| Author | Message | ||
     Axlakow |
Hi there, Per my previous thread, the tranny in my 2003 XB9R dropped a gear, so I am going to be swapping in a new motor. There seem to be quite a few more used XB12 motors out there, so I am going to go down that route. Does anyone out there have experience with this swap, and is there anything in particular I need to watch out for. I know some of the later motors used DDFI3, and some of the sensors were different, so I will probably stick with a DDFI 2 motor. Other than the ECM and the throttle body/injector, anything else? I am assuming I would have to use an XB12 header as well. Thanks | ||
| Deanh8 |
XB12 header ECU and throttle body and you should be good. I did a 2006 XB12 swap in my 2003 XB9 and it was trouble free, no issues what so ever. | ||
| Axlakow |
Did you have to mess with the oil lines at all? I know in 2006 they changed the configuration a bit | ||
| Axlakow |
Good news. Found a used motor 5 minutes from my house. According to the seller, it was removed from a running bike that he decided to part out as it had been sitting in his showroom for a while, and needed to move for inventory, so he decided to part it out. 25,000 miles, runs strong and shifts well(according to him) for $1500.00. I managed to talk him down to $1200.00. Looks to be in pretty good shape(at least from looking at the pictures. I am going to go check it out after work tonight. | ||
| Greg_e |
There is something you need to do to the oil lines since the 2003 has three of them in the swingarm. I might be wrong but I thought the fix was to plug the vent line at the swingarm. Definitely check on this because I am only about 25% on this problem. I can say 100% that there is an issue, I just can't remember what the fix will be. Newer swingarms only have 2 oil lines on them, the vent is somewhere else around the engine side. | ||
| Xxxue |
25k miles that motor is basically on the edge of breaking down itself, sportster engines are only good for about 25-30k max before you will need to rebuild the whole motor. You should have really tried to find one with 3k-7k max on it. The 25k motor is only worth about $500 | ||
| Hogs |
LoL Xxxue,Tell that to my buddy who has a sportster since new and its just hitting 190,000 klms.... And has NEVER been wrenched on.... Nothing wrong with an engine with 25 K on it,...... | ||
| Xxxue |
quote "LoL Xxxue,Tell that to my buddy who has a sportster since new and its just hitting 190,000 klms.... And has NEVER been wrenched on.... Nothing wrong with an engine with 25 K on it,...... KEEP DREAMING | ||
| Sifo |
You mean my XB died 20-25k miles ago? I thought it was still running good this afternoon!  | ||
| Hogs |
Xxxue, Your not going to get me to Troll with ya...enough said! | ||
| Ericz |
Your 2003 oil lines will fit any 2003-2007 motor as long as you use your 2003 fitting at the cam cover for the vent line. The rest will go right on. | ||
| Greg_e |
Thanks for the info. If I were you, I'd swap the motor and get the cycle running, then tear into the broken one and start learning to fix them and maybe consider a big bore kit when it is time to go back together. | ||
| Slaughter |
My only concern would be in the case of a bike that is on-record as SALVAGE. You may have issues with your DMV since now your bike may have to be registered as a salvage bike. Cool if you don't need to insure it. You might check into it with a local policeman to see (since waiting for an answer from the DMV will try the patience of Job) You can't afford to just do the engine swap and NOT register the different VIN number and then have the police run the VINs and have the bike impounded. Trust me, sometimes the police will just run VINs out of bikes in the parking lot just to do a spot check. If they don't get a match through DMV computer, it will be impounded and you won't know it until you come looking for the bike. Even worse if you're on a long ride and get pulled over, they run the VINs and then you find you have to WALK home. I'm just saying this HAS happened here in the People's Republic of California. (don't know if New Hamster is more forgiving on these things - but it's worth checking - but don't just do the swap without re-registering!) (Message edited by slaughter on September 21, 2012) | ||
| Axlakow |
so, I went and checked out the motor last night. It appears to be in good shape, and complete, minus the throttle body and the headers, which I will swap over from my old motor. It was clean(but not cleaned) with no weepage from the base gaskets, no cracks, rash marks, or otherwise broken pieces. Come to find out, I actually bought my last bike(2000 Ducati 750ss) from this gentleman, and put 10,000 completely trouble free miles on it, so I trust he is probably selling me a good motor. 25,000 does not seem like a lot of miles to me, and something tells me it is not on the verge of a complete tear down and rebuild. Finding a motor with 3-7k on it would be difficult in my opinion to say the least, and I will have a spare motor now(minus bum transmission) to pull parts from should anything else break. Even if i put it in, and it doesn't run great, at least I will have a running motorcycle, not a 400lb piece metal just sitting in my garage. Question, I am assuming I will have to do a TPS reset after I install the new motor, since my ECM is set to the old motor? Would be nice if I could find someone local that had ECMSPY and a patch cable, so I do have to drag it to the Harley dealer  | ||
