Top Ten Tuning Tips - share your experience in worthless tuning!

[John]

Hi all,

Reading all these topics about tuning... How far can you go?


When I was young I had quite a few mopeds and smaller size bikes: I filed, drilled and sanded everything I could with the intention of increasing power! 

The history repeats itself but with more power (and money) on stake. The difference now (I hope) is that I know what I'm doing.

I'm just waiting for the post where someone has glued styrofoam or cork at the low end side of the piston to increase the low end compression without increasing the moving weight too much (resulting in a moment of glory and residues coming out of the exhaust).

I've done a lot of stupid things in the name of HP's including setting myself on fire with nitrogen but I never did what I described above - I promise.

Funny how these things comes around...

Waiting with eager to hear the "Top Ten Tuning Tips" that never worked.

Someone told me that if tweaked my H*nda CB125B6 by adjusting the cam shaft timing I could gain lot's of HP - the only thing I gained was valves coming out of the exhaust. That was my fist 4 stroke top end rebuild. Learned a lot about 4 strokes but I spend more money than what I originally bought the bike for.

Please share your moment of glory!

//John

[YUNGGUNNAZ]

here's one for you.had a guys yz490 here 5-6 yrs. ago down for crank bearings and seals etc.decided that if i plug the crank holes i could increase crankcase pressure some.got some metal freeze plugs that tapped in good then had a fellow tack weld them for insurance.put it back together and started it up and five minutes it went to hell fast.no more of that crap.i worked all night to get him to the race.

[kx666]

what i found to be the most overlooked preformance mod is gearing.

[KXcam22]

Ok John fess up.  How did you set yourself on fire with nitrogen???

I haven't done too many tuning oops, except for doing irreversible cylinder porting and getting a really slow bike out of it (much slower than when I started).   Cam.

[FuriouSly]

Hehehe,  pesky Nitro....gen.

I remember one late night with my son doing a rebuild and adding some motor performance parts to his Banshee quite an easy mistake that took a few hours to figure out.  After putting it all together and starting it up for the first time,  it ran like crap.  Smoked like a chimney and would not rev-up worth a darn.  Needless to say after 8 hours of work doing the mods my brain was toast could not get ahold of the problem, so we called it quits and admitted defeat until the morning.

We got up the next day and within 10 minutes found the problem.  The slides in the carbs were switched left to right,  very common problem with the dual carb banshees,  especially when you are tired.   

Moral to the story?  When your tired your tired and generally the problem with most things not working are right in front of your nose and very easy to fix.  Take a break and cool-off,  get some rest,  refresh and get back to it.

Sly

[ebers17]

Just a tip, that when you take your bike to your Dad's buddies shop for some work, and then you find out your Dad and the rest of his buddies are at the shop working on the bike WHILE drinking hard cider, its best to go and pull your bike out of the shop A.S.A.P!    You'll find out that they're all rocket scientists lol

[KXcam22]

Sly,
  I recall doing that on my roadrace bike once.  Same thing...ran like crap and it took awhile to figure out how stupid I was. Cam.

[John]

I'll save the nitro story for later - or maybe never.

I burnt my legs, but nothing serious. Let's say I did too many things at the same time; the flywheel was off the fuel line was leaking and the...... story goes on.

My only comfort was that sandbox (?!) close by. That saved the bike but cost me many hours of cleaning.

I'm older now...

Another good story was when I did my yearly road worthy test and stuffed the Yoshi "silencer" of my GSX1100 full with insulation - the idea seemed good at the time! The MOT guy who checked the bike rewed it and out came a handful of insulation and the mesh I stuffed in there. It did not drop out on the floor, it shot halfway across the garage. Needless to say, the bike did not pass and I had to sweep the floor.


//John

[KXcam22]

John,
  Still waiting for that nitro story, The "complete" one. Come on fess up John.  Cam.

[kx666]

Hehehe,  pesky Nitro....gen.

I remember one late night with my son doing a rebuild and adding some motor performance parts to his Banshee quite an easy mistake that took a few hours to figure out.  After putting it all together and starting it up for the first time,  it ran like crap.  Smoked like a chimney and would not rev-up worth a darn.  Needless to say after 8 hours of work doing the mods my brain was toast could not get ahold of the problem, so we called it quits and admitted defeat until the morning.

We got up the next day and within 10 minutes found the problem.  The slides in the carbs were switched left to right,  very common problem with the dual carb banshees,  especially when you are tired.   

Moral to the story?  When your tired your tired and generally the problem with most things not working are right in front of your nose and very easy to fix.  Take a break and cool-off,  get some rest,  refresh and get back to it.

Sly

I have an emberassing Banshee moment,

i had just rebuilt her including porting and other mods. i was taking her out for the first ride but she did not want to run right. smoking, wouldnt rev., wouldnt idle...

i ran her the day before we left and she ran great. after spending most of the day checking eerything i finaly took it to Florance Yamaha (before Bart unding sold it i knew every one there).

Minutes later they told me she was running perfect, they just had to release the parking brake   
so i am sure you can guess what was removed when i got home!!! 

[KXcam22]

About 6 beer from the fridge??   :-DCam.