R1000

No you shouldn't, apart from fooling the plugs, which is a minor problem that can be corrected, the oil will contain more corrosive water and harmful substances for every 3 minutes run. The oil doesn't get hot enough during 3 minutes to dissipate condensation water that builds up at engine start.

The bike will pull significantly better in midrange and on high rpm. I've recently installed such system on my carbed Bird and say it was well worth the money (a little less than $700 for the complete system). I didn't dynoed the bike until more mods where done, but I guess the system gave about 10 horses and a noticeable snappier throttle response. The bike was also much easier to wheelie on first gear with the system. The used PC may be worth $200 or so, and a normal price for a used full system in good condition would be around $450.

Yes it's easy to miss the upper line, especially since the stock curve is just marked Bird -97 and one will focuse on that. I think I have got the camshafts exactly where I want. The are just checked to be in the right position, not fine adjusted at all since the engine delivers well at all rpm. The power increase at 3 to 4 k is 20 % up which improves cruising drivability significantly. The top end is up almost 30 hp at 11 000 rpm which means a lot for max acceleration and the power peak is also much wider than before.

I think everything that is done is covered earlier in this thread. The headwork is a piece of art, as the MIRA cutted seats. The comp ratio is just above 12 to 1, not 13 to 1 as I stated earlier. And the cams are quite mild Stage 1, the Kent Cams HO18 reworked street cams. They are in good shape but used once during a race with a sidecar racer that pulled well until the engine went into pieces. The bike runs very well, it is just about as strong as my GSX R1000 –03 with Yosh slipon and PC, which was the strongest stock sportbike in –03 and still is very competitive at track days. The power figure is better on the Bird, but there is more weight to carry. Still, the dyno report such high figures for the Blackbird that I must have a second check at another dyno. The person who dynoed the bike stated that the bike would read about 10% more on a Dynojet bench, I have to see that before I'm convinced. I guess I've been lucky and have got a combination that works nicely. Next step will be the RAM air addition since the FI model air ducts bolts on to carb models and builds usable pressure already from 100 mph. That will add 5+ horses.

The Bird was dynoed today. It gave 153 rwhp on a dyno that reads about 10 % less than a Dynojet 250. Even if that was said to be verified on several engines, it’s hard to believe that it would read 153*1.1= 168 rwhp on a 250 dyno. The bike is terribly strong though; it raises the front wheel some from ground on third gear The recent power is the thin upper grey line, blue line is stock and red line is Yamaha YZF R1 -07 from www.sportrider.com dyno graph. Dyno_Blackbird.pdf

I understand, the 190 is not the first choice for me either. I must use it to have a tyre for the dyno tomorrow, later I'll go back to 180 and the soft MP's are overkill the way this bike I used . The forecast is snow here tomorrow and I need to drive to another location In case its more than light flings melting directly, the dyno has to be cancelled.

Also the Ducati will benefit in turns with a 180 tyre, as any bike having a 5.5" rim would when it comes to quick cornering. Still, the change from a worn 180 Z6 to an almost new 190 MP 2CT was astonishing. The usual intense tail wiping in a bumpy high speed corner that I pass every day was completely cured with the new tyre.

I know the issue using a 190/50 tyre on the Bird has been debated to death, and I have had no intention to try using one. However, the bike will be dynoed tomorrow and the Z6 rear is totally out. The shops are closed so I mounted the GSX R's Michelin Power 2CT 190/50 on the Birds 5.5" rim. To my great surprise, the combination work very well The Michelin tyre is a lot lighter than the Z6, and the profile is much better than the Z6, that was flattened due to a lot of driving to work on almost straight roads. Simply, the bike handles much better than it have ever done with the Metzeler Z6. It also turn in better, which may be the result of also putting a MP 2CT in front. When I searched for information I found the 190 vs. 180 on 5.5” rims to be debated a lot. Some reports the combination to work like shit, while others and even some people running fast on track say it work very well, as I now have found. I also noted that the Ducati 999R -06 is provided with a 190 tyre on a 5.5" rim from factory, which kind of killed my need to question if the combination will work. I guess a 180 Michelin tyre would work even better, and that a 190 Z6 would be worse than a 180 Z6. But I'm really happy with the 190 Michelin rear and the chassi gained a lot from this. The bike have a 6 mm shim and a fully adjustable rear shock, and the front is stiffened with WP springs.

OK thanks for the report. If I remember right you raised the intake runner floors according to mototune's instructions, which I didn't. In such case (you raised the floors) it seems that the stock large runners are not to bad on the Bird engine since my bike also runs very well without being weak at all below 7 krpm as before. The power transition at 7 k is not there anynore as before and t´he engine is much more linear. The main issue could have been bad valve seating for both of us, and that we now have raised the compression and lowered the squish height. I have the same feeling, I can now short shift in a totally different way than before, it doesn’t matter what gear in use as long as one cruise a low speeds, and it feels much snappier also on low rpm's at high gears. The intake roar without almost anything happening is away. The main difference between our engines after mod seems to be that the top end power on my engine has increased a lot, due to the new cams in combination with the more extensive head work with even slightly larger cross area on intake runners. They where not opened much at all, only with about 10% in certain areas, and all imperfections around seats etc was removed. The seats where also MIRA-cutted that might help some to, but I think the MIRA cutting is marginal as long as the valve to seat sealing is good.

Thanks

Need to buy a kit to dyno excersise, and there are two types of Keihin jets.

,,,,,I`d would say end of March when the bike is ready. Any news?

