American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 242 September 2019 | Page 32
ULTIMA MACHINE
SHOP SERVICES EV
Following our article back in June about
Midwest Motorcycle Supply's Ultima
program and the Evo and TC 'A' Engine
Rebuild Programs, we were contacted
by Brian Brace, the Program Manager
and Lead Engineer for the Ultima
Products program, and he told us more
about the machine shop services that
the company offers to its dealers …
he article we published in June was
as part of our 2019 series marking
the 35th anniversary of Harley's
now venerable Evo platform -
arguably the engine that not only
saved Harley-Davidson, but that created the
foundations of the aftermarket we have
seen "evolve" ever since.
Brian told AMD that at Ultima it is their engine cases
that are the "rock solid foundation to our motors.
These cases are extremely beefy and built to handle
high horsepower and torque. CNC- machined in-
house from C356-T6 aluminum castings, all Ultima
case halves are line-bored as a married set to insure
a perfect center line, with Colony Machine chromoly
cylinder studs to top them off.
"Ultima's crankshafts are completely assembled in-
house. Our cranks are dynamically balanced to
provide a smooth core to our engines. Ultima
T
Words by Robin Bradley
[email protected]
Pictures - Howard Schroeder, Midwest/Ultima
engines use a 3-piece crankshaft similar to the Twin
Cam crankshafts. High quality bearings, crankpins
and H-beam rods with .927 wrist pin ends make
these cranks virtually bulletproof.
"The flywheel halves are pressed together with our
custom 80 ton press – and with .008" press fit on
the crankpin, shifting of the flywheels is never an
issue. Then the final assembly is trued to no more
than .002" total run-out."
Brian says that Ultima cylinders are machined to tight
tolerances and honed in-house. Every cylinder is
plateau-honed with diamond stones in torque plate
Ultima crankshaft assemblies
Ultima engine cases
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AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - SEPTEMBER 2019
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