Indian Chief Daytona Motor

[sirhrmechanic]

From what I understand... before there was a "Bonneville" motor for the Chief, there was a "Daytona" motor. Maybe '38-9 only?

Can anyone tell me what the spec's were?

For that matter, what were the 'specs of the Bonneville motor?

I am putting together a '38 motor and would like to make it a bit of a performer vs. stock. Nothing crazy. But Ollie cams have been recommended along with a few other minor tweaks.

Ideas or thoughts welcome... There is a ton of stuff out there about Harley performance mods. But not so much (at least not in public domain) about the prewar Chief motors.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[ChiefTwoKicks]

I believe there are Daytona cams available for the Chief, maybe Starklite or Greers. Also I read someplace (I think it was in the Linkert Book) that the carb had a special Daytona nozzle with the holes drilled different from standard nozzle that were made for Indian only Linkert carbs. Im not sure of the applicable years. Ive been told that the Daytona cams only offered a paltry amount of improvement over the stock cams (stock followers) and that you may find more power with only changing the stock followers to the longer BONN followers. What are you trying to achieve with the Daytona set-up ? With so many cam and follower combinations it seems you could be chasing your tail if you weren't sure what your objectives were... I like the Shunk Cams, which are also available. Good Luck

[duffeycycles]

AMCA library has the parts list for the '38 Daytona special scout and chief

[sirhrmechanic]

Thanks!

And TwoKicks... you are right on. Need to define what I am looking for in a 'finished motor.'

So looking to add some mild performance to the motor, but not at a sacrifice to starting or reliability. As I mentioned, I have had Ollie Cams recommended as they will add some performance, but aren't so radical that they will lead to hard starting. From the numbers I have seen, the Shunk cams are the next step up from the Ollie cams and may be more duration than I want... Basically I figure as long as I am building virtually from scratch, I might as well throw a bit of performance at it w.out going overboard and end up with something that is unrideable or unreliable.

Thanks both Twokicks and Duffey. I'll check out the library!

Cheers,

Sirhr

[cdf6333]

I used to run real Shunk cams in a 80" chop back in the 70's. Bike was a rocket, 1 3/4" SU carb, cut down valve guides, etc. But the lift rollers would actually wear out in a couple thou miles. Easy to fix in a chop frame, but now at 66 years old, stock bike, not so much fun! Maybe the needle bearing lifts sold today would hold up better.