The title of the Wolfgang book is Hop Up & Customize, and the easiest way to get significantly more power from a Twin Cam engine is to install a 95 inch kit. In this case, the Wolfgang Softail book, we decided to try a relatively mild kit from Kuryakyn (click on any Wolfgang Banner in this article to order one of these books or more). The kit is based on the idea that by using carefully chosen parts a 95-inch Twin Cam with stock heads and mild cams can produce very nearly as much power and torque as the same engine with ported heads and much more radical camshafts. The difference between the two engines, besides some measure of power, is money. The Kuryakyn kit does not require ported heads. And because the cams are mild, and based on a stock baseline circle, the stock valve springs are more than adequate, even the stock pushrods can be reused (through an oversight, we did use adjustable pushrods).

Disassembly

Ken Misna, the bike builder on this project, starts by draining the tank and removing the cross-over tube. Two bolts hold the gas tank on, one at the back and one through-bolt at the front. Don’t forget the two-wire connector for the fuel gauge on the bottom of the tank.

Ken removes the exhaust next, the flange nuts are first, then the nuts on the support bracket at the back of the frame on the right side. The air cleaner is removed next, then it’s time to move to the left side. First there’s the choke cable to take off the bracket, done by loosening the nut from behind, followed by the throttle cables. Before disconnecting the throttle cables, though, Ken puts slack in the cables with the adjusters near the throttle grip. Then he pulls the carburetor off the intake manifold, and while holding it, unhooks the two cables, explaining as he does, “having slack in the cables makes this job much easier.”

Now Ken removes the motor mount bracket and horn, then he takes out the spark plugs, because, “with the plugs out it’s easier to turn over the engine later in the process.” The intake manifold is next. The map sensor is disconnected, then a special ball-end Allen wrench makes it easier to loosen the four Allen bolts.

Rocker boxes

As shown, Ken removes the top of the front cylinder box first, being careful to keep all the parts organized: with the front cylinder parts in one group and rear in another so they all go back together in the same group. It’s time now to put a jack under the bike and turn the engine over until the intake closes. This leaves the front cylinder on the compression stroke and both lobes on the cam’s base circle, which minimizes tension on the valve train during disassembly. Ken likes to put the eraser end of a pencil in the plug hole and roll the engine back and forth so he knows it’s at TDC.

The breather covers come off now. Ken does the front cylinder first.The bolts for the lower rocker box are next. Ken rolls it over again so the rear cylinder has both cams on the base circle (compression or firing). The lower rocker box bolts for the rear cylinder come out now. Head bolts come out in a criss-cross sequence, as noted in the service manual, and then the heads are off. With the heads off the cylinders are next, followed by the lifter covers and the anti-rotation pins.

“I always put the lifters on the bench in such a way that I can reinstall them the way they came out, not turned 180 degrees,” explains Ken.

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