VTR Down Under

[kenmoore]

Yeah,

I know how you feel mate, wish I had documented everything that I have done as well.

The billet stacks I got are from Bill Finnegan from H Power.

I have his mobile somewhere if you want it.

This guy is a walking encyclopaedia on all things VTR Performance and is willing to share.

The stacks only need a tweak on the mixtures with my set up as they tend to make the bike run rich.

They sure do make an appreciable difference to the mid range.

It should be noted that I have H.C J.E pistons, a lightened flywheel, ignition advance , jet kit and very free flowing cans and I also removed the anti rattle gear and fitted an electric water pump that allowed removal of the water pump drive gear and chain as well

I have done lots of other stuff as well , but everything I have done has been in the interest of getting the thing to rev as quickly as possible to access that lovely fat torque, a side benefit is the sound when you get up it.

Good luck, I hate pulling the carbs too, but sometimes you just have to do it EH!

[agentpineapple]

from my experience, billet stacks will make little to no difference in performance unless your engine has been worked on, so just having and exhaust and jet kit would not be enough to notice the billet stacks making a difference, but as Kenmore says, he has pistons and other upgrades. a few years ago I bought billet stacks from the usa, but my engine was fairly standard and even with a jet kit and dyno time the stacks made next to no difference. just my experience tho.

[Twitchy]

Ken, I had considered the ignition advancer, but have read a bit about the 2005 version not needing it as there are supposed differences with the ecu or something, so I crossed that off my wish list!

But the last few days have told me I think I need to do something soon. Last week it was peachy, idled nice, went well. This week, carb farts, regular clunk/die while riding and sat at the lights (luckily its idling at 1500-1550). Dunno what has changed but it is not so nice anymore. Got new tyres on the way so might pull it off the road and do the tyres, chain & sprockets, shock spacer, and maybe lift the needles 1 slot. And also have convertibars on the way too - see if they get here in time!

[kenmoore]

I can't say whether the advancer works or not!

I fitted it with other mods at the time. I believe that they are hard to get now.

Last Friday I took my bike for a long ride on a hot humid day and got a few carb farts, the first in a while, yet last night I went for a ride and it was a coolish evening and no carb farts.

Bloody hard to figure out what goes on with these bikes, so many variables it's not funny. I haven't changed my air filter for a while(2 years from memory) it still looks O.K so I might change it to eliminate any doubt that it is causing changes to the way the bike is running.

Let us know what happens if you chance the needle position and what it does.

[Twitchy]

So I have given it tweak and hopefully get to ride it tomorrow to see how the changes have affected it. Front plug was a tad black, so left it at the 2 1/3, rear plug still very white so brought that out to 2 turns out. I had left the TPS at 804 ish, but now brought it down to 505.6 ohms. Balanced up well but still that approx 2k rpm hang up. I have noticed though that if I give it a 1 finger and thumb blip to 3 ish, BIG hang up. If I give it a good hard rev to 4k, there is still a hang up but barely noticeable. For the sake of this exercise I am going to ignore the hang up.

On other areas, I have bumped up the rear shock 1 click to reduce the sag (rider sag was 30mm, not measured since the tweak) and increased front preload to 2 grooves showing, and set rebound at 1 turn out. Now that the carbs are kinda behaving, I can sort the ergonomics etc. I have now got in the shed chain & sprockets (+2 rear), 2 new S20 Evos, 2006 CBR1000RR master cylinders, and Convertibars still en route. Looks like a busy Xmas for me!!

[kenmoore]

Do you have remote vac lines for carb sync?

Last Friday arvo got of work early and decided to go for a ride.

Tweaked the mixture screw on the rear carb as it appeared to be running a bit rich, did the blip test and all was well.

Stopped halfway through the ride up one of my fav mountain rides and noticed that the bike sounded strange, felt flat and that the revs were hanging up . Thought to myself that the change I made to the mixture shouldn't have caused that behaviour. The exhaust note was that different that I checked the exhaust out to make sure I hadn't lost a baffle or a clamp. My cans bolt onto the link pipes so I checked that as well. Couldn't find anything so off I go, the bike felt flat.

As I was going down the other side of the mountain the bike starts to pop and the further I go the worse it gets. It was an extremely hot day so I thought that maybe that had something to do with it.

I stopped at my favourite pub for an ale, let the bike cool down then had another look.I decided to check the carb so to see if anything had fallen off and wiggled the remote vac line to the front carb and the bloody thing fell of the nipple in the inlet manifold.

I went back into the pub and got a sharp knife, cut of the swollen bit of hose and refitted the vac line.

Fired her up and the difference was noticeable straight away. Sorry for the ramble, however if you have remote vac lines I would be checking them out to make sure all is well.

[Twitchy]

I stopped at my favourite pub for an ale, let the bike cool down then had another ale.I decided to check the bar wench so to see if any clothing could have fallen off and wiggled the 50 dollar bill at her and the bloody thing flashed a nipple.

I went back into the pub and got a sharp knife and another ale, cut of the swollen bit of hose (and my finger) and refitted the bandaid.

Fired her up and the many ales was noticeable straight away.

