American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 226 May 2018 | Page 32

The back shop also includes the porting department,
where all the heads that come through the shop get
massaged. Some are Harley heads getting a valve job
combined with some mild porting work. Others are
R&R’s own cast heads being assembled and ported
before being shipped out as individual parts, or
bolted to one of R&R’s crate engines.
Complete Engines
Close to the CNC machines is the engine assembly
room. On any given day there are 3 to 5 engines
Though the 124, 131 and 155 get all the ink,
R&R can build almost anything from small
Evos to big Twin Cams.
under construction. Though the 155-inch Billet
Beast may be the biggest and sexiest engine
manufactured by R&R, the 124 and 131-inch V-
twins are the two that go out the door in the
greatest volume. Both engines use a set of 110-
inch cases from Harley-Davidson, equipped with a
flywheel assembly that is machined, pressed
together, welded, trued and balanced in-house.
Both engines fit in late model Harley-Davidson
Twin Cam frames without modification.
The 124 motor is the single most popular crate
engine to come out of the R&R shop. Other than
the cases, most of the components are R&R’s own.
At R&R they are big believers in using a Timken
bearing set on the left side of the crank to ensure
adequate support for the flywheel assembly – far
better support than a single roller bearing can
provide. Installation of the flywheel assembly
includes setting up the Timken bearings for the
correct fitment.
Once the bottom end is complete, the rest of the
assembly follows the typical sequence: fit the
pistons to the cylinders, followed by installation of
the pistons and rings. Next, slide the cylinders into
place and seal them up with a pair of R&R heads,
and install the cam drive and oil pump.
Each 124 engine is tailored to the customer.
Compression ratio, camshafts and the cam drive –
chain or gear drive - are chosen to work together
and give the customer exactly what he or she is
looking for. One might want a stop light terror,
while the next rider is looking for something a
little mellower, meant for all-around high
performance.
Dyno
All the bikes that come into the R&R shop for
engine work get a dyno run before leaving the
building. Big bore kits and complete engines
get dynoed twice - once (gently) when they’re
first finished, and again (not so gentle) after
break-in.
Located roughly between the front and back shops
is the dyno room. R&R uses Dynojet 250i both for
development work on new R&R products as well as
typical tuning and massaging of bikes that have been
in the front shop for engine upgrades or repairs. Like
any tool, the results achieved with a dyno are mostly
dependent on the operator rather than the tool itself.
In the case of R&R, Brandon is good enough that he
often gets calls from techs in other shops, looking for
help to fully utilize the power of a dyno to properly
tune modern EFI V-twins.
The new R&R
heads are cast,
and this is what
they look like
when they arrive
at the shop.
Photographed in January,
this rack of finished heads
will be empty by June 1!
It takes a lot of CNC
time and hand
porting to convert
this raw casting into
a finished cylinder
head ready to be
bolted on to a high-
performance V-twin.
R&R cast heads are supplied with manganese
bronze valve guides, 2 inch intake valves, 1.615 to
1.650 inch exhaust valves (depending on engine
size), valve springs, titanium top collars, and come
machined for compression releases.
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AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - MAY 2018
Whether it’s an R&R head, o