Great article about Evos and Twin Cams. Enjoy.
http://www.hdopenroad.com/guest-articles/harley-evo-vs-twin-cams-the-sweet-years/
http://www.hdopenroad.com/guest-articles/harley-evo-vs-twin-cams-the-sweet-years/
Evo vs Twin Cams: The Sweet Years
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wemay
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I should never have gotten rid of my EVO VIII.
EDIT: sorry, wrong topic...
EDIT: sorry, wrong topic...
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Update:
I went back and read some points of his in-depth. While I 98% agree, he really has a poor understanding of early twin-cam FI bikes. Granted that is a few years run, but the early ones were simple with massive fuel efficiency and maintenance benefits over carb'd bikes. He totally has a bias here and misses some basic physics and ignores real world results.
I spent the late summer of 2001 leaving my East Coast pre-med, sport-bike life because my Seattle-based dad demanded I fly west to ride with him and my brother from there to Sturgis. Some nice sport-bike Iron left behind, I begrudgingly agreed. To help me fit in, my dad rented me the latest the Tacoma HD dealer had to offer. One of the first fuelie twin cams from Destination HD in Tacoma for the trip a 2001 (or 02?) Heritage Softail Special, FI twin cam, from Gig Harbor, WA to Sturgis, via lots of back roads, sea level to 10,000'. RT: 4,000 miles in 10 days. Loved it and couldn't wait to ride it more. 600 miles the last day and I've turned around and done the trip again if I could have.
Now to-wit: I passed on every other gas-up all the carb'd bikes had to take. I did 40+ mpg when they were struggling to do 30, and I led and fooled around with stunts, spent miles in Wyoming with the bike on the throttle lock (very inefficient) while I relaxed into the back seat against my back-rest mounted T-bag reading Tuchman's "The Guns of August." I recall a particular 25 mile stretch I could catch up on the Battle of Mons and only had to steer with some pressure on the saddle bags. This bike drove by suggestions and got 40 mpg+ doing it, while all the carb'd bikes struggled to keep up.
I had a sh** ton of people who knew more than me about the subtleties of HD models come up to me at rest stops, main street in Sturgis and Rapid City, etc. and say "whoa, how is the new FI TC?" "How did you get this bike you lucky dude?" And it was just luck, I did not plan it out thoughtfully or pay for it; it was a rental. The bike was awesome (relatively speaking). It delivered power and fuel efficiency from sea level in rain to 10k feet in they dry with no thought on my part, carb adjustments, etc. No evo could match, no matter how well tuned. I was running against many, maintained by equal or better mechanics than I.
However, I went back a year later with full knowledge of this, and I bought an Evo (94 FXDC). Love Evo. But his bias against Twin Cam and fuel injection is nonsense. We've (in my family) had many HD products from the 70s to 2004 and that bias against early TC's and FI bikes is knee-jerk and not supported by both EPA tests, user experience, or any objective measures.
I went back and read some points of his in-depth. While I 98% agree, he really has a poor understanding of early twin-cam FI bikes. Granted that is a few years run, but the early ones were simple with massive fuel efficiency and maintenance benefits over carb'd bikes. He totally has a bias here and misses some basic physics and ignores real world results.
I spent the late summer of 2001 leaving my East Coast pre-med, sport-bike life because my Seattle-based dad demanded I fly west to ride with him and my brother from there to Sturgis. Some nice sport-bike Iron left behind, I begrudgingly agreed. To help me fit in, my dad rented me the latest the Tacoma HD dealer had to offer. One of the first fuelie twin cams from Destination HD in Tacoma for the trip a 2001 (or 02?) Heritage Softail Special, FI twin cam, from Gig Harbor, WA to Sturgis, via lots of back roads, sea level to 10,000'. RT: 4,000 miles in 10 days. Loved it and couldn't wait to ride it more. 600 miles the last day and I've turned around and done the trip again if I could have.
Now to-wit: I passed on every other gas-up all the carb'd bikes had to take. I did 40+ mpg when they were struggling to do 30, and I led and fooled around with stunts, spent miles in Wyoming with the bike on the throttle lock (very inefficient) while I relaxed into the back seat against my back-rest mounted T-bag reading Tuchman's "The Guns of August." I recall a particular 25 mile stretch I could catch up on the Battle of Mons and only had to steer with some pressure on the saddle bags. This bike drove by suggestions and got 40 mpg+ doing it, while all the carb'd bikes struggled to keep up.
I had a sh** ton of people who knew more than me about the subtleties of HD models come up to me at rest stops, main street in Sturgis and Rapid City, etc. and say "whoa, how is the new FI TC?" "How did you get this bike you lucky dude?" And it was just luck, I did not plan it out thoughtfully or pay for it; it was a rental. The bike was awesome (relatively speaking). It delivered power and fuel efficiency from sea level in rain to 10k feet in they dry with no thought on my part, carb adjustments, etc. No evo could match, no matter how well tuned. I was running against many, maintained by equal or better mechanics than I.
However, I went back a year later with full knowledge of this, and I bought an Evo (94 FXDC). Love Evo. But his bias against Twin Cam and fuel injection is nonsense. We've (in my family) had many HD products from the 70s to 2004 and that bias against early TC's and FI bikes is knee-jerk and not supported by both EPA tests, user experience, or any objective measures.
From your post it looks like the bike you rented had the old Magna- Morelli fuel injection. Which was also use on Evo motors starting in '96 iirc. While when new and left alone, worked fine. But when people wanted to beef up their motors, it wasn't very expandable.In '03 Harley did away with the M&M fi and went to the Delphi FI system that they still use. It can be played with more for performance upgrades. Harley kinda washed their hands of the M&M fi ,and new replacement parts aren't available. You choice for any M&M parts is Ebay,and hope what you buy is better then what you have, or doing a carb conversion which can get pricey. I've owned 1 M&M bike and 2 Delphi bikes, and they all were good runners. I have also owned 2 Evo bikes and they were bullet proof, and 3 twin cam bikes also bullet proof. The early twin cam motors had cam tensioner shoe wear problems, but they have since changed that whole design and seem to have corrected it.,
Are both the Evo and twin cam all iron? Heads and block?
I believe the Shovel heads were the last cast iron motors and heads they made. Sportsters were referred to as Iron heads also, but I'm not sure when they changed over. Probably in '85 when the Evo's started.,,
Originally Posted By: BigCahuna
I believe the Shovel heads were the last cast iron motors and heads they made. Sportsters were referred to as Iron heads also, but I'm not sure when they changed over. Probably in '85 when the Evo's started.,,
Harley went to aluminum heads when the Panhead came out in 1948. All Shovel heads had aluminum heads. The first Sportsters had iron heads.They did not have aluminum heads till 1986 when the evolution engine came out.
I believe the Shovel heads were the last cast iron motors and heads they made. Sportsters were referred to as Iron heads also, but I'm not sure when they changed over. Probably in '85 when the Evo's started.,,
Harley went to aluminum heads when the Panhead came out in 1948. All Shovel heads had aluminum heads. The first Sportsters had iron heads.They did not have aluminum heads till 1986 when the evolution engine came out.
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