15' Street Glide upgrades part 2

From my previously installed upgrades, I’ll be reviewing those recently installed on my 2015 Harley-Davidson Street Glide:

AIM / Fuel Moto Variable Pressure Clutch (FM-VP019)

T-Man Performance 555 Torqster (555T) camshaft

S&S Premium High Performance Tappet Set Without HL2T Kit 330-0175

Ohlins HD774 Rear Shocks

Cam Install Kit

In 2014 among many improvements Harley-Davidson introduced a larger more rigid front fork and a new camshaft designed for more torque on eight of their touring motorcycles.  There were many complaints of riders always having to downshift on hills and roll-ons. The larger forks among other things were supposed to help with the “death wobble” that many had experienced in the pre 14’ touring models.  I haven't rode a touring 103ci prior to 14’ but I still got the death wobble on more than one occasion with my 15’ riding two up. I wasn’t overly impressed with the cam, it did ok but in the end can't touch what an aftermarket cam can do.

I determined my death wobble issue to be the inadequate rear suspension. I could be wrong on this but haven’t gotten it since my upgrade to Ohlins shocks.  I had only felt it while riding two up, never solo.  That may not be an issue for some but I own a touring bike which built for many things is meant for a passenger also. I love my bike and I’m happy with buying a Harley-Davidson but you’d think Harley would be better with some things. Harley-Davidson does just enough to sell their motorcycles while still leaving room for upgrades; there is a large profit margin selling and installing their product.

T-Man Performance 555 Torqster (555T) Cam and Install kit:

A cam swap is one of the easiest and cheapest upgrades that will gain good to great results without getting too far into the engine.

I recently dyno'd my bike on a Superflow Winjet at the local dealer back home. So you know, the Winjet numbers SAE are closer to what you are actually getting simulating actual drag on the road unlike Dynojet numbers STD which are higher. I was able to get the SAE to STD conversion just for comparison when I was looking at cams and dyno numbers in general but the Winjet numbers are where it’s at. My 15’ Street Glide came in at 89 ft lbs of peak torque SAE and 98 ft lbs on the Dynojet conversion. That’s with open head pipes, an air cleaner and tuned with a Power Commander V. Not overly impressed. I really would have thought this big 103ci would put down a bit more. I looked at cam grinds and manufacturers for months. Ultimately I decided on the 555 Torqster from T-Man Performance. There’s not a lot of info out there on this cam; T-Man Performance seems to be a semi small shop but the numbers this cam throws down don’t lie. Looking at an actual dyno run on the Winjet from a similar bike this cam put down 109 ft lbs of peak torque and was pushing almost more torque out of the hole than peak torque with my stock cam. Reading up on this this cam along with some solid personal recommendations I couldn’t wait to get it installed and hear this thing idle and chop but mainly to feel how it pulled. I looked at several different manufacturers and grinds for what seemed like six months: Woods from Fuel Moto, of course S&S Cycle, Andrews, T-Man Performance and Fueling. I knew I wanted as much lift as possible without having to change valve springs to bring in as much air and fuel as possible. I was definitely looking for a torque cam and ideally wanted the torque to come on early and to hold on as long as possible in the RPM range. The 555T is referred to as the “holy grail” and does exactly that. Looking at the Woods 222 from Fuel Moto, in comparison, it’s real similar to the 555T, although the Woods 222 might come in just a bit earlier. It put up great numbers but the base circle on the Woods cam is smaller than stock which would require adjustable pushrods and quickie tubes. I planned on saving the $200 and use my stock pushrods since I’d be in the top end anyways. Andrews has their 57H grind. I was considering it since it was great for the price and had some good numbers with a nice broad power curve. The issue was it came in a little later than the Woods 222 and T-Man 555T. Primarily riding two up and was looking for torque and lots of it right off the line. S&S has a variety of grinds available, they have a great shop and product line. I like that there were plenty of “bolt in” cams available meaning they have the same base circle and could use the stock push rods. Their 551 grind offers good power from idle to 4000 rpm but without being able to find a dyno sheet on it and .550” lift vs the 555T at .555” it wasn’t what I was looking for. I found the stock cam adequate while riding solo. My issue became as soon as I was two up, which wasn’t a lot more weight, the bike just wasn’t responsive. It did pretty well while cruising and on a normal take off but I had issues while pulling out of a low speed turn or corner and when trying to pass (roll-on) or going up a grade. The bike just didn’t have it, there was just nothing there, I’d roll throttle and just lug and not really go. If anyone has tried flooring a Chevy metro or similar POS, similar response. This 103 cubic inch engine was surely capable of more. After installing my T-Man 555 Torqster cam, when I roll throttle no matter what the situation, the bike responds instantly. The engine immediately gains RPM’s and pulls. This cam seems to love throttle, it seems like no matter the situation it just wants more throttle and just pulls through. I could be the one wanting more throttle too. Reminds me of the old farm truck Dad had built with a torque / towing cam; this thing just runs. Now while coming out of a lower speed turn it pulls right back up to speed with ease even two up; lots of power, plenty. When passing, a roll of the wrist while two up, I can comfortably pass from cruising at ~2500 rpm. I passed a car the other night dropping a gear putting me at ~3000 rpm which is close to peak torque for this cam, the bike literally lunged when I cracked the throttle from a 35 mph roll-on while two up. With hard acceleration through second and third gear the tire gets loose, not spinning but not hooking up either. My bike straight hauls ass and sounds amazing. From the first start up the exhaust is notably louder; more fuel and air equals more combustion. If you know what you're hearing, you can hear the cam chopping at idle but nothing like a longer duration race cam, but it’s still music to my ears. There is a lot of noise out of the intake. I had read the high torque cams do this and I’m not worried about it, really it’s a minor inconvenience and I’ll gladly take the tradeoff of lots and lots of torque. I haven't dynoed it yet, I may do it but I'm not terribly worried about it. I’m still dialing in my tune and a twist of the throttle is telling me all that I need to know right now; this thing moves. Very happy with it and exactly what I was hoping to achieve with my cam upgrade. Fuel Moto; love this shop, their product and customer service. I looked here for my cam initially, it’s also nice that they sell S&S and Andrews in addition to their Woods cam line. They had some really nice deals on cams and packages but I ended up going another direction. I did however grab their Variable Pressure Clutch and cam install kit with bearings at a nice sale price. These guys are still my go to before I really start looking anywhere else.

