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Posts posted by BusyLittleShop
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In my learned opinion VTEC (Vacillating Torque Engine Compartment) was successful on heavy autos
but it's been 50 / 50 when applied to lighter weight bikes because of the unwanted bump in the power ban...- 1
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1 hour ago, fabio222 said:
Now, to the heart of the bike, the engine. I've read that Honda used the RC45 tooling to make the engine for the 5th gen VFR 800 (and this meant there would be no more RC45s as the tooling had to be modified to such an extent that it couldn't be easily changed back). That 5th gen had gear driven cams mounted on the side of the engine.
You're correct... Honda did used the RC45 tooling to make the engine for the 5th gen VFR 800... specifically adding bearing support structure to carry a swingarm pivot...
My friend Makota San previous job was Chief Engineer Honda R&D who
invented Honda's VTEC... he calls VTEC "his baby" and recalls his boss
being super skeptical of the idea working at all...
Makota San down on cannery row...
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Understanding how an air box works and the reasons why a stock box is a safer bet...
If you have ever had the gas tank off your late-model sportbike, you
will notice that the front of the fuel tank doesn’t hold fuel; it
holds an airbox. In the old days, when you bought a new bike, it had
an air-filter case attached to feed the carburetors or the
fuel-injection intakes. All the sharp, young guys would immediately
rip off the filter case and replace it with four sock filters. Reduced
airflow resistance. Much better performance.One day in the late 1980s, they began to rip off the airboxes of their
new bikes and their engines fell on their faces. They lost a bunch of
performance. “This can’t be happening! Putting on sock filters always
worked before.” But it turns out the industry found a way to boost
performance by making what is known as a resonant airbox.We have all in an idle moment blown across the mouth of a beer bottle
and heard the "whoooo" of the bottle resonance. As air goes across the
mouth of the bottle, it creates a low pressure, which causes air to
flow up. That deflects the air away from the mouth of the bottle. Then
the air goes back in, the airflow from your mouth goes back across,
and the cycle repeats, rapidly fluttering and producing that deep
tone. The compressible air in the bottle is acting as a spring, and
the slug of air in the neck of the bottle is the mass that vibrates
against that spring.This intake airbox from a fuel injected Honda is just a glorified beer
bottle. Instead of the engine blowing across the mouth of it, its four
throttle bodies are sucking from the box, pulling its pressure down.
Air rushes in through the ducts in the fairing to fill up that low
pressure. The next cylinder sucks the bottle pressure down and more
air rushes in and restores the pressure. If the volume of the box and
the mass of the air in the intake pipes are correctly chosen, the box
will hum like the beer bottle.The trick is to get your engine to draw air from the box when the
pressure is up and then the box refills when the pressure is down. And
that is why ripping the airboxes off and putting on old-time sock
filters resulted in a reduction in performance. In a specific zone of
rpm, a resonant airbox can boost your engine’s torque by 10 percent.
That’s worth having!
My friend Stephen called long distance from England because he just
installed a $900.00 HRC air box on his RC45 and saw 120HP on the
dyno... mmmmm... together we wondered if the stock box be modified???
We found that stock RC45 throttle bodies are 46mm but the air box was
restricted to 40mm... no problem... I'll bore the air box out to 47mm
on the milling machine...
I drew up plans for 47mm bell mouth based on the stock 40mm bell
mouths and purchased a block of black Delrin...
I'm not happy doing repetitious work but I labored long hours to
machine 4 each bell mouths with my best accuracy...
Don't you love when a plan comes together especially if it turns out
perfect???
Now I had an unrestricted air box with my own 47mm bell mouths... it
was the best I could do to replicate HRC $900.00 air box... not to
mention I wanted to keep my home made K&N filter...
Time to put the Mod to the test on the dyno... this is Dave at Chandelle
Motorsports...
No joy... I lost 1.8HP on the dyno... so bigger is not better in this
case... a whole week worth of work shot down in flames... it seems
Honda got the intake velocity right for a stock pipe after all... air
boxes are like tuned instruments... alter the holes and the tune
just makes sour notes and power suffers...
