sa1713

It is Saturday! I spoke with Craig (EBD) and he is busily working on the heads. He noticed how small the inlets were and said he will open them up a bit. He said the heads would be done in about 3 weeks. He does have the RC45 HRC specs for comparison. I'll ring him again at the end of the month. More as I get it. Jim

Sorry for the delay. I will get an update on Saturday.

Please let us know the mounts!

Me too! I have a machine shop here locally who can get me a quote. All I need is a set.

I know it sounds like a real PITA, but I guess all of us outsiders looking in are in need of an actual bit to get a template made.

Nope! I did the measurements which led my project going to MRMATT. The 5th gen's eccentric is larger than 3rd/4th, which for what I was doing with the Triumph bits, did not swap.

If you don't need them I'd be happy to take them off your hands...

Hello nzeder, My response is about the same as Rob's: 1. Have you made rear suspension mods to give extra clearance for the underseat setup? No, as my WP shock is ride height adjustable and my original settings work. 2. The cans/slipons you chose what length and outside diameter are they? I used Jamma Lazer Xtreme stainless steel cans. They are about the same diameter as Rob's which is about 76mm and the lengths (I used a non-matching pair) are 330mm and 355mm. 3. With the info above in question 2 did you shorten them to fit them? Or unmodified used as delivered? I used the Lazers as delivered. 4. If you were to do it again would you do anything different? Nope. I am extemely pleased with the outcome. My up-pipe was made by a local fabricator who can replicate it upon request. He can add length to the outlets if you are unsure of the total length needed. All you will have to do is a final measure and cut. Let me know if I can help with your mod. Jim

Don't know what the OP is expecting, but I'm up to 107rwhp with a revised inlet/ramair, mild cam job based on RC45 timing & a freer flowing exhaust system with custom dyno fuelling. I just fitted some shorter velocity stacks & have a couple of other ideas in progress, hopefully we can push that number higher, but might take a while to complete, as winter is coming :( My goal in this project was not to necessarily to reach a target HP number, but rather to see what the results would be IF. The start of the project came out of the Torocharger project as I wanted to investigate what a bit of refining could do to our engines. The engine would essentially still be in its original skin and within OEM designed forces.

Nope! Not dead, just waiting for race season to end so my EBD can complete reassembly. Now that Dave Dodge has been cut completely out of the picture, Webcams has the grind for the 5th gen cams. I hope to have news within the next few weeks as the season is about to end. Fingers crossed. Once assembled, I will have a step by step listing of all mods/procedures taken for this project. Hang in there.....

The rear caliper clearance issue is what stopped me from going further on with the Triumph eccentric swap. My parts all went to MR.Matt for his conversion. It seems that the 3 pot Honda caliper is a bit to long for the space and I did not want to re-plumb my brake system.

Nothing to be done with the pistons or rings. They are in perfect shape. Engine had about 3k miles on it before I got my hands on it. Craig at HRT (Chico, CA) said a rod/piston swap with lighter bits would not be noticed by me. He said he could do it, but the money would not be well spent. I wanted to stay within the original cylinder walls, and not bore it out. Craig has an extra set of 49 stater cams in his shop now as I found them in the event DD crapped out. If I ever get mine back from Webcams, you have first dibs.

Well, DD was not completely forthcoming with his actions. In January I spoke to him and he told me the cams were at Webcams for grinding. He was waiting for them to build a fixture to hold the cams without the need to remove the gear. He assured me that Webcams finally was able to accomplish this and the process was well underway. I requested that DD drop ship the cams directly from Webcams to HRT, thus I'd hope to keep my money and the cams from being in his possession at the same time. He agreed and set it up with Webcams and HRT. Well, he did get the remaining amount to complete the job and we waited for Webcams to finish. He again assured me Webcams had my cams. It turns out that DD never sent the cams to Webcams. On February 6, they received them from DD. I hope to have news within a week or so about the work done by Webcams. Please be wary of DD and his operation. Next time, I'll cut him out of the deal and go directly to a grinder. At least I'll have the cam card..... I hope!

