Shovelhead Cam Help

[lifesagas]

like 2 years ago I picked up a bastard basket case shovel, I was told it was a 72 but the title/VIN was 1978 michigan special construction. I got it running pretty quick but it smoked and leaked out of every gasket so I took off the top end and brought it to a well known engine builder and machinist in my area. Unfortunately I was introduced to this guy through a mutual friend cause we both have cancer, I'm doing alright now but he took a turn for the worse a few months ago and then passed away recently. His friends at his shop and his daughter have been trying to get all the work out and obviously I wanted his family to get the money for the work he did for me, I finally picked up my top end this week and it looks like all the work was done but I'm confused on some of the build specs, don't know if somebody mixed up the parts from another job or its just over my head.

The bike is 74" I measured the stroke, had a stock H cam and dual plugged heads. The cam is the later style with the groove cut in it. The work he did was install the valve guides, 3 angle valve job, bored and honed the cylinders, and decked the heads, and he ordered me the valvetrain components for me to put it all together.

Heres where I'm confused. We never talked about the cam selection cause thats when he had gotten pretty sick. I have an ironhead thats my around town bike and I told him I wanted to do longer highway rides on this shovel and get as much as I can out of the engine for that while keeping it reliable. I picked up my crate of parts and it has 8:5:1 pistons and kibblewhite valve spring kit for .415" lift and an Andrews #1 cam. Also got a set of jims powerglide tappets.

Andrews says #1 is a low compression version of the A grind for low compression pistons. Is there any reason it would make sense to run the #1 cam with 8:5:1 pistons? He got me the earlier style cam without the groove so i need to order a new one anyway, I'm wondering if I should stick with the #1 or get an A2 and if I need a different spring set

Thanks

[JBinNC]

Whether you need a new style or old style cam gear will depend on the pinion gear you have, irrespective of the year of the motor case (because all these parts can be and have been swapped over the years). And you can swap the cam gears between H-D and Andrews cams, the bore size is the same.

I find the "low compression" cams tend to spark knock in hot weather when used in standard compression motors, but some people do have success with them. So you might try it (with a gear swap if necessary) and see how you like it.

Early pinion gears have teeth that are about 1 1/8" wide, while the late pinion gears have teeth that are about 5/8" wide, or roughly the same width as the cam gear. You can tell the difference at a glance.

Your new spring kit will easily accommodate the .450 lift of an A2 cam, as long as the spring installed height is correct for the lift.

Jim

[Dragstews]

... /// https://www.ozbike.com.au/harley-pin...-replacements/ \\\ ...

Good ^^ Read

[lifesagas]

Thanks. I am going to try to swap the cam gears and run the #1 and see how it goes before ordering new parts, I didn't know that was an option.

[JBinNC]

Thanks. I am going to try to swap the cam gears and run the #1 and see how it goes before ordering new parts, I didn't know that was an option.

No key, so you have to line up the scribed lines carefully. (You will have to scribe lines on your existing cam.)

Jim