S&S Premium High Performance Lifters and top end:

Usually when you change a cam you need to change out your tappets unless you’re running roller tappets. Harley does this. I guess if I were trying to save a buck with my bike with low miles I could have kept my stock roller tappets but this was the perfect opportunity to upgrade them. I went round and round on which lifters I was going to go with but I knew if I’m changing them there is no way I was using Harley. Of course I immediately looked at Woods lifters and also at Fueling. In the end I trusted a solid name brand in the industry and went with S&S. S&S offers their budget line at a pretty reasonable price. As with everything I like to read around and form my own opinions, between reading great things and T-Man Performance recommending the S&S Premium tappets, it was peace of mind getting their premium line "Made in the USA". Again, if I’m going to be into it, I might as well get the best; I surely didn’t want to tear this thing down again because I went with something cheap. It was also recommended to me to install rocker lockers hence my reason to pull the top end, this also allowed the use of my stock pushrods. It is a known issue with Harley’s that as you accumulate miles the rocker arm shaft rotates creating an annoying tick in the top end. I had thought about going with roller rockers but they’re expensive, they’re nice and have their place but I don't’ think it would really be the right call. If I were to start into high end things like that then why not head work, compression bumps etc. I might as well go all out but where do you stop? Well the easy answer is you never do, you’re just limited by your pocket book and time as with so many things. I could build a race engine but I’m not racing, I’m riding. With the top end off I installed the rocker lockers. Many riders and mechanics also suggest shimming the rocker arms decreasing the end play to further eliminate any ticking. Tolerance from rocker arm to the rocker arm support plate should be .003” to .013”. If that tolerance is opened up the rocker arm can move back and forth creating a tick which you would want to shim to get back into spec. If shimming, anything smaller than a .020” shim can easily be burned through with wear and pressure, so depending on what the measurement is you would more than likely need to machine the rocker arm support plate to accept the larger shim. Of all four of my rocker arm support plates my max measurement was .013”. I could have shimmed all of them down to .003” but I didn’t have the ability to machine them without farming it out. Being within spec and having negligible top end noise prior to the cam install I opted not to mess with it. I had thought of just carefully straight filing them down then sanding with 400 grit to smooth which may have worked but it wasn’t worth the risk. If it's not broke; don't fix it. It’s easier to get drastic if you don't have a choice but to fix an issue. After the initial startup and break in I had no noise from lifters or cam chest even with a stethoscope; smooth running. I did hear a very slight tick through the stethoscope from the front cylinder top end which I figure is probably rocker arm end play which I’m not worried about right now. I’m really happy with the S&S premium lifters and cam combination.

