Headwork Winter Project

[marcaztls]

Hey there guys, thought some of you might find this interesting…

I’m doing some headwork on my 2003 R1 over winter. I own a bike shop in the UK and it’s getting up to the quiet period for me and I have been planning to do this for a long time.
Because I own a bike shop I obviously have access to the workshop, tools and resources to do work like this and it got me thinking, what I can do to my engine to make it the way I want with the minimum amount of money spent. I’m on quite a tight budget (owning a bike shop hasn’t made me the millionaire I hoped it would but I wouldn’t change it for the world!). I have a list of things I plan to do which I’ll go into in a bit.

Firstly, I’d like to say thanks to a few people on here who’ve helped me out already with the info/specs I was missing and given me some great advice as to going about things. They know who they are. Also, thanks to the people who make this great source of information possible, the guys who run this forum.

For future readers, please check out this thread also as it contains some very useful info on tools I use and additional information from other users.

http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185329 Thanks to BSR-1 for starting that thread.

[marcaztls]

Right, some info about my bike in the state it's in at present:

2003 R1 20k miles
Full Akrapovic racing conical system, carbon hex can
K&N air filter
Graves velocity stacks
Power Commander 3 USB with Custom map
Translogic quickshifter
Standard gearing

149.4rwhp 77.1ft-lbs Measured and ridden at approx 115ft above sea level.

[marcaztls]

What I plan to achieve is more midrange, anything on top is a bonus, anything lost, as long as it’s not too much won’t bother me greatly. I ride mainly on the road with as many track days as I can afford time and money to do. The roads and tracks I like to ride in the UK are quite tight and twisty so midrange is what matters to me. If I’m honest, I already have enough power, can’t use it all the time but this is an interesting project for me, gives me something to focus on over winter while I can’t ride my bike and I’m sure I’ll learn a lot along the way.

Here’s what I have planned:

Degree cams for best all round riding
Raise compression for more midrange while still using pump fuel (95-98RON in the UK)
Porting and polishing – I’m going to try high-velocity porting as I have no personal experience of this but like the theory behind it and want the challenge of proving/dis-proving it first hand.

The above three main tasks won’t cost me anything except time, materials such as gaskets and epoxy etc. and a set of slotted sprockets.

I hope this thread will serve as a kind of diary for my project and maybe some useful information, do’s and don’ts for other people planning similar work. I’ll try to update it as often as possible, work commitments and family life allowing.

[marcaztls]

Now, I can imagine the first question some people will have: What is high-velocity porting? If you would like to check out the main source of information on the net about it, here’s a link:

www.mototuneusa.com

Don’t be afraid to signup with your email, I haven’t been bombarded with spam etc. since I signed up over a year ago. The site’s a little crazy in places, what the guy thinks about eating bread is worth the read alone but it’s a great place to start learning about high-velocity porting.

I have heard about it many times before, good and bad stories as anything has but I want to see first hand if this works (using the best of my abilities) to satisfy my curiosity. Other than speaking to people that know people blah blah blah, I have never met anyone with it done. A good friend of mine who’s an engine tuner I respect is a strong procrastinator of it and this got me thinking seriously about it. One of the main benefits for me is it’s also largely reversible should it not give the results I hope albeit with a lot more time and some money for gaskets etc.

I have been around and even done more conventional porting but this has been mainly to achieve top-end horsepower (I work on a few drag bikes and have friends in the community here) but I’m not chasing that. More midrange is my goal remember.

Right, I’m off to take my motor out and get things rolling!

[gixxerfrank]

subscribed.....

[1longR1]

dont hog out too much material intake ports. it will hurt it on low end power...but help it some on top end. keep shape of intake ports as much as you can and leave nice gritty surface there. exhaust should be smooth as babies butt. intake needs to be little rougher to keep air velocity up and help it atomize the fuel air mix better. good luck with project. are you going to mill head, run thinner gasket, or add higher compression pistons to it?

[marcaztls]

Hey there mate, thanks for the interest and advice.

I'm not going to be removing much material at all. The basics of high-velocity porting is all about adding material to make the inlet ports smaller, speeding up the gasflow. I will be tidying up the ports, casting marks etc. but other than that, not removing anything. And yes, I'll make sure to create the best surfaces I can.

I'm going to use a thinner gasket first. Actually the stock Yamaha one but with the center shim removed (they're a three-piece gasket in case anyone doesn't know) Among my reasons for using a stock gasket are they are far cheaper than any other type to me, and I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible. If I need to go any lower to obtain the clearances I'm after, I'll mill the head. If you mill the head first you aren't removing volume from a full circle, only a partial one (I'll explain this a bit better later with some pictures when it's in bits). So if you mill the head you are decreasing the piston-to-valve (PTV) but not taking full advantage upping the compression by reducing gasket thickness.

I wish I could afford higher compression pistons but alas...

Right, I'm off to bed now, it's 11pm here and been a long evening!

[mxracer95]

Here's what I did to my '02:

Angle milled head
Ported
5-angle ground valve seats
Lightened & balanced crank
Graves intake cam
Degreed cames to Graves race specs
Graves velocity stacks
Graves slide stops
Removed AIS and all the other smog crap

Good luck. Should be a fun project! It was for me.

