| Author | Message | ||
     Robinpeck |
What did Buell do to the Sportster motor in my '98 Buell Lightning S1? Can anyone give me a reasonably straight answer to this? I understand that its "modified" to give more power than a standard 1200 Sportster, but short of me tearing the motor down to have an internal look, what exactly was done to the engine? | ||
| Thejosh |
Better flow heads, 10:1 compression, bigger cam lift/duration. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. The fuel injection was on the Buells before they were on Sportys too, so it helped. Josh | ||
| Buellistic |
The S Models had LIGHTING HEADS which were up-dated to THUNDERSTORM heads in the 1998 Model year ... The oil pump was up-dated to BUELL H-D PN 26204-98 which is same as the SPORTSTER PN 26204-91A ... They came with 1st step SCAREM'IN EAGLE cams except the M2's as they had STOCK SPORTSTER cams ... In 1998 they went to a 27T counter shaft sprocket from a 29T as a CHEAP WAY OF GETTING A LITTLE LOW END "TORQUE" ... It is about 100 pounds lighter than the SPORTSTER which it has about 10 more rolling HORSE POWER because of being lighter which does not show up on a DYNO RUN ... (Message edited by buellistic on October 14, 2011) | ||
| Yo_barry |
At some point, the Buell's also got lighter flywheels which aids in reving up faster. | ||
| Phelan |
The free-flowing A/C and 2-1 exhaust help considerably as well. | ||
| Fahren |
Did all '98 S1's, as well as the S1W's, get the Thunderstorm heads? As to the flywheel, I believe the stock S2's had the heavier one, but all the S1's had the lighter one. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Don't hold me to it, but I think the lighter flywheels deal was true from 1997 until the XB bikes. | ||
| Firemanjim |
IIRC all the S-1's got 27 tooth sprocket and flywheels got progressively lighter after the S-2. | ||
| Coxster |
I read somewhere on the web that the Cyclone got the lighter flywheel in 2000. I find it oddly convenient that so many Buells are 91 HP and the XR1200 is . . . . 91 HP. | ||
| Ratbuell |
S1's had Lightning heads. S1Ws had thunderstorms. | ||
| Fahren |
'swhatIthott, butIwuzn'sher. | ||
| Buellistic |
The XR1200's are BUELLSPORTSTERS !!! | ||
| Charlies_s1 |
I thought the lighter flywheels came in 2000? | ||
| Rick_a |
The first lightened flywheel was on the 1996 S1 Lightning. Let's not forget the "breadbox" which added power while keeping intake noise down.
I would simply call that "gearing properly." The biggest and best changes were in the XB engines...except for losing the trapdoor tranny. | ||
| Preybird1 |
Yeah the trap door is one sweet idea. To bad no six speeds in the Xb's that and having to lower the engine to change the intake seals was a deal breaker for me. | ||
| Court |
 | ||
| Robinpeck |
My '98 has the "Buell Race Kit" on it...that includes a complete exhaust system, different K+N air cleaner with carbon fiber cover, different ignition, (plus stiffer front springs, bare metal pegs and shifter, solo Corbin, etc.)....do you think the exhaust and ignition kit adds much horsepower to the basic '98 bike? | ||
| Court |
Too funny . . you aroused my curiosity and I started digging through cases and found an entire unopened package of the 1998 development, product plan,, set up manuals, supplements, accessories and technical info catalogs . . this was the one that rolled out the "Rider Shirt" of Howie doing the wheelie on the S1 as well as the much famed M2 tach kit and the S1 Race Kit.  That's a shot of page 709 Also found I'd kept copies of all the weekly race kit shipping and backorder status updates from 1997 and all the 1998 product internal briefing papers. Ya can't just throw this stuff away but there are cases of it . . | ||
| Harleyelf |
Let us not forget the bigger pistons and the re-bore of the cylinders from 1198cc to 1203cc. The object was to make the cylinder walls more straight by torquing the cylinders down properly before boring. Makes for less engine heat at sustained high rpm. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well Court... (putting on my vulture hat for a moment)...if some of it needs a happy, appreciative home just let me know. I'll add it to my growing (albeit slowly) stash  | ||
| Court |
What rebore and pistons? I think you have Buell and Ural confused. :-) | ||
| Davegess |
Let us not forget the bigger pistons and the re-bore of the cylinders from 1198cc to 1203cc ?? Not sure what you mean by this. The 1200 Sporty motor was 1203 right out of the box. Buell did not touch the cylinders | ||
| Court |
The cleaning has begun . . . there are 9 black bags sitting in the drive now . . . my wife is ruthless and has less sentimental attachment for say a box of prototype S2 luggage . . .when it was in the "seems like a neat idea" stage in 1994 . . than I do. She tossed a case of service manuals out of the back room . . darn near hit the dog . . he's taken measures . . I'm hiding.   | ||
| Court |
By the way . . there was never a Buell (sold to the public) that was bored, straightened or had pistons changed. In the days when I used to buy LOTS (like 3 in one day) of Sportsters . . it used to be common to take an 883 cylinder and bore it in torque plates to fix lots of HD problems . . HD had real problems making bores straight and round at that time. Several of my Buells . . . one of the RS1200 and an S1 had 883 cylinders on them. | ||
| Charlies_s1 |
lol lol! | ||
| Harleyelf |
You are correct about the pistons, sir. It is the stroke that is increased minimally. My 1989 Sportster book says stroke is 3.812 and displacement is 73.3 cubic inches and my 1999 S3 book says stroke is 3.8125 and displacement is 73.4 cubic inches. The Harley salesman who sold me my S3 lied. | ||
| Court |
>>>>The Harley salesman who sold me my S3 lied Now there's news. More likely ..... He was simply clueless .... It was an epidemic. HD offered Erik 2 things in 1993 .... A motor and a dealer network. Guess what the 2 things that nearly did Buell in were? Misprint on the stroke. | ||
| Greg_cifu |
That's not a misprint on the stroke. Buell couldn't afford the 70F climate controlled inspection room and at 85F it gained that extra half-a-thou.  | ||
| Ebutch |
Court I see your working like a Dog!  | ||
| Road_thing |
my wife is ruthless Here's a news flash for you, pal: THEY'RE ALL THAT WAY!  rt |
