Voyage of the Vaquero

[TX1700]

Gypsy, I saw you drive by the house this week on the Vaquero, now I know where it has been for months. You were two up and I sounded good going by. I did not see if you were smiling ear to ear, but I know I would have been.

[RACNRAY]

GREAT NUMBERS!!! That thing's gotta be a monster. Gotta be a blast to ride it!

When I had a looksie into the intake ports back in 2011 when I sealed my intake manifold I could see there were huge improvements to be made with the heads. In many many ways the 1700's are very mildly tuned and specifications. The work done on your skoot shows how so much of that can be negated.

Alas I am fortunate to have a 165 H.P./100 pnd torque Hayabusa that weighs 500 pnds fully fueled that fills my need for more than what the Vaq delivers....So far!!!

But the thought has always and will always be there, pull the engine, pull the heads, flow em, develop porting changes, make the changes, perform my fully contoured 5 angle valve job, re-flow the heads, deck them to bump up the compression, degree in the cams, etc. Even tho I enjoy doin this stuff and have the equipment to do it, it's gonna take a major thrust of the brain to make it happen. I can't just "drop it off" to have it done as I'm the darn fool that'll be spending late nites at the shop, doesn't appeal to me like it did 15 years ago.

But it would be nice to have something stronger than my 88 H.P./108 pnds torque, that was when the skoot was much younger. Last time on my dyno with bout 65,000 mls it was down to 85 H.P./105 pnds torque. Now where's the key to that Busa/

Darn it GD...those gears that have been layin dormant are spinnin again!!

How about a full pic of the whole dyno graph showing the end results?

RACNRAY

[Gypsy Dragon]

Originally Posted by ponch

Does it run on 87 or does it require higher octane? Does it ping? Just wondering. Those numbers are an improvement, especially on the HP side. It has to pull a lot better than stock, which I found sedate, like the 1600 was.

It DOES require high octane. Dave recommended in the summer, especially if I am going to be hot rodding, to add octane boost, even to the 93, just because of how aggressive the timing is.

Originally Posted by TX1700

Gypsy, I saw you drive by the house this week on the Vaquero, now I know where it has been for months. You were two up and I sounded good going by. I did not see if you were smiling ear to ear, but I know I would have been.

I've been ear-to-ear all week.

Ray- once the port and polish was done, and that big dividing wall was taken out of the intake port, the flow test said the heads would support 160 hp. We wanted to keep it below 120 so we could use the stock bottom end.

NOTE- for those that have complained about intake noise when installing an open air cleaner, you ain't heard nuttin yet. There are dividing walls in the intake ports that act as sound baffles. Once you remove them, and open up the intake ports and the manifold, the sound coming out of the intake is nothing short of insane. You can actually hear the intake valves slapping closed after every intake stroke. Me...I LOVE IT!

I will get him to email me one the maps at the end of the process. Apparently it took 79 rides on the rolling road, so there are plenty to choose from.

Also, I'm EXTREMELY glad i had the opportunity to do this. As much as I would have LOVED to build the motor myself, alas, I don't have the equipment, or space, or time. I also don't have the connections to the manufacturers he does. And, to be honest, this kind of prototype build is above my knowledge. I really would have loved to be able to be there to turn wrenches, helping to tear it down and build it back up, but 1042 miles separation is the price I chose to pay, when I decided on what I believed to be the best shop to do this work. Their history building drag bikes for the Kawasaki team is long and successful.

[MET-RICK]

Wow, really cool story/ 'adventure'..... enjoy!