Never Know What You Buy

[1997 fxstc]

So I picked my wife up a beautiful 93 Heritage; It has 21000 miles.  It sat for a couple years so I had to rebuild the carb, change the fluids and plugs.  I put a new set of front pads on it; pain in the ass.  It took most 3 hours to get the master cylinder primed and brakes bleed; have no idea why, felt like a dumbass.  Today I was going through a box of OEM stuff and find out thing has a Sifton 140 cam, Crane Single Fire Performance Coil and HI-4E Ignition which I have NO experience. Anyone have any experience with the Sifton 140 as well as the Crane products and why the hell did was is such a pain to prime and bleed those brakes.   

[JW113]

How exactly were you bleeding the brakes?

Sifton 140, no experience but a quick look at the timing specs indicates that unless the guy also raised the compression a couple points, you probably are not going to like that cam too much.

Crane Hi-4, pretty much like any other box swap ignition module. What exactly do you want to know about it?

-JW

[capn]

I bought a 76 shovel that has a crane hi 4. At first I didnt trust it but I gotta admit it seems to work well.If you dont care for it an Ultima adjustable is also a good choice. Got one on a high performance evo and its been bullet proof with a USA made coil.

[Hossamania]

How does the bike run with that cam?
As far as the ignition goes, run it until it breaks.
Bleeding brakes, usually works fine, sometimes they fight you. If the handle seems soft, tie it down overnight.

[Dan89flstc]

If you are having problems bleeding the brake system on this bike, it may not be that you are doing anything wrong, the problem may be the master cylinder.

I suggest a rebuild, and make sure all old fluid is out, the previous owner may have used DOT4, which when mixed with DOT5 can cause all kinds of problems, including what you have described.

Don`t ask me how I know this...

[1997 fxstc]

How exactly were you bleeding the brakes?

Sifton 140, no experience but a quick look at the timing specs indicates that unless the guy also raised the compression a couple points, you probably are not going to like that cam too much.

Crane Hi-4, pretty much like any other box swap ignition module. What exactly do you want to know about it?

-JW

My bike has a bolt in Screaming Eagle.  The Crane has several dials/setting on it.  Bike runs fine but just curious about adjusting the settings.

[1997 fxstc]

If you are having problems bleeding the brake system on this bike, it may not be that you are doing anything wrong, the problem may be the master cylinder.

I suggest a rebuild, and make sure all old fluid is out, the previous owner may have used DOT4, which when mixed with DOT5 can cause all kinds of problems, including what you have described.

Don`t ask me how I know this...

We took apart the master cylinder, new fluid.  All the parts looked fine and eventually it primed and they are fine now, no issues...just took for every....

[1997 fxstc]

How does the bike run with that cam?
As far as the ignition goes, run it until it breaks.
Bleeding brakes, usually works fine, sometimes they fight you. If the handle seems soft, tie it down overnight.

Bike runs great Hoss.  Here I am running a stock bike and shes got the hopped up one.  The breaks did fight but we got the master primed and brakes bled.  I always use that overnight tie method to, really tightened them up.  We just could not believe it took so long to get to that point.

[Hossamania]

I Google crane hi4 ignition and found a couple PDFs and videos on install and set up. All kinds of info available.

[fbn ent]

If I have trouble getting a front brake to bleed I push from the caliper up (after lowering the level in the master cylinder).

[kd]

      Ya, that second part is real important to remember.