oh yeah did I mention I DID have a jet kit in there. it was base jets, 4th notch. I upped the jets 1 because of the exhaust being high-flow. we'll see if it makes a difference.

Get yourself a specific silicone gasket sealer and you will be fine if you don't want to use paper gaskets. This stuff is used in many parts of the engine, such as the cases, by the factory. Do not use too much though, a little bit goes a long way. Test it out and you will see what I mean.

The advantage of doing the cct's by the bolt removal method is not having to remove the valve covers. No need to worry about new rubber gaskets then. By the way you would need to use genuine gaskets here, not the silicone in my opinion.

what bolt removal method? you'd still have to set TDC so there's no tension to prevent it from skipping a tooth.


also you're all over the place when talking about gaskets... you say at first to use silicone if I don't wanna use paper but then say use genuine gaskets. the valve cover is fine once it's just cleaned up, and the cct has a paper gasket or whatever. those will be here tomorrow by noon. got them overnighted

ok, not to come off as a retard, but what the he11 is CCT?

the sealant your looking for is hondabond, it's a grey gasket compound that dries faster than silicone, that honda uses to seal the case halves together and to seal areas where case halves meet case covers or to seal the cutouts in the head where the valve cover fits... FYI.. you do not have to replace the valve cover rubber gasket, just clean it well and use hondabond where the sharp edges of the cutouts in the head meet the gasket... it's the most common area for leaks, otherwise don't use any sealant on the valve covers except for the cutouts... any time i've seen anyone try to seal a motor with silicone, ends up sqeezing crap inside the cases and then the pieces break off and find their way down to the oil sump
i've read through the thread... why exactly are you tearing down your bike? valve clearance check? i see you have the valve covers off... do your best to keep dust and crap out of the motor... if you need tips on setting engine timing for cam clearance check, say so, i have a service manual right here..

duh, i figured it out...

i have a serious question, how does the zip ties prevent the chain from skipping.

ive built inline 4 cyl bikes before... and i know how a CCT and chain system works... but what doesnt make any sense to me ( till someone explains it) is why do you zip tie the chain to the cams?

isnt gravity going to hold the chain in the teeth anyway?

and why dont you zip tie the chain to the crank teeth?

forgive me but i never did any of this with 4cyl bikes... and i never had a problem...

I think what I said made sense. But to clarify , what I am saying is use the silicone on the CCT, however I would not use it on the valve covers due to the design of this gasket. I would use the standard gasket.

The bolt removal method allows you to set TDC on compression without removal of the valve covers, by observing the cam lobe position rather than looking for the cam sprocket timing mark.

well got the gaskets in and guess what? I sheared off a fucking valve cover bolt... gotta wait another week to go riding... this sucks so bad

G'day Denmah.

What the guys are doing here with the cable tie is a short cut to prevent having to worry about finding TDC on the compression stroke. If you are not on TDC on cmpression and you remove the CCT, the valve spring pressure will want to turn the cam lobe and with a slack chain it can jump teeth. The cable tie prevents this by locking the chain to the sprocket.

Engine no09 wrote: "the K&N is proven to increase the hp..."

really? funny because the research I did shows the exact opposite! Do a search on the site and you will find a few posts that cover this very issue. I realize this is contentious issue, but there are far too many credible sources (with dyno sheets) that show the K&N actually causes the VTR to lose torque and hp (especially in the mids). They may work well on other bikes but offer no power gains on the VTR (for a basically stock engine anyhow). The only real advantage is the ability to clean it.

Mikstr

You have to tune for it. If you just drop it in a stock bike with no jetting changes, no doubt you will not gain hp. I'd say with some moderate tuning, the K&N is good for 2-3 hp.

with just dropping a filter in with no jets you're more likely to lose hp then gain. especially if you already have an exhaust on

Possibly. Depends on your elevation and temperature. Remember, VTRs are generally a little bit rich from the Factory, but it doesn't take much to get to the lean side.

I don't mean to contradict you Greg for I know you ar a very knowledgeable fellow, but I am speaking of VTRs that HAVE been tuned for. The end result (yes, AFTER tuning) is a noticeable dip in the torque curve at mids and slightly less on top. Again do a search, I had posted some links (one was to some dyno graphs from DynamoHumm, a respected tuning shop in the Eastern Townships of Quebec). My local dealer (a very reputable shop and the only accredited PowerCommander center in Eastern Canada) said the same thing (noted that the VTR and TL1000 are the only two bikes that do NOT benefit from a K&N). Finally, RCVTR's buddy (I believe it is Bob from Big Valley Honda) also experimented and foundthe same thing (acording to what I read on prior threads, I am by no means speaking on his behalf). That's good enough for me. The best part about the VTR is the mid-range pull so I would not do anything that would compromise it, hence my decision to stick with the OEM filter.

Of course, it is a free world and people can do as they please but I chose to stick with the OEM filter and performed the "Bernie Morgan mod" and the bike runs like a champ (smooth, instant response and NO DIP in the torque curve; my dyno sheet is up in the pics section).

cheers
Mikstr

http://www.dynobike.com/images/graphs/VTR_graph.gif


lower line is without a jet kit and k&N, higher line is K&N and jet kit. no dip at all.....

Glad you are happy with it.

Here is another point to consider:
http://www.dynamohumm.com/HONDA/VTR%201000/my_vtr.htm

Go to the bottom two graphs at the bottom of the page, compare the red line in the upper graph (jet kit only, OEM filter) with the red line in the bottom graph (K&N with proper jetting). The result: a net loss of 1.3 ft-lbs of torque, and a bigger dip in the mids. Hardly sounds like the kind of result I am shooting for anyhow.

I have attached my dyno sheet from last summer FYI (taken with two long intake runners btw). I have since played around with the set-up a bit and have unleashed better seat-of-the-pants results although I have not had it re-dynoed. Needless to say I am quite happy with the way it is running.

As I said, if you are happy with uour K&N, more power to you.

I also tried the raved about "TPS mod" and went back to stock as I felt no improvement of any kind but did notice a loss of engine response, particularly in the low-end. Again, different strokes for different folks.

cheers
Mikstr

My graph looks very similar to yours, though mine is just a tad smoother around 5000-5500 rpm and significantly smoother than the DynamoHumm graphs. I have another dyno sheet somewhere around here that's more recent though I can't find it right now. I'll post it/them up tomorrow since it's getting late.