Mr.RC45 fueling is not the problem... my air box will remain stock
because our air box works like a finely tuned instrument... any wild
ass guess mod disrupts this highly engineered resonant to where to
you're producing nothing but sour notes... The airbox inlet tubes, or
“horns”, are specifically designed to provide a resonance that can
increase the total airflow by up to 10-15%. Second guessing these can
cause the engine to loose power and increase the intake noise as in my
case...
RC45's stock intake horns are there for homologation purposes only and
do not directly feed into the airbox only the HRC intakes feed ram air
into the airbox...
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Mileage is a loose standard because wear depends on so many variables...A more accurate standard of chain wear is after the 3rd adjustment because that
is undeniable evidence that the factory installed grease is beginning to
fail to lube the critical pin roller junction hidden behind the X ring... the
length of the chain is growing because of this metal to metal wear... I can
not call a chain serviceable that is grinding metal... it's like saying that a
dry bearing that runs ruff is acceptable... the net result is another 2 to
3% drop in RWHP as more energy is lost grinding metal behind the X
ring...This is what we don't see behind the X rings... metal to metal wear
every time we adjust the chain that eats into our engine's available
HP... a new pin measures 206.5 and wears down to 205.5 at the 8K mile
mark... looks good to the naked eye but multiply that 1 thousand of an
inch times 108 links and you have 108 thousands of an inch wear or
about the range of the green marks provided by Honda's wear gauge...
202.8 show the very visible wear at the 12K mile mark... the pins are
turning red from extreme heat of grinding dry metal... a chain in this
condition may consume up to 6 to 8% of our RWHP... not to mention it
may snap into and cause case damage...Some manufactures provided a handy guide to monitor chain wear... stay with
in the green and you'll be looking for a new chain and sprockets at the 8 to
10K mile mark...What we are lubing are external roller and between the roller and the
sprockets (red area in my drawing)... we are not lubing the X rings
nor behind the X rings so any oil applied in that effort is a waste
and will only fling off...
We are lubing the external roller and between the roller and the
sprockets (red area in my drawing)... we are not lubing the X rings
nor behind the X rings so any oil applied in that effort is wasted
fling off...- 2
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General info...
Trouble shooting Chris's RC45 continuous high idle the culprit proved
to be air leaks... you see that on a fuel injection engine *any* air that
bleeds past the throttle bodies the map just increases the correct
amount of fuel... the result is high continuous idle... make sure all
the rubber hoses are connected and in good shape... make sure all the
intake boots are tight and in good flexible shape... if the rubbers
are hard and cracked its time for replacement...- 1
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You're welcome... but it is designed to dampen clutch knock not engine sound...
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Welcome Charles...
Before Mr.RC45 I had a love affair with my 86 VF500F Interceptor
bought new from Golden Gate Cycles... I modified it extensively...
Dymags... Billet Clutch basket... Exhaust and even converted the chain
to belt... This became famous Belt-0-Ceptor... I racked up 98,000
trouble free miles... I sold it to my Air Force buddy up in White City
Oregon...Home made Billet Clutch Basket
My custom dash with Oh Shit warning...
Sometimes being the littlest bike among the Big-Bad-Motors of Death
can be a recipe for bruised egos...
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The BLS method of removing grips without destroying them...
1)slip a rat tail comb under the grip...
2)trickle alcohol down the length of the gap created by the comb...
3)remove comb and twist the grip to work the alcohol in between grip
and throttle barrel...Best grip I found is Spider Grips...