I've got a rather good update: After reading the posting about DD and the customer's experience, I did not hold much hope of getting my cams back or my deposit. I made repeated attempts to contact DD with no success. So, I found a complete set of 4 cams from a 98 and had them shipped to my EBD in anticipation of a DD failure. While the cams were in shipment, I was able to get Dodge on the phone. He gave me an excuse that he had not been notified by his grinder that the job was complete. I, being suspect of his response, gave him some more rope. He told me that the grinder needed to build a fixture to hold the cams since he did not want the gear removed during processing. Dodge told me that taking the gear off causes a whole bunch of headaches during reassembly, many times unsurmountable. He did admit that he has had the cams much too long for no progress and was apologetic. Yeah, I've heard that somewhere before... In my attempt to elicit additional information that I could possibly use (against him) in the future, I asked where he sent his cams to be ground. I did not expect him to answer, as his pause was long. He did answer, and it was:    Dodge told me he expected Webcams to give him an update within a week or so. I thanked him for his time and told him I'd call in a week. I immediately called Webcams and spoke with customer service. They had no idea of a cam job for a VFR800 but said they would call me back. About 10 minutes after hanging up I received a call from Dodge who told me that the cams would be finished in 1 week. I believe Webcams called Dodge and told him that I called. I never received a call back from Webcams. Dodge told me he would get the cams from Webcams and then ship them to my EBD. I asked him to drop ship them directly to Craid at HRT. He agreed but would have to work out the numbers between Webcams etc... A week later and no word from Dodge. Finally after 5 days of calls and messages he answered saying he spoke with Craig and they settled on cost. I called Webcams to confirm and they said they are ready to ship and I asked for the cam card to be included. I expect to have the cams ready for install within two weeks but I'm still holding my breath. When Craig receives my cams he will be documenting the work, and determining if they will do what he specified. If/when this project gets finished, at least we have a direct source to have 5th/6th gen cams ground. I will publish the cam card once I get it. v/r Fingers Crossed.....

My original EBD is perfect, the hang up is with Dave Dodge. He has my cams, which in the big scheme of things is easily replaceable and that is in process. I have complete faith in Craig and his operations but I do agree with putting a hand on the trades and keeping an eye on them as well. I hope to have good news shortly.

