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'97 Heritage lacking power

My '97 heritage classic seems not to have near the power it used to have. She runs and starts perfect and uses very little oil. The bike has 45,000 miles on it and owes me nothing. I have changed the spark plugs on it.
 
The Very First thing I would do is perform a compression test and a cylinder leakage test. That will tell you if you have a foundation to build upon.
It would be great to have less than 6-7% cylinder leakage and the little bit you may have, MUST be past the rings.
 
Might be time for fresh rings or maybe even pistons. You could drop in a cam while you're at it. I ran an EV27 in my '97 Heritage and it really woke her up. Good luck.
 
This is the 1st HD I have owned so I have no clue. Is that all one can expect out of a set of rings & pistons/jugs. (45K) That would be terrible.
 
My '97 heritage classic seems not to have near the power it used to have. She runs and starts perfect and uses very little oil. The bike has 45,000 miles on it and owes me nothing. I have changed the spark plugs on it.

Is she still stock - if not what have you done other than basic maintence??? Have you had it checked out to see if your suspicions warrent the worries???
 
The bike is still stock,All I have done is the basic maintanence besides a new starter,brakes cables,clutch plates,fluids and other small things.It just don't have the power that it used to have.
 
Sounds like you know your bike, how much oil does it use?
And get the compression tested and a leakdown, anything over 130lbs per cylinder and <5% difference between the two is OK, 10% is iffy. The leakdown should be <5%, 10 might be just OK depending on where it's leaking but that is a sign of future work needed.

Have you rode a different bike lately? Just wondering because I know mine and when I ride a different one and then get back on mine I mentally compare the two. My neighbor has a newer version of mine and his has more torque in the low range but you have to really twist the grip in the upper ranges. Mine is truely effortless in the upper ranges but I sometimes want more torque down low, especially after riding his. Kind of a, the grass is always greener type of thing.

Doug
 
I would clean the complete fuel system, E10 fuel loosens the varnish in the fuel system and plugs up the screen in the tank, the filter and the carb, slows the fuel flow. And maybe mist some water into carb while keeping the motor running to brake up any carbon in the intake, heads and cylinder. I think it will wake it up a bit and it's FREE if you do it yourself.:s
 
This is the 1st HD I have owned so I have no clue. Is that all one can expect out of a set of rings & pistons/jugs. (45K) That would be terrible.

remember me having a 2000 88to95 hop-up---I put ? 50,000+ on a hot rebuilt motor.... BEFORE trading it off on a 09 FLHR and taking a trip out of state with 2 up.. I took a static compression on the motor... STILL ran 210 /208 now that is a lot of PUMP... took a licking and kept on ticking... I attribute the LONGEVITY to using REDLINE syn oil products... along with good maintenance...... and quality parts NOT JUNK for building...

Some people JUST look at the price of parts n go cheap...KITS all over the place...

THE standard/stock HARLEY will run a lot longer if given proper maintenance and DON'T use SYN 3......

I like to freshen MY motors when the compression drops off a bit along with a little oil consumption .... IT never did on my hotrod motor... ON my 06 1200R with 39000 it still hits the mark on the compression test..... looking for many more miles before.....

JUST MY WAY

signed....BUBBIE
 
Run a compression test and cylinder leak down test first if u have bad readings do a quality top end job that should give her back some snort
 
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