Spider Grips feature durable variable density elastomers, patent
pending shaped boundary layers with isolated secondary layers, energy
dispersing flanges, and a multi-faceted geometric surface area. Spider
Grips are manufactured in Taiwan and distributed by Pit Bull.Ride with Spider Grips and you'll feel less vibration, which in turn
means less fatigue. You can give up the death grip hold, so you won't
get arm pump and you'll be able to ride longer. Special grip material
works great, even when wet.- 1
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STEERING HEAD BEARINGS
If your steering head bearings are too tight the bike will weave and
not seek its own center... if your steering head bearings are loose
you'll notice a pronounce clunk during braking... I don't use torque
figures rather I raise the front wheel off the ground and tighten the
steering head bearings until the bars lock then I back off the nut
until the bars free wheel with a slight drag... with this method you
find that sweat spot and avoid over tightening and under tightening
even if you upgrade to taper roller bearings...- 1
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Lower cost by skipping the replacement of worn sprockets are for owners who close their wallets with
a Chinese Torque wrench...We don't have to guess about wear because Honda provided a handy
guide to monitor chain wear... stay with in the green and you'll be looking
for a new chain and sprockets at the 8 to 12K mile mark...- 1
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On 8/17/2023 at 6:52 PM, Escobar said:
So is my oil pump failing? Will oil change fix it?
No and no but here is how to check your Red oil light...
1) Key on and Red Light on...
2)Crank the engine and note how many revolutions it takes for the oil
pump to extinguish the Red light... have you noticed that after an oil
change it takes many revolutions before enough oil fills the empty
filter???3)Establish a warm and steady idle...
4)Stop engine by activating the kill switch and note the time it takes
for the red light (0 psi) to illuminate...5)If the red light illuminates before engine reaches full stop suspect
a faulty pressure relief valve... If the Red light extinguishes
immediately at full stop or it takes noticeable more time for the oil
to bleed from the rod and crank bearings... system is normal and you
may ride as is...Mobil 1 30 grade auto oil at 203F and flowing at 10 psi on my digital oil gauge mod which is just about perfect...
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4 hours ago, twistednoble said:
What you may have is normal clutch knock at idle... you see over time
slop develops allowing the gear teeth to knock about and thus the
noise... grab the clutch lever and the inner basket helps align the
outer basket and the noise deadens... the only cure is to eliminate
the slop with new clutch parts...- 1
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On 8/12/2023 at 3:23 PM, Fastdruid said:
1) The slave cylinder (and the master cylinder etc).
2) The oil.
Manufactures warn owners that our gears can't shift smoothly if our clutch is part
way engaged... check for unwanted clutch drag...
Here are the steps how to check and eliminate unwanted clutch drag...
1 Place your bike on the center stand...2 Start engine and establish a steady idle at 212ºF (operating temp)...
3 Squeeze in the clutch lever and shift into first gear...
4 Continue holding in the clutch lever and note if the rear wheel coast to stop or not...
if it continues spinning that's unwanted drag... adjust...
To adjust a cable equipped bike turn the small knob clock wise (out)
1/4 turn and test for clutch drag... if your bike is equipped with
hydraulics bleed system for bubbles...
Ultimately you want the rear wheel to coast to a stop when the engine
is idling and first gear selected with the clutch lever is squeezed in... -
On 8/10/2023 at 11:24 AM, Fastdruid said:
Suspect maybe oil so I'm going to change to another brand and see if that helps. If not then its new clutch time.
The holy trinity of science is 1)Reason 2)Observation 3)Experience...
employing those tools we observe that the primary cause clutch slip
are high mileage... mileage is the constant among all of the clutches
that begin to slip... oil type is not a constant...If you wish 100,000 mile clutch life then you have to invest is some
good old sweat equity... first Mic them to determine if they are serviceable
within the factory specifications...It's a fact that all motorcycle wet clutches will reach a point in
their life and begin slipping... the first signs happen during WFO
throttle (Wide Fooking Open)... Don't be surprised if you tear a part
the clutch pack and note that the plate thickness is well within
specifications listed in the shop manual... What you will notice is
the glazed appearance on the surface on the friction plates...Inspect the friction plates for glazing... make sure you have plenty
of material to work with... your shop manual states clutch thickness
in thousands of an inch or mm...First removed the contaminants with Acetone... pick a hard surface to lay
over a 600 grit black dry emery paper... rotate the clutch plate in a
circle... you're just busting the glaze... don't get carried away
remove too much material... You should end up with a friction plate
looks dull like a new one as opposed to a shinny glazed one... recheck
thickness...