Well, I don't have good news to report. I've found that Dave Dodge may have fallen down on not only my cam work but many other customers' work. He not only has my cams but also a sizeable deposit. Nothing compared to other customer's experiences. I'm copying a post from another V4 forum which chronicles a complete engine rebuild. I'm in the process of attempting to recover my parts and $$$.... It seems as though DD was not truthful or forthright in his recent dealings. Here is the post and sorry if this is put in the wrong place. The pics did not come through but I have the complete post if folks need to confirm. My last posting here at this site was on my thread "Re: Anybody that has an engine at Dave Dodge's... Please look!" it was #61 where I stated "I will wait until after the weekend of the 18th of March before making contact with them as that is the most recent date of completion given to me by DD last Friday. He has a week." That was Sunday March 11, 2012. The following Friday I received a call from Dave Dodge stating that he had indeed finished my engine and it was ready to be picked up that weekend. I couldn't do that as I have been working weekends for months now. I scheduled the weekend of April 1 off and asked Dave if that would work for him. He responded that that would work and he looked forward to it. The following is true there is no slander and deceit on my behalf... I sent Dave a confirmation email this past Wendsday, March 28 at 4:43am, it follows: Hi Dave, Just touching base wanting to confirm our upcoming Saturday pick up? We will be getting into Bullhead Friday evening. What time would you like to meet Saturday? Anytime works for me. If need be we can do it Sunday as well... Please feel free to give me a call or email. Either way, I need to make this happen this weekend as my work schedule is still more than crazy and this is the only time I was able to schedule off... Thanks! Steve salvo66us@yahoo.com This is the response that I received from Dave that same day at 5:51am, it follows: Steve, We are good for Saturday, about 10ish? Looking forward to it :) Dave Dodge - DRP -----Original Message----- From: steve lawrence Sent: Mar 28, 2012 4:43 AM To: Dave Dodge , Dave Dodge Cc: salvo66us@yahoo.com Subject: Engine pick up... Hi Dave, Just touching base wanting to confirm our upcoming Saturday pick up? We will be getting into Bullhead Friday evening. What time would you like to meet Saturday? Anytime works for me. If need be we can do it Sunday as well... Please feel free to give me a call or email. Either way, I need to make this happen this weekend as my work schedule is still more than crazy and this is the only time I was able to schedule off... Thanks! Steve salvo66us@yahoo.com Ok, I received a call from Dave Friday morning March 30, everything is a go for Saturdays pick up except that he has to get some orders out and instead of meeting at 10am he wants to do it about 1pm so he can get the orders out to the Post Office... I agreed and we head up to Bullhead from Phoenix, Az. I received a call from Dave Saturday morning, March 31 at 12:16pm stating that he is behind a little bit and still needs to get these orders to the Post office and meet with his accountant and won't be able to meet until about 5pm. I reluctantly agreed. At 4:42pm I received the call from Dave that he had found that he just wasn't happy with how the #2 cylinder bearing was feeling and that he had taken the case back apart and wanted me to see it in person as it would be better to explain the situation to me. I told him that we would be over in just a few minutes to pick up the engine and go from there. As a witness to what we were going to see and retrieve I had a retired Sheriffs officer tag along, kind of a tool to keep heads level for the moment... I wasn't there to cause problems or curse anybody out... I just wanted my due... My COMPLETED engine that I had waited for for over 2 years. Upon hearing the excuses as to why he couldn't meet me at the original time scheduled I knew that there was more to the story... The following pictures were taken as soon as I unloaded the boxes from the vehicle this afternoon once we got back home in Phoenix... This is just an intial set of photos. It will take me days to lay everything out and retake pics that may be needed for whatever legal action comes next. I honestly don't know what to expect at this moment... I would like to bring to light 2 postings from Dave Dodge in my previous thread, # 71, it reads as follows: Re: Anybody that has an engine at Dave Dodge's... Please look! « Reply #71 on: March 12, 2012, 09:38:34 PM » Quote I just read all of your posts with interest. I only want to say that in no way has anyone been screwed or ripped off, nor will they be. Assuming the worst tends to be the way of the board. I'll admit that engine building since the move has not been easy and taking far too much time. I dont want to comprimise the level of quality either. If anything can go wrong... it has. I do apologize to Aaron and Steve, and even John. Thank you for your patience and I assure you that getting these projects delivered is more important to me than is realized. Regards Dave Dodge - DRP And also, #79 from Dave as well, it follows: Re: Anybody that has an engine at Dave Dodge's... Please look! « Reply #79 on: March 13, 2012, 09:58:51 AM » Quote I completely understand all the concerns. It's been busy enough to keep me chasing my tail, but the level of sales is not fully supporting expenses or even cost of parts. I've made numerous changes to correct this. Most engine deposits started off at 50% and became progressive as I purchased the parts and outside labor to complete them. It became obvious that buying discontinued parts at premium+ prices was costing me more than I had them sold for. Labor from the machine shops is costing me $75.00 hr, yet I was only charging $50.00 hr., plus big shipping costs. Added to that, all my suppliers had subtantial and frequent price increases due to their higher costs. Products from Japan (Honda) are seeing 5% increases every time I order due to dollar to yen conversion. The slow economy and higher energy prices contribute to this as well. I refused to increase the prices on those firm quoted jobs, but in the future engine jobs will be termed as 'restorations' and billed time and materials. Needless to say, engine building volume will be reduced, but if there's no profit in doing them, maybe that's best. The whole engine building side of the business has been causing me big concern... mostly due to the length of time to complete. I have never been known as the speediest engine builder, but I dont have comebacks either... it's gotta be right, and that's how I think my reputation developed. When talking directly to my customers, I do my best to explain the circumstances and reasons for the delays... With all that said... I am (and have been) in this for the long haul, and the bumps in the road are a huge learning curve, even at age 56 with 30 years experience working on V4's. Looking forward to a better tomorrow, Dave Dodge - DRP The pics... This is the COMPLETED engine: A pic of one of the pistons showing what looks like used rings on it, next to it is a ring from the bundle of "old" rings found laying in the boxes... A pic of a scratch in what looks like the #1 piston crank journal bearing... The box the bundle of rings were in... Here is a pic of my $560.00 HardWelded Rocker Arms... And another... My cylinder heads... They were supposed to have Stage 2 Porting, Smoothing the intake runners and a Competition Valve Job, The tune of $400.00... Doesn't look like any smoothing or valve job was ever done... Boxes of head and valve parts... I must add that Dave was witnessed as grabbing "Valves" out of a plastic bag that he picked up from underneath a bench and added these valves to my parts. You can notice that there are valves that have been ground and valves that have not... The ground valves were from the plastic bag... I don't know if they belong to someone else's "valve job" and he just grabbed them to add to the mix or ??? My carbs were to have been cleaned and rebuilt to Stage 2, at $325.00 labor and parts kit... Dave was witnessed as removing parts from a set of carbs other than mine and adding these to my parts. There again I don't know if these pieces belonged to someone else's carb set or ??? I did realize that in the hulabaloo that he still has my airbox and rubber venturis.... Fat F'n chance of getting that stuff now! The trans was to have been "undercut" at $375.00... it looks like it was glass beaded at best... I don't know what to look for in an under cutting job but I can't see any fresh machining marks, maybe one of you can help me to spot it... My cases were to have been powder coated... None of this has happened. It wasn't on the work order but he was paid $150.00-200.00 for that service. Supposedly he has a new work order that he is going to email me... He did however "paint" the oil pan and shift cover, and maybe the engine case... I didn't even get the one hole that I asked to have "helicoiled" taken care of... The date on this gasket set should have been from way before 9/16/2011... Should have been back in 2010 when I was originally supposed to be picking up my engine in December 2010. The gasket set and an, I think, oil pump... Just a couple of random pics... I am speechless........... I do not even now where to start......... My restoration project is done. I have paid this man $4500.00 overall and this is what the culmination of more than 2yrs waiting and more than numerous emails and phone calls have gotten me. All the way up 'til the very end has been nothing but an excuse and as far as I am concerned, lies! I don't know what is going to happen but I will be getting in touch with the Arizona Attorney Generals office and see what is next. I am posting this because I HOPE that I can at least save someone the future hassles and trouble in which they may find by doing business with this man. I have certainly learned a very costly lesson here. I have somewhere around $7-8000.00 wrapped up in what was to be a "Better than New" restoration of my dream bike. This has all been crushed now. I can't speak here how I really feel and what I would really like to do.... I am sickened! Dave, I am certainly glad that you have clearly stated that " I only want to say that in no way has anyone been screwed or ripped off, nor will they be."

Racing season is about to finish so I would expect that the EBD will complete this soon.