G'day men, anyone know if this affected all these bikes?? About to go to stage4 103, should I be worried ???

any advice would be appreciated.

Rans

Pot luck is the rule.
Best to check runout before embarking on a parts spend, it's the only way.
Or, if ya wanna be bullet proof, true and weld the crank while it's apart.

Is it much more dollars????

I read some of the early 2006 07 bikes had the cranks pressed with more then the early aloud spec and HD re-pressed these cranks. These where the weak ones that would scissor. HD then changed the run out spec on all 96 cube cranks so they could run them all of the assembly line. The more torque you put through these 96 engines the more chance you have of the crank twisting. My early 2006/2007 96 crank been holding up fine with all my engine mods but I try not to give the crank a hard time doing burn outs, wheel stands or lugging the engine. One of my mates changes bikes every 18 months and he flogs the running gear with zero problems with his last 3 96 cube bikes to date.

But with this engine kit, they don't split the cases, fucked if I know what to do.......!!!!!!!
Rans

Rans,
Dark Horse in the states supposedly do a very good job of truing and welding the crank.. With your current engine, yep the cranks are not that good compared to older types. having said that it depends on how you ride your bike. Hard on and off the throttle will be the main cause of the crank twisting out. If you are going to stage 4 103" you might be ok with stock heads. As soon as you start improving your heads and increasing the Comp Ratio then your engine is going to suffer more than stock. If you are going to spend he money on a 103. for peace of mind spend the extra and get the bottom end done including your left hand crank bearing whilst the cases are spilt. I don't know of anyone in Tas that does that. There is a company in Brisbane that does cranks for HD, And I think Old Skool customs on here does them as well. Getting them done in the states will cost about $1500. If you have a look some places do a swap over. You buy the crank and then send your off to them once you have fitted...Obviously you pay a deposit. I have seend a couple of places on the net that are doing this with engine upgrades.

Get one of these & check runout before you start spending big coin.
http://www.feulingparts.com/product.details.php?category1=Tools&category2=Crankshaft&category3=&product=9015
Worth there weight in gold IMO.
Another option is to get hold of a dial indicator & make something up to find the runout.

While you've got the engine stripped for the stage 4, check the cam plate pinion bush for excessive ware &/or gouging, that's usually a bad sign. If there's no gouging, then check the run-out on the cam side of the crank if you want piece of mind. Less than 0.005" is good. - Rob