Fixed

[Twitchy]

Rode the beast in to work today, and 'twas a nice ride in the not to cool morning. Bike acted very nicely. Still the slightest hint of surging at 4 - 4500 but I already knew I need to lift the needles a tad. Currently 37 degrees and a thunderstorm on the way so the ride home will be a bit warm.

Oh, the idle... When sitting at the lights for more than a minute or so, the idle slowly drops down (from 1500). When it gets to about 1200 I get nervous, expecting a clunk die so I hold it at 1500 ish. Any ideas on this? Sometimes it does actually stay at 1500 by itself.

Thanks. And Merry Christmas to all.

[NZSpokes]

Go 1/4 turn out on the fuel screws, see if it helps the idle.

[Twitchy]

Thanks NZS, I reckon I could go out a bit more on the rear. Will give it a shot.

Just a weather update for the Poms, got to 39.8 degrees C today. Leaving work, the temp gauge on the bike was on 37 degrees when I turned the key on BEFORE starting the bike, and the sidestand had sunk into the bitumen by about 10mm. Not bad considering Perth doesn't really warm up till mid January. Time to catch up with Miss Artois......

[Twitchy]

42 degrees in Perth today, so I went and pulled the carbs. Managed to lift the needles 1 clip without removing fuel or coolant lines. Now clips are 3rd from the top FP needles. Also tweaked the screws out a bit as per NZS suggestion. 2 1/3 front now 2 1/4, 2 rear now 2 1/4. Put the Iridium plugs back in to see if that also improves things. Balanced at my now standard 1500rpm. If I can eliminate the idle dropping when sat at the lights I will bump the idle down a bit. Riding to work tomorrow so will see how it feels.

And next weekend new S20 Evos go on & new chain and sprockets. And my Convertibars have arrived - busy times!

[Twitchy]

Rode to work this morning, 20 degrees, 67% relative humidity. No choke required for startup. To give you an idea the first part of my journey to work is maybe 40 metres to end of street, onto main road. 60 km/h zone for 500 metres, then 70 km/h zone for a bit over a kilometre. Traffic lights and turn onto 90 km/h highway. Usually 5 over though (approximately). Don't usually come to a foot down stop out of my street, hold 3rd all the way to the highway. Sat at the lights, idle starts to droop. I let it get to 1100-1200 then bring it up and hold it at 1500. 95km/h for a while, got green light, back up to 95. Red light, all ok. Now 100 zone, peel off onto off ramp, red light. Idle drooped, clunk die. F@#ks sake. Will bump the idle a touch again this arvo.

[tony.mon]

This sound like a fuelling problem, not jetting.
Checked the float bowls for bits, and fuel flow?
Also check the tank breather.
Lastly, a tiny split in the vac line can cause the tap to close.
Try replacing the vac line.

[kenmoore]

Twitchy,

What is happening mate?

Have you got it sorted?

Bloody hot over here in the east with 41c and 90% humidity.

My bike runs better in the cooler months, that's for sure.

[Twitchy]

Hey Ken, yeah been busy with a job .... kind of promotion. If promotion is where you still your job, plus the job of a guy who retired can be called a promotion. Oh, and a couple of dollars an hour more and a ute. Having a company car is fine, but I was riding most days to work. Now I don't, and thats a really major problem for me, coz the VTR is actually running quite nicely now. I am REALLY starting to enjoy it!

Anyways, back to the bike. Raised needles 1 clip front & rear (and yes, I managed to do it on the bike without removing fuel or coolant lines!), Bridgestone S20 Evos fitted, only done 30 odd kms on them so can't really comment on those, new RK chain, and 16/43 sprockets. Holy sh!tballs it goes well with 2 more teeth!!! Sitting on 4k rpm in 3rd, looking for a gap to change lanes, yeah no worries, do the old twist and countersteer maneuver, presto, lane changed! But, a question, 4k rpm in 2nd, 3rd or 4th (haven't tried the others), it pulls REAL well when given a fistful, but at 5500ish rpm and given the aforementioned fistful, it still goes well, but my barely experienced SOP dyno detects a lack of punch. Does this mean I need to go up 1 size on the mains? It cruises nicely, even momentarily below 3500, but the 5500 and up I think needs some attention. Oh, and I put the Iridium plugs back in (used but no more than a couple hundred kms on them). Also the brakes...... mmmm. 40 degree days over Christmas, and rubber gets soft in the heat, and brake fluid doesn't. So going for a nice squeeze of front, and not much happened so HEL braided lines are on the way. As is a pair of SP2 front calipers, from Lithuania of all places! Add that to my donated 2006 CBR1KRR levers (radial brake m/c), and I will have a pretty good package. Just need to do the springs and fork oil..... Oh and my Shift Star Evo kit is apparently being sent next week. Exciting times for me. Pity I cant ride every day though

Now tony.mon has mentioned 2 posts ago about fuelling, but lines rather than carby settings. I think I am going to source 4mm silicone lines and replace the vac and tank breather lines. I will be doing an order with Partzilla in a couple of weeks, and will add a new petcock diaphragm thingo as well (I don't have the fuel tap, just the diaphragm section). I forget this bike sat for 2 years, and perhaps the diaphragm is munted.

Taking Monday off and planning on a ride north of Perth, about 300kms and really looking forward to that as it will be my first real country run on this bike. Trying to find a suitable place to mount the GoPro....