Special Tools for Cylinder and Cylinder Head Jobs

The so-called top end of the air-cooled Harley engine can be worked on all pre-Evo engines without lifting the engine out of the frame. This is due to the fact that the cylinder and cylinder heads are not bolted together with long thru-studs, but each part with separate screws or stud bolts. The cylinder bases have four of these, the heads have four to nine, depending on the model (iron head, knuckle, pan, shovel, various SV models).

Because the cylinder head bolts are hidden in the V between the cylinders or close to the seatpost, especially on OHV models, there are special offset wrenches with a long reach from Walter and The Cyclery. On OHV models in particular, too, there are rocker arm bushes to be removed, fitted and reamed to size.

The IOE Harley models (IOE = intake over exhaust, i.e. intake valve overhead and exhaust valve on the cylinder side) do not have separate cylinder heads, that means cylinder and combustion chamber are one piece and have no sealing joint. They are characterized by a number of screwed-on flanges for the intake tract and the exhaust. In addition to large hexagon nuts in 1-3/4" and 1-7/8", there are similarly sized locknuts. The wrenches for these are rarely found in your standard toolbox. A clear case for the special tools department at W&W Cycles.