VL engine rebuild basics

[Cody]

I am thinking about rebuilding a VL engine. I have Steve Slocombe's book as well as a couple other books, I do not have the shop dope just yet. I am wondering about the basics of rebuilding this engine such as surface/balancing the flywheels, boring the cylinders etc. I have found one website known as Riding Vintage which helps a lot but it skips around the machining part of the motor. Thanks.

[Steve Slocombe]

Dear Cody, the VL engine is a good honest design meant for heavy use and rebuild back to factory specs. Others have already posted much info of help to you. I've given suggested bore sizes for the cylinders, which are maybe 0.0015" looser than original, as nobody follows the thousand mile running-in process today. On balancing, the bike has heavy flywheels and will run with different size bores and different compression ratio heads. Balance factor is, I think, the issue rather than the balancing process itself. Early books implied a 50% balance factor, modern Harleys run maybe 65% for that low end grunt, and speed merchants try for 40-45% on their VLs. This decision on balance factor will swamp small differences in piston weights and I doubt there is any 'right' answer.

[Cody]

Thanks, I am still reading through your book so I probably haven't gotten that far into it.