has it been an experience that you or someone that you know has run E85? I ask because two guys that I know, Jim Kennedy and Chad Groves have tuned and run their bikes on E85. Jim has been racing with E85 for several years. He now runs Alcohol and Nitro. Chad converted a friends bike and said in 30k miles no issues. There's also a guy northern Ohio that advertises as converting and tuning HD's to E85. He I haven't spoken with.

Jim has a few posts on here regarding his experiences with E85.

Maybe your chasing the wrong gremlin.  Because the issue has worsened and increased it's frequency with the number of start cycles it would make me consider the compensator.  You call it a backfire but that's a subjective description.  Is it sending fire and smoke into the breather?  As the pre 2014 twincam compensator aged and got weak, the first crank (or more) would kick off like a little explosion and spin the engine back (often resulting in a grind / bang / stall like reaction and a subsequent intake or exhaust loud firing back and puff of smoke).

Have you checked the compensator health? You still haven't given a full description of the model, year etc. of the bike.  IIRC the earlier M8 compensator was problematic.

I also recall some posters saying something similar to your basic description was happening and if they tapped the start button and clicked the bendix in once then on the second tap held the button in it would start normally.

Assuming you are 100% certain you have a recurrent intake leak:
Have the heads been off ever? Or milled? Are the surfaces where the seals hit still flat and true?
What air cleaner you running? The fitting of the backing plate can "pull" an intake and the manifold away enough to blow the seal(s).