C.P. Engineering
Active member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2020
- Messages
- 27
Hi guys, my name is Charlie. I'm new the the forum, new to Buells and honestly new to motor cycles. I do however have a long background of building custom vehicles with 4 wheels. My cousin, who's been lending me a hand with projects for year's, asked me to look at his '05 XB9R. One thing led to another and I'm doing a full rebuild of the entire bike. I'm starting this thread in hopes of sharing information, documenting the build and getting advice from the experts on this forum. So feel free to jump in and point out mistakes or make suggestions.
The bike is a '05 XB9R with 20K miles on the clock. From what i can see its been a very hard 20K miles. My cousin bought it a year and half ago and really hasn't touched anything on it. It have a terrible rattle can paint job, runs and rides like complete crap, every single control on the bike was loose and sloppy and its clearly been on its side a few times. But, he really likes these bikes and Is willing to throw some money at to build it "right".
Before I began the tear down i ran it a bit and it was very low on power. A leak down test showed that it was likely a compression issue. The plugs also looked like it was running very rich. The other issue that was immediately noticeable was the amount of oil that was venting from the heads into the intake of the engine. Commonly on cars that would suggest high crank case pressure, i'm not sure if thats the same on these bikes.
Regardless we were already planning on completely rebuilding the engine so I split the bike and tore down the engine. I'll post some pictures below but the carbon build up on the heads and cylinder heads was excessive for sure. Now, I have my recipes for power in engines with 6 additional cylinders but my knowledge in these Harley engines is severely lacking, so I reached out to some experts. I'd like to thank Aaron from Hammer Performance for taking quite a bit of time going through the details of these engines with me. The currently plan is to go with a 1050cc big bore kit on this build, which is actually 1042cc, with new 30 deg pistons, Hammer Performances competition valve job, new valves and springs, new lifters, a new clutch with more holding force, and an exhaust. Add to that a new paint job and all new plugs, wires and anything else that looks like its seen better days and ultimately a custom tune and this thing should be pretty nice when all is said and done. I'll also be going though and inspecting the lower end and transmission, i plan to leave it all stock but why put al this time and money into the bike if something is worn and waiting to cause issues.
I'll keep everyone updates with progress as well as review any parts and products used on the build. Let the fun begin.
The bike is a '05 XB9R with 20K miles on the clock. From what i can see its been a very hard 20K miles. My cousin bought it a year and half ago and really hasn't touched anything on it. It have a terrible rattle can paint job, runs and rides like complete crap, every single control on the bike was loose and sloppy and its clearly been on its side a few times. But, he really likes these bikes and Is willing to throw some money at to build it "right".
Before I began the tear down i ran it a bit and it was very low on power. A leak down test showed that it was likely a compression issue. The plugs also looked like it was running very rich. The other issue that was immediately noticeable was the amount of oil that was venting from the heads into the intake of the engine. Commonly on cars that would suggest high crank case pressure, i'm not sure if thats the same on these bikes.
Regardless we were already planning on completely rebuilding the engine so I split the bike and tore down the engine. I'll post some pictures below but the carbon build up on the heads and cylinder heads was excessive for sure. Now, I have my recipes for power in engines with 6 additional cylinders but my knowledge in these Harley engines is severely lacking, so I reached out to some experts. I'd like to thank Aaron from Hammer Performance for taking quite a bit of time going through the details of these engines with me. The currently plan is to go with a 1050cc big bore kit on this build, which is actually 1042cc, with new 30 deg pistons, Hammer Performances competition valve job, new valves and springs, new lifters, a new clutch with more holding force, and an exhaust. Add to that a new paint job and all new plugs, wires and anything else that looks like its seen better days and ultimately a custom tune and this thing should be pretty nice when all is said and done. I'll also be going though and inspecting the lower end and transmission, i plan to leave it all stock but why put al this time and money into the bike if something is worn and waiting to cause issues.
I'll keep everyone updates with progress as well as review any parts and products used on the build. Let the fun begin.