| Sam0000kent |
PM sent RE: ECMSpy cable | ||
| Andymnelson |
Is that motor a 9 or 12? | ||
| Sifo |
If you are keeping your old throttle body the TPS reset probably will not be needed, but it's a part of normal maintenance, so I would say get the tools/knowledge to take care of it anyway. Slaughter makes some interesting points. I don't agree 100% on some things though. It's the frame that's registered on a bike, not the engine. This can vary with older bikes, I don't remember the year things changed, but it was decades ago. You can take the serial number from the engine to your local cop shop and have them run it to verify it's not stolen. Regardless of the results from that, I would insist on a simple receipt from the seller that includes a description of the item (i.e. 2003 XB9 engine), serial number, date of purchase and signatures. There should be no need to register it as a salvage bike either. As I mentioned it's the frame that is registered. I would like to know on what basis would a cop in the Republic of CA take any action for a perfectly legal engine swap. If they found one that was stolen, that makes sense. Otherwise, it's just harassment. What do they do after making you walk home? Sounds like this engine will have you back on the road pretty quick, assuming it's a 9 prior to '08.  | ||
| Axlakow |
yeah, I actually thought of that after the fact, no TPS reset should be needed, as I am keeping the same throttle body and ECM. Bikes are registered off of the VIN on the frame, so no need for me to do anything there, no one will ever know that I put a different motor in the bike. Motor is from a 2005 XB9s. The seller is tossing in a rear sprocket, as I figured now would be a good time to switch to an updated belt as well. If all goes accordingly, should be back on the road by the end of the weekend, unless I screw something up putting it back together. Eveyrthing came apart ok for the most part, and the old motor is just about ready to drop out of the frame | ||
| Slaughter |
Maybe it's just a California thing but if the VIN on the frame and the engine don't match its impoundable. Same thing for cars but it's just easier to check motorcycles. Engine changes are required to be reported to the DMV in CA. Maybe it's because there such a big problem with chop shops and stolen bikes being parted out. I'm dealing with this right now here in California considering converting one of the race bikes back for street use. | ||
| Axlakow |
New motor is in and running! No sputters, no leaks, sounds great. Thanks for everyones help and advise. Only took me 6 hours to get the old one out and the new one in...sweet | ||
| Slaughter |
NOTHING sweeter than a fresh motor working FOR you! | ||
| Xmetalchrisx |
why not just fix your trans? | ||
| Slaughter |
But now he can fix the tranny at his leisure on the bench. Sometimes having a spare motor at the ready is nice. Most folks ride until something major BREAKS - instead of doing a teardown inspection and rebuild if necessary. Sounds like a good move and of course, if he DOESN"T want that old motor, I'm here to buy it! | ||
| Axlakow |
I though about just ripping into the old motor and fixing it, but by the time all would be said and done, I figured it would be easier to just drop in a new(used) motor and call it a day and actually still get some riding in before the snow starts falling. Now i have a running used motor on my bench that just needs some tranny work that I can fiddle with this winter. It will give me a chance to see the inside of one of these motors without having to rush to get it fixed just so I can ride my bike. I may keep the old motor, I may sell it whole, or I may part it out. I haven't quite decided what to do with it juts yet | ||
| Greg_e |
I'd rip it open and see about fixing it, but that's just me. You could see what kind of offers people give you to buy it, might offset the cost of the used motor. | ||
| Axlakow |
Yeah, thats probably what i will end up doing this winter, we'll see what happens. I also have a GS1000 cafe racer I am building for someone, so i am not sure how much time I will have, here is a pic...  Another question. A member on here is going to lend me a patch cable so that i can upload some race maps to my bike. I am planning on doing an exhaust in the near future, and already have a K&N in the stock airbox. Will running the racemaps without updating the exhaust at this point in time cause the bike to run too rich? I know they run a bit lean from the factory. | ||
| Greg_e |
The computer will automatically compensate if you leave the learning modes running, your AFV should go down to under 100 under you put the new muffler on. SOme areas might suffer a little, but overall it should run and not blow up. I still want to build a Ryca. Nice project you have going there. (Message edited by Greg_E on October 02, 2012) | ||
| Axlakow |
Do people usually leave the learning mode on(closed loop) after loading race maps? | ||
| Greg_e |
I do. Temperature and pressure changes are going to change your mixture so if learning is not enabled, every single day is going to be a little different. If I was racing it I would defeat it so I could run it a little richer for the power, and I'd also want to adjust it most days. But I ride on the street and it may be 50 one day and 90 the next with different humidities each day and at different altitudes all along the route. |
