Camshaft Question

[Martydogg]

I know Thunder MFG is closed for the big bore kits, but does anyone know who ground the cams for them?

[DragonLady58]

you can get cams thru MegaCams, or Megacycle Cams, and a few other custom grinders....
https://www.megacyclecams.com/catalog/catalog.pdf

Hardfaced on customer cores, per pair.
415-x1 .345" 234° 109° OK with stock pistons. Must use 343-K. 8 btc/46 abc hydraulic rocker/ .345" 234° 109° Mid-range and top-end improvement. 46 bbc/8 atc lash n/a Stock .298" 213.4° 112° 1996 Vulcan 1500 Classic stock cam specs .291" 217.3° 110° for reference.

They grind mostly for the 1500/1600 engines, but if you talk nicely to them about a custom grind, it'll be well worth your while.
What I do is get a set of used ones outta a wrecked bike, send them off to be reworked. Here the past few years, they have been wanting to use the new blanks instead of rewelding the old cams and doing a regrind on them....
My 1600 cams I had done about 6 years ago cost me a little over $550 and took a month to get them back. Made one helluva difference! Picked up 22 horses over the stockers....

[Gypsy Dragon]

Thunder used Web Cams to grind the cams for their kit.

[DragonLady58]

What he said....
I like the 453 grind....which in my mind is a better alternative for the 1500/1600s....has a little lower valve lift.
Gotta remember, if your talking a 1700 engine....basically, they are close to being the same engine, the later ones just being updated versions of the old ones.
Gotta remember, you got 4 valves per cylinder, so, for performance and longevity, you don't have to lift these very high, nor hold them open for very long, when it comes to performance....
On my engines, the 1500 which is a Hellion on the road....it revs a lot harder than the regular 1600. I'm running a lot more breathing capacity than the normal 1500. My heads are ported, along with the intake and the throttlebody. I have oversize valves, so I don't have to lift them high to get a lot of flow....
So it'll live a long life on the street, I'm running screw in copper/bronze valve guides, etc….
My engines are clearanced old school, for maximum longevity, with thicker oil. The VN1500/1600s are very closely clearance, for max reliability on the street. That's why MAS and I say its hard as hell to beat the Mean Streak engines, they were Kawasakis HotRod engines straight from the factory....
That being said, the 1700s are more or less a slight bigger 1600 that's been upgraded....with newer technology....
I really liked Thunder MFG., damn shame they closed up shop, they were starting to put out a nice big bore performance kit for the 1700s....
Back to cams....you can have most any good cam grinder redo your cams, but the tried and true ones are from Megacycle cams, and as Gypsy Dragon said, Web Cams....
I've used both, each one is slightly diff.

[Nukedogn]

Im new to Vtwins but we used to see about 20 CHP on big I-4s from cam changes.
A nice difference for sure on something light and Im sure it would make difference on a big Vtwin as well.

[RACNRAY]

Originally Posted by Gypsy Dragon

Thunder used Web Cams to grind the cams for their kit.

Any recollection as to who made the pistons?