| Author | Message | ||
     Trw |
I am an 1125r owner. have been thinking of buying a used firebolt to race. What kind of power can these bikes produce with the right modification? And what is the right modification? Has anyone had any experience with the Head-Quarters head work on a Buell? If so what were the results? Why won't I race the 1125r you ask! Because I am making payments on it. Thanks for the time. | ||
| Buellerandy |
Depending on how much your wanting to spend...you can usually get 100 hp to the wheel with tune and exhaust. Otherwise talk to Pam at Cycle Rama under the sponsors directory(the red hyperlink). I think they've gotten 130-150hp with engine mods. (Message edited by buellerandy on June 21, 2008) | ||
| M1combat |
Hobans races them too... I think they could hook you up real nice. | ||
| Slaughter |
The following is ONLY my OWN OPINION - and is barely worth half of what you paid for it: I have to always advise that you check class restrictions for the Club in which you plan to race. You can't afford to throw money at your bike only to find that you made yourself inelegible for a racing class. Generally without huge mods, the bike can be raced in a few classes. (check your rules) - more classes = more overall points GENERALLY, you don't want to go over 1200cc (most clubs let you slide with XB12 having 1203cc but check it out first) Mods you do will depend on how much you pay your staff to work on the bike each month... ...no paid staff? Doing your own wrenching? Well then, you're probably like me - keep motor mods to a minimum, work almost exclusively on non-motor stuff that improves handling and gearing and stay away from major engine work. Confidence in turning and braking and control during acceleration will do MUCH MORE to reduce lap times than increases in HP. I raced the SV650 and a modified XB. The XB had almost 30 more HP than the SV but I had the SV better sorted. Took me almost 3 months to get faster with 30 more HP. Handling is EVERYTHING. Took me that long to get the handling sorted out. Mods that drop lap times the quickest: Seat Time - Practice, practice, practice. Start thinking of EVERYTHING you do as cheating you out of seat time. Dinner with that "special someone" = you missed one track day. Re-spring and re-valve forks. If you can afford it, add AK-20 gas cartridges. Penske dual-rate shock Chain conversion Race intake Race exhaust Programmable RACE ECM (ditch the oxy sensor except for dyno tuning - run open loop) Remove Rotor/Stator. If you're only doing sprint racing - not endurance racing, take off the rotor and stator. Save a few pounds and gain a couple HP and improve throttle response slightly - without messing with reliability. Slipper clutch is not necessary but might be nice. Might also be against rules if you are also looking at entering a superstock class. Engine stuff (ONLY AFTER the suspension and handling stuff is dialled in) If you have an XB9, Bore it out to 3 13/16. Short stroke = quicker throttle response. Lighten and balance flywheels/rods/pistons - again check your rules and which classes you plan to race. Cams - 585 are pretty sweet... again check your rules for legality. Roller Rockers and heavy springs for higher lift cams. Don't bother with semi-solid lifters. I put them on my bike and they're a pain with frequent adjustments and with heavy springs and standard lifters/rods - pretty unnecessary. Use normal hydraulics. EVERY race club has a BBS - and EVERY race club is extremely supportive of "newbies" because the bigger the size of the field - the more points there are for the podium. Find your race organizations website and post up. You can download the rulebooks for every race club that I'm aware of. WERA, CCS, AHRMA, CMRA, OMRRA, AFM -all have decent discussion boards - worth looking into. last thing: Generally, avoid running compression ratios really high. Realize that while a high compression streetbike might "last" a long time, in racing, you're going to be spending most of your time upwards of 7500 RPM with HEAVY throttle inputs. I've kept my compression at 10.5 and can run pump gas - but I've tuned it to run VP 91 unleaded. For sure, check out your race club bbs! I'm sure I'm forgetting something | ||
| Slaughter |
Hobans/Darkhorse are excellent resources by the way. Just sent my bottom end to John Dahmer/Darkhorse Crankworks. | ||
| Slaughter |
Oh... on my XB9 motor (1169cc) on pump gas, it'll do 97-100 HP but I have the rev limit bumped to 8200 On U4, it'll do nearly 103. On VP 91, it'll do close to 100. Dyno runs were different days so these numbers aren't perfect but we did see the trend to do a LITTLE BETTER with the VP 91 and a LITTLE MORE BETTER with the VP U4 (Message edited by slaughter on June 21, 2008) | ||
| Diablobrian |
+1 Slaughter! FYI: u4 will kill o2 sensors if you still use it | ||
| Slaughter |
OOPS - Brian is RIGHT!!! I wasn't clear - U4 is LEADED!!! - another reason to remove the oxy sensors besides engine response in open loop operation. I can run either leaded or unleaded. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Handling is EVERYTHING." That was a damn insightful post, Slaughter. Not only will you ride faster with better handling, you'll ride with a larger margin of safety, too. The only thing I'd add is fine tuning the brakes to your liking. You can change the way brakes react with different pads and there are a multitude to choose from. I never liked the stock pads. | ||
| Slaughter |
Dang Good point on the pads. Stockers will last but there are others - EBC HH, Nissin, Lyndall - that will work better but wear out much quicker. Note: like race tires, they grab better, have better feel, but wear fast - (seeing a trend here aren't we?) | ||
| Slaughter |
One other thing - you might also find that the air-cooled bike is elegible for MORE classes than the liquid cooled. More classes = more practice = better times = happier racer. | ||
| Trw |
Wow! Thanks for all the good info. | ||
| Diablobrian |
It's why BadWeB exists  |