AIM / Fuel Moto Variable Pressure Clutch (VPC):

When you’re looking at adding more torque you have to think about your clutch. I was recommended a heavy duty clutch spring as a minimum and informed of a VPC. I had already looked into a variable pressure clutch since I was running stock and already slipping during a hotter take off solo and more while riding two up. A wet clutch is supposed to slip some which is normal, but mine seemed excessive to the point it was hindering my riding. While solo or two up it was grabbing fine while banging hard through gears but just not grabbing like I would have liked off the line. My biggest issue was clutch slippage while pulling a low speed turn two up. For example a 90 degree right turn from a stop. In a right turn you can’t quite get the clutch out before you need to lean, maybe other riders are better with this but I’m feathering the clutch to hold speed while trying to keep a consistent throttle to control my lean. This really wasn’t an issue while solo, but riding two up it’s challenging and my clutch slipped like crazy. Adding more torque would only make this problem worse. The VPC advertises easier clutch pull and more pressure as RPM’s increase to eliminate slippage. I talked to a few riders and they have never had issues with clutch slippage after installing their VPC. They are a bit expensive but with only a 10 minute install time it’s kind of a no brainer when upgrading to a high torque cam. To clarify, after figuring out how to install a VPC it is only a 10 minute install. The VPC solved my problems; I haven’t had my clutch slip yet. In a right turn two up the clutch grabs right away and lets me focus on throttle and leaning. I would not say that the clutch pull is easier, in fact, I would say it’s slightly different but definitely not harder and nothing I can’t adjust too. Between the new cam and the clutch not slipping I can comfortably handle low speed turns with ease. I did a hard take off from a light, two up, the tire broke loose before the clutch slipped; mission accomplished.

Ohlins HD774 Rear Shocks:

The stock Harley shocks on this bike are junk. I was never able to maintain air pressure, I had the seal blow out on one of them (under warranty), I was constantly bottoming out over small bumps two up (RIP my bottom S&S head pipe) not to mention the death wobble. Riding solo the thing was like a lumber wagon. I did an 1100 mile ride last summer, after riding through Chicago I could have pissed blood from the bridge overlaps. It was an expensive but easy decision to go with Ohlins shocks. I looked at many options before going with Ohlins. I looked at air setups with varying air shocks and even the Monroe Corvette shock adaptations. In the end I thought they are really just another air shock, what am I gaining? I looked at the Progressive shocks which would surely be an improvement but would they accomplish what I was looking to achieve? I read many riders that went with Progressive and ending up switching to Ohlins; Ohlins are really the Cadillac of shocks. When I looked at the price difference between the two, as with many things on my bike, I figured why not just get the best. So far I’ve rode solo and two up with dramatic improvement. Two up: I hit some hard bumps and instead of the previous sharp jar, you can feel the shock take it. I haven't had any issues bottoming out or gotten the death wobble. Solo: The bike rides a little stiffer since I have it set for two up riding but still feels great. I could adjust it each time but I mainly ride two up and it’s not that big of an inconvenience. I haven’t been through Chicago but I can’t even feel the bumps I have hit. I did pull a large sweeping turn at 70 mph the other day and the bike just stuck to the road; huge improvement over stock. Many riders have stated that once you upgrade the rear shocks you can really feel the inadequacies of the front suspension. I found this to be immediately accurate; upgrading my front suspension will be on my next list of things to upgrade. I can’t comment on Progressive shocks vs Ohlins, but I can say that I’ll never run stock Harley shocks again. I picked mine up from Cycle Solutions for a great price; very impressed with the entire experience. Throughout this whole process I would like to thank: Darryl Curry from the Facebook Harley-Davidson Touring group, Jake at Harley-Davidson Rochester MN, Bob and Fuel Moto, S&S Cycle tech support, TR and Kelly at T-Man Performance, Chris Waddell and Cycle Solutions, Brian Mueller, Ken Bourquin, and most importantly my wife Missy. With the wind in my face I am truly free. -Ben Stetson