Next check the pressure plates for bluing caused by localized heat...
make sure they are not warped... consult the manual for a thickness
range... now removed the contaminants with Acetone and wire wheeled
them to erased the blue and also to generally scuff up the surface...
you should end up with a dull surface free of Blue marks... -
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Thanks to you Miguel VFRD is unquestionable an outstanding site... The
membership you have attracted is of the highest expertise... they know
how to multiply V4 pleasure and divided V4 grief... It is indeed a joy
to express an appreciation on behalf of that membership as well as my
personal gratitude for your passion and participation... you will be
missed my friend...- 3
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I learned the hard way that bigger is not always better when it comes to our air boxes...
My friend Stephen called long distance from England because he just
installed a $900.00 HRC air box on his RC45 and saw 120HP on the
dyno... mmmmm... together we wondered if the stock box be modified???
We found that stock RC45 throttle bodies are 46mm but the air box was
restricted to 40mm... no problem... I'll bore the air box out to 47mm
on the milling machine...
I drew up plans for 47mm bell mouth based on the stock 40mm bell
mouths and purchased a block of black Delrin...
I'm not happy doing repetitious work but I labored long hours to
machine 4 each bell mouths with my best accuracy...
Don't you love when a plan comes together especially if it turns out
perfect???
Now I had an unrestricted air box with my own 47mm bell mouths... it
was the best I could do to replicate HRC $900.00 air box... not to
mention I wanted to keep my home made K&N filter...
Time to put the Mod to the test... this is Dave at Chandelle
Motorsports...
No joy... I lost 1.8HP on the dyno... so bigger is not better in this
case... a whole week worth of work shot down in flames... it seems
Honda got the intake velocity right for a stock pipe after all... air
boxes are like tuned instruments... alter the holes and the tune
suffers...
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On 11/10/2022 at 8:23 PM, squirrelman said:
the #1 thing to avoid in oils is "energy saving" oil
Negative...
Our understanding of oil is not growing if we still warn against EC
oil... because Energy Conserving is not additive... its an API test
that this "oil MAY result is an overall saving of fuel in the vehicle
fleet as a whole"... there is nothing in the oil to defeat a wet
clutch in good working order...My RC45 has over 57K miles and those are miles not in moderation
either... its a homologated race bike with a first gear good for 90mph...since 98 I've been running Mobil 1 5w30 Energy Conserving oil 365 days
a year... with no clutch slippage due to oil...
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When it comes to choosing a coolant just pick the color dye you prefer as they are all about the same amount of glycol and de-ionzed water...
Pro Honda HP Coolant 50/50 Premix 49% Propylene Glycol 50% demineralized water Green dye
Engine Ice Hi-Performance Coolant is pre-mixed Propylene Glycol with de-ionized water with blue dye
Belray MotoChill pre-mixed Propylene Glycol with de-ionized water with blue dye
Prestone Xtreme Sport Prediluted Motorcycle Coolant Propylene Glycol 50% demineralized water with red dye
Dexcool 50% Propylene Glycol and demineralized water with orange dye...
I don't recommend Water Wetter for the street because in 6 months the steel
impeller on the Honda water pump begins to show rust... I only recommend it
for track use and when you return to street drain the Wetter and go back to
normal coolant with rust inhibitors...Troubleshooting High Temps
If you see *continuous* temps higher than 220ºF or below 180ºF then
trouble shooting is in order:Continuous engine temps above 220ºF or 104ºC is also a problem and the proper
order of items to trouble shoot are:1)Faulty radiator cap... system should hold 1.1 pressure ratio...
2)Insufficient coolant...
3)Passages blocked in the radiator, hose or water jacket...
4)Air in the system...
5)Thermostat stuck closed...
6)Faulty temp meter or thermo sensor...
7)Faulty fan...
8)Faulty fan switch...- 1
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Considering a VFR... help
in Eighth Generation VFR's
Posted
Hiya Johnnie...
Even though Freddie Spencer had an RC45 during his High-Performance
Riding School days he would instead dice with the students on his
VFR... I think that the 5th gen VFR (98 to 01) has more sport and less
tour than the other generations...
Freddie Spencer's RC45 serial number 6...