Cam ID Question

Shamdog · #1 17th February 2005

Does anyone know what "Grind" the 1995 Buel Thunderbolt S2 stock cams are?

Will they fir a 2000 1200?

aswracing · #2 17th February 2005

All S2's came with "D" cams, i.e. stock Sportster cams. The cams, if they're original, will be marked 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D.

In 2000, they changed the pitch on the pinion gear and the matching gear on the #2 cam. The new gear pitch eliminated the need to individually fit this connection for every motor. To put 91-99 cams into a 00-up motor requires either backdating the bike's pinion gear, or moving the drive gear from the original #2 cam to the new one.

In 2001, they went with this new gear pitch (aka "high contact ratio") on all the cam connections. So the process of fitting cams to the motor went away. But again, 91-99 cams can be installed in newer motors, and vice-versa, with the appropriate pinion gear.

A lot of really high performance cams (over .600 lift) are only available in the 91-99 gear cut. It's said to be stronger. I've never broken any of the new style though.

But anyway, if your 2000 model is a regular 1200, it already has the same cams as a Buell S2. The Sport model has "W" cams, as do the 04-up 1200's, but all other 91-05 Sportsters have "D" cams.

Buell S1's came out in '96 and had SE bolt-ins from the factory. S3's came out in '97, replacing the S2, and they also had SE bolt-ins for their entire production run, which went through 2002. X1's came out in '99, replacing the S1, and they had SE bolt-ins. M2's were made from 97-02 and they had "D" cams in the domestic bikes, SE bolt-ins in the international bikes. So if you're looking to pull some better cams out of a Buell and put them in your bike, think S1/S3/X1. 00-up cams will go right in, which limits you to X1's and S3's.