Remanufacturing Evolutions By Harley-Davidson

Mark assembles the pistons on the rods. Of course, they have the coolest special tool to install the wrist pin keepers. Mark checks the overall wrist pin run-out between insert clips to insure both keepers are securely installed.

Mark installs the cylinders over the piston rings. Note the wheel on the sprocket shaft, so he can reposition the pistons at any time. Also note the Teflon slab under the piston to allow it to set flat while the rings are pinched with the special tool and the cylinder is lowered. After all the rings are in the cylinder comfortably, the wheel can be turned so the piston is lifted enough to remove the ring compression tool. Then the cylinder can be lowered into its final position.

We face a station shift change here, and the delightful Etta takes over to install the heads after she slips on fresh gaskets. She has a machine that torques all the headbolts at once. "This follows the same three-step sequence found in the service manual; however, all eight bolts go through the sequence all at once," Scott added.

Now Etta drops the pushrods into place. There's specific pushrods (of differing lengths) for each valve. No adjustments are necessary. Next she slips on a fresh rocker box gasket and prepares to seal up the engine. Etta torques the rocker box and cover screws to 15-19 ft-lb. The smaller Allens to 10-14 ft-lb and the top cover fasteners to 90-120 inch pounds.

We can't see it, but Etta installed a sprocket to start the bike for testing, then turned the engine around and set the timing. "We monitor oil pressure at different rpms, and temperature," Scott filled us in. "We also check for leaks and weeps after the motor reaches temperature. The exhaust system on the test booth muffles the exhaust to the point that it can hardly be heard at all. This allows the test mechanics to hear any unusual mechanical noises."

After inspection and packaging, a worker goes on the CCX internet site and processes the shipping of the engine immediately. When we checked our test engine at Fullerton, CA, Harley-Davidson, it looked virtually new again.