I got the chance to test the bike today with the ported head. I only runned for about 15 minutes before I returned and changed oil. The initial impression is that I have got a completely new bike, the throttle response is far better and when I launched like usual the bike did a long wheelie which it have never done during the same conditions. Will test more the coming weekend but there is no doubt that the porting and other camshafts have done great things to the engine. The bike will be dynoed next Monday. So far it has shown up to be much stronger than last year. I was staying behind a car this morning out on a very narrow corner on first gear, and planned to be there so I geared up to second at a low rpm and just cruised. Then I changed and twisted the throttle on second gear and was quite surprised, the front lifted 45 degrees and the bike felt terribly strong. I backed of softly and engaged the third gear just after touch down and once more gave full throttle. The bike lifted the front noticeably this time to, which was easier since it was a throttle off/on situation and the clutch was used. Anyway, this is a complete different behavior than last year and it would be wise to watch up until I have got used to the temperamental engine.

The ported head with stage 1 cams is installed, one piece of the head gasket was discarded and the head is milled 0.5 mm. Just to get the bit and pieces back for a test run tomorrow

You may not need HELI risers, or later VFR bars, which is a common mod to Birds. I have put the VFR bars on mine this winter since many people say it increases the comfort a lot. The VFR bars haven’t make me happy even though they are fine a slow speeds, I now feel a lot more wind pressure than with the stock bars and will probably return to them. I have been running a Suzuki GSX R1000 since 2003, which may have made me more tolerant for the stock bars on Birds, which are really comfy compared to the GSX R bars. I'm using a full Akrapovic exhaust on my Bird -97 and is honestly impressed by the improvement in mid range and top end power. Others say that the TI Force is the ultimate system concerning power for Birds.

Enlarge the hole in the mounting tab, or use a smaller bolt, or relocate the mid pipe mounting tab by MIG welding, There must be many options to fix this.

When I start the bike and let it run shortly at about 1700 rpm on fast idle, there is one (1) distinctive click sound after about five seconds. I sound almost like a car starter solenoid, but not as loud as such. Any one knows what is causing the click sound? Edit - It may be the new downpipes that change position during initial warm up, they are just puhshed into studs that are installed at the exhaust ports, and they are secured by springs. The sound was not there with stock downpipes.

Did you kept the middle part of the head gasket as said before, since it has an oil restriction? Will the gasket sealing still be OK? The outer plates are profiled. Will the valve to piston clearance still be OK after milling and removal of gasket sektion? Looking forward to hear your driving impressions with the modified head, and of corse what the dyno reads if that is done. I pulled top layer out,as far as a sealing you never know for sure,but I`ve logged 2000+ track miles on my 99 R1 with the same mode with no problems.Of course if it failes it will be in the middle of the Nevada desert in August ,,,,,,and I`ll die,,,,,,,, Piston to valve clearance,I`ll check that when I degree my cams ( still waiting for sprockets from APE-my fault),but since I`ll be running stock cams and almost stock timing I`ll be shocked if there is a prob here.Stock intake has rather low lift for its dim. All this cold weather,I got really lazy,can`t just force myself to evenings in not so warm shop,,,,,,,,,plus I still got to repair some stress cracks on plastics,paint the bike,fit Duc`s panniers,,,,,I`d would say end of March when the bike is ready. There is also a need to check that the valve shafts and disks are perfectly straight, at least if the history of the head is unknown as with mine. After the seats where MIRA cutted, it showed up that three exhaust valves where ever so little bent when the tightness was checked by fine grit carborundum. In case the valves are just lapped into old seats, an uneven seat following the profile of a bent disk could mask this. I now have a good idea of why all intake valves have been replaced recently.

Today it was the first trip this year and also the first run with a full Akra system, instead of the previous Devil dual slip-on. I believed that the difference would be almost negligible, but the bike pulls much better from mid-range and up to rev limit with the new system . The exhaust system change is just a preparation to the reworked head and other cams that will be installed.

Did you kept the middle part of the head gasket as said before, since it has an oil restriction? Will the gasket sealing still be OK? The outer plates are profiled. Will the valve to piston clearance still be OK after milling and removal of gasket sektion? Looking forward to hear your driving impressions with the modified head, and of corse what the dyno reads if that is done.

I too was surprised at how much work had to go into cleaning up my head. I had to replace 4 valves and about 9 of the shims were move pretty far out of whack. ¨ It appears as the seats and valves are not as wear resistant as the rest of the Bird's engine. The used head I got as a porting object is in very good condition, the valve guides are very tight and the camshaft bearing surfaces looks perfectly new. Still, all intake valves have recently been replaced by previous owner, and the seats looks like shit. Maybe the valves and seats needs to be recutted about every 50 000 km's or so to be in top shape.

Progress report - the head was returned for valve and seat cutting (MIRA). They where not perfect, which is needed to get good power and to make them last.

Thanks for the information ! The new head gasket didn't come Friday and I haven’t pulled the old head yet. Yes, the guy who ported my head said the same, that the seats where located offset the runners and that he had to fill on one half and grind the other half to line up the seats. I've seen the before-pictures and it looked very ugly. The shape of the ports is also different to ports on newer sport bikes, which produces much more power and has a better mid range to. So, I guess there is a lot to gain if the head is modified correctly and is provided with a matching camshaft. I'm interested to hear more of your findings as the progress goes on.

You're just probably going to have to do some dyno work... Even if somebody else has their head ported, they're probably not going to have exactly the same flow characteristics so yours, so I'd run it where you are, and see where it needs adjustment... If you want it "right" you'll have to either pick up a WBO2, or pay for some dyno time... Mike You are right. It will be dynoed as soon as the weather permits. I’ll put the stuff together next weekend if the new gaskets have arrived. The head work looks very good and the porter has spent far more hours than planned, still within the agreed price. Maybe it will be taken by trailer to the dyno as soon as possible, the shops have a 50% discount on work hours until the last of February. Adjusting a carbed bike is far more work intensive than the FI incarnations.