[tomv12]

subscribed

[fiveoh]

Sounds like a plan, man. I had great results high-velocity porting my '02. I would suggest taking a fair amount of metal out of the port entrance though. In the pics below, check out the shiny lip. It is a drastic step from the grommet edge into the port. I port matched them and blended that transition a ways down into the port. I also sharpened the port dividers and shortened the valve guides.

I'm not sure if he's posted it on his site yet, but motoman sent me a write up about valve lapping, which is really important too. Let me know if you want it.

[fiveoh]

Here is a before and after valve lapping on a low mileage head.
Three stages of lapping compound, followed by metal polish.

[JAYSTENSEC4CYL]

I think you will be very pleased with you're high velocity porting. I have tried it twice and both bikes (900rr and a 02 R6) ran extremely well with much stronger mid ranbge and much better throttle response.

Will you be rebuilding the motor at the same time, or just working on the head?

Five I would like to see what you have on valve lapping if you don't mind

[r1scooter]

I can already tell this will be informative. I look forward to reading your posts. Do you have a baseline dyno run? Be certain to start us off right. Good luck, we're all pulling for you.

[JAYSTENSEC4CYL]

R1Scooter have you ever had stock pistons cut to get more P to V clearance?

Just curious.

I will try to post some pics of my R1 cylinder head project Much nicer than stock

Not the rough mountain wall looking stuff Five has...lo J/K Five

[r1scooter]

Originally Posted by JAYSTENSEC4CYL

R1Scooter have you ever had stock pistons cut to get more P to V clearance?

Just curious.

I will try to post some pics of my R1 cylinder head project Much nicer than stock

Not the rough mountain wall looking stuff Five has...lo J/K Five

Only a few times, and only when somebody screwed up. You don't skim the piston tops, you machine the pockets. They have to be cut at the perfect angle, at consisent depths, and at the exact valve centerline. REALLY hard work on a five valver. I'd almost recommend getting pistons at that point. Attack racing used to build the fx r1's. They took so much off a few of the heads that they were forced to machine the pockets on a few. I find it hard to believe it wasn't planned, nor do I believe it was standard practice for them, but I was in contact with them at the time on a regular basis, and did catch a few "facts." I'm sure they tried it, whether or not they actually ran them that way I do not know. They were doing a head for a friend of mine that I didn't have time to squeeze in.

[marcaztls]

Originally Posted by mxracer95

Here's what I did to my '02:

Angle milled head
Ported
5-angle ground valve seats
Lightened & balanced crank
Graves intake cam
Degreed cames to Graves race specs
Graves velocity stacks
Graves slide stops
Removed AIS and all the other smog crap

Good luck. Should be a fun project! It was for me.

Wow, sound's like one hell of a bike!

[marcaztls]

Originally Posted by fiveoh

Sounds like a plan, man. I had great results high-velocity porting my '02. I would suggest taking a fair amount of metal out of the port entrance though. In the pics below, check out the shiny lip. It is a drastic step from the grommet edge into the port. I port matched them and blended that transition a ways down into the port. I also sharpened the port dividers and shortened the valve guides.

I'm not sure if he's posted it on his site yet, but motoman sent me a write up about valve lapping, which is really important too. Let me know if you want it.

Thanks very much fiveoh, I'd love to hear more, I've pm'd you

I also intend to match the throttle body rubbers as you have done.

[marcaztls]

Originally Posted by JAYSTENSEC4CYL

I think you will be very pleased with you're high velocity porting. I have tried it twice and both bikes (900rr and a 02 R6) ran extremely well with much stronger mid ranbge and much better throttle response.

Will you be rebuilding the motor at the same time, or just working on the head?

Five I would like to see what you have on valve lapping if you don't mind

Hey there Jay, thanks for your post. Glad to see that both you and fiveoh have done this before with good results. Puts my mind at ease that bit more!

I am rebuilding the motor too, just want to check everything out while I have the opportunity. I'll be posting the pre-strip figures I got from the motor in a bit and I think I'll be putting new rings in

[marcaztls]

Originally Posted by r1scooter

I can already tell this will be informative. I look forward to reading your posts. Do you have a baseline dyno run? Be certain to start us off right. Good luck, we're all pulling for you.

Hey there r1scooter, I hope you'll find it informative but hey, I'm sure you'll be the one giving me the useful info! I have a dyno of it putting out the 149bhp, along with my previous, before exhaust and stacks run on. It doesn't show air/fuel on it but it was spot-on, my mate spent a lot of time on it to get it as he and I wanted. I'm sure he'll be doing it again after this work. He did manage to get it to 151 but wasn't happy with the ratio. Not a problem for me, I'd rather it was a safe 149.

Thanks for your support

[marcaztls]

Originally Posted by JAYSTENSEC4CYL

R1Scooter have you ever had stock pistons cut to get more P to V clearance?

Just curious.

I will try to post some pics of my R1 cylinder head project Much nicer than stock

Not the rough mountain wall looking stuff Five has...lo J/K Five

Hey again Jay, I'd love to see the pics too please