For Victory® Motorcycles
Freedom Tuning Systems - Stage 1 Tuner Instruction Sheet

Q. What other items will I need to buy when assembling my motor?

Q. What's more important, high torque or high horsepower?

Q. Do I have to install a larger aftermarket throttle body?

Q. Will I have problems with my factory clutch?

Q. What exhaust system should I run?

Q. Will your high performance builds run on pump gas?

Q. What compression ratio should I run?

Q. Will I have to install larger fuel injectors?

Q. Should I run chain or gear drive camshafts?

Q. How far do I adjust my pushrods?

Q. What other items will I need to buy when assembling my motor?
A. You will need to purchase a top end gasket set that includes rocker cover and support gaskets, exhaust gaskets, crankcase breather gasket and filter set, the cam chest gasket set which should include cam cover and oil pump orings, as well as cylinder base gasket or o-ring.

Q. What's more important, high torque or high horsepower?
A. You will often hear or read about bottom, mid-range and top end power. Most Harleys idle around 1,000 RPM and after releasing the clutch nobody ever finds themselves riding below 1,500 RPM. Hot rodded street Harleys stop making power at 6,000 RPM, so we have an operating range of 4,500 RPM. We can break this down to bottom being 1,500 to 3.000 RPM, mid-range being 3,000 to 4,500 RPM and top end being 4,500 to 6,000 RPM.

If you watch your tachometers while riding, you will have to agree that most street riding is done between 2,000 and 3,500 RPM with semi aggressive shifting done in the 4 to 5,000 RPM range. It is for these reasons that we prefer high torque to high horsepower. Torque is built in the low and mid-range, while horsepower is produced in the top end range. We prefer not to compromise torque for horsepower.

When it comes right down to it, we are trying to make your bike feel like a small car powered by a big block motor. If Harley riders wanted horsepower instead of torque, we believe they would have purchased Japanese motorcycles.

Despite our main focus being on torque, Head Quarters has always enjoyed a reputation for producing quick and fast engine packages. To quote an old drag racer ‘horsepower sells, torque wins races’. We tend to agree.

Q. Do I have to install a larger aftermarket throttle body?
A. To maintain low end torque, we recommended you keep your stock throttle body on engines less than 113". Larger throttle bodies tend to sacrifice low end torque for top end horsepower except when used with our 113" and larger builds. A 50mm carb or throttle body is ideal for the 113" but not required. For the 120" a 50-55mm carb or throttle body is recommended.

Q. Will I have problems with my factory clutch?
A. If you have a model with the EZ pull clutch spring and a bike with more than 100 tq, you may experience slipping. Different lubricants and clutch condition can have an affect on this. One inexpensive solution is the SE clutch spring and works quite well. Once you increase torque above 115, you may want to consider other options such as the VPC or performance clutches from Barnett and others.

Q. What exhaust system should I run?
A. A large part of this decision has to do with personal taste in appearance and sound. From a performance perspective, as a rule of thumb, you will see higher torque values at lower RPMs with a 2-1 system. True duals tend to increase HP at higher RPMs and decrease torque at lower RPMs.

Q. Will your performance builds run on pump gas?
A. Absolutely. Visit the "Custom Engine Designer" page under Products and Services to read more about which build is best suited for certain octane fuels.

Q. What compression ratio should I run?
A. Many factors determine proper compression ratio for your situation. Visit the "Custom Engine Designer" page under Products and Services to read more about which build is best suited for your riding style.

Q. Will I have to install larger fuel injectors?
A. In most cases you can use your stock fuel injectors as long as you retain your stock throttle body. As you approach 120 hp as in the 113 or 120 builds, larger injectors may be required to optimize your engines potential and make tuning easier. Otherwise, the 95, 98, 103, and 107 builds perform quite well with stock injectors.

Q. Should I run chain or gear drive camshafts?
A. Many debate over gear drive versus factory chain drive systems. The major benefits of gear over chain is 100 perc accurate cam timing and never having to worry about replacing factory cam chain tensioners. The downside of gear drive is they are sometimes noisy (whine) if not setup properly. If you decide on gear drive, be sure your crankshaft runout is .003" or less (measured at the cam plate bearing surface) and backlash is between .0005" and .001"

Typically, factory chain tensiors should last around 40,000 miles but some need replacing earlier than 20,000. Factory chain systems perform quite well with Head-Quarters cams because of the cam lobe profile. If you replace the tensioners with this build and polish the outer edge of the chain to remove burrs, then you probably won't have to change your tensioners again.

For late model hydraulic chain drives, we've found the stock system to be more than adequate for all our builds and work quite well. The tensioners last considerably longer and the improved chain design provides better cam timing. Gear drive is not necessary.

Q. How far do I adjust my pushrods?
A. All Head-Quarters pushrods come with instruction sheets on specifics. As a rule of thumb if you know how many threads per inch the pushrod is threaded (in our case 32), divide that number by 10 (3.2 turns) to determine how many turns of the adjuster will collapse the lifter 1/2 its travel or .100". However, you can adjust your pushrod between .040" of lifter travel to .100" to find the spot at which your lifters are the quietest.