Furbird Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 As some of you know, I have two birds, one for the street, and one I picked up less than a year ago just for drag racing. The street bike I raced since I bought it, and I can cut killer lights on it, but it's not deadly consistent, and at my local track you have to run really good numbers. I've been fortunate with it the few times I have bracket raced it, but my biggest problem is breaking out. Not to mention, I wanted a bike that I could do nothing but drag race, so that's why I ended up buying a second bird. So, now I have this drag bird, and it has a slick, bars, and an MPS autoshifter. Today I ran it at the track (pretty big race) and it ran within .05 all day long, and I always leave a buffer just in case it decides it wants to run faster or the weather changes and it picks up speed. But I cannot get that thing to get on the tree at all. I started off red lighting, and I mean bad, then I could run a couple of .02 lights, even a .004, then I start cutting horrible greens, like .16 and .22. It doesn't matter how close you run on your numbers if you leave a quarter second on the tree to somebody. I tried launching it like my street bird, no dice. I tried moving deeper and shallower into the staging beams, no luck with that. I tried delaying or increasing my clutch letout time (which is a huge no-no, because then if I race the street bike again I'll totally screw up and my launch method has been the same for years). I just cannot get it to cut a consistent light. One thing I've noticed is that the clutch won't ever lock into place. I don't know if you guys have this issue, but on my street bird, you let the clutch out slightly when you get on the tree and you could feel a little knock, almost like the clutches were lining up or something, then it would release like a clutch in anything else. If I tried to pull in the tree and not "bump" the clutch out, when I'd let the clutch go it would bang into place then immediately pop out then back in again. On a bad day, it would bang so hard it would stall the bike. So, bump the clutch once, then it would act normal. On the drag bird, that doesn't work. Every time I let the clutch out a little, it knocks like that. If I pull it back in, it knocks like that again. So now when I get in the tree, I have to release some pressure on the clutch to let it knock that way it will launch like it's supposed to. Obviously, this is causing wear on the clutches, and it's hard to sit there with the clutch slightly out because you don't know if you have it out at the same distance as you did before, so you could end up leaving early or late. If you let it out too far, the bike creeps. Pull it back in too far and it will knock when you let it out. So I know all of this is causing me to have so many problems with my lights. I have a spare set of stock clutches on the shelf, and I also have an entire Barnett clutch kit in the box. Should I swap out to the other clutches and see if it eliminates this problem, or use the Barnett, or use the Barnett springs with the stock clutch plates? The bike is bone stock engine, no power adders, is on slick and bars but I leave really easy so I don't tear stuff up. Screw the ET, I want it to go round after round year after year and only change oil, tires, and maybe a chain. I'm leaning towards the Barnett kit but figured I'd ask you guys first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HANKSXXX Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 What years are both bikes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Both bikes are 99's. Just for further information, I have had the slick (with the same cush drive, wheel, even the sprocket) and the bars on the street bird before and the clutch acted just like it did with a street tire, so it is definitely something that is only on the drag bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrxxquad Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 You need to pull the clutch apart and inspect. Look at the thickness, and the edges of the keys to the drum. I have had some plates break also. Fibers have some problems. Make sure you check for the blue ones on the first and last fibers. One of the tricks is to bow the metals to soften the hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spicholy Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Do you use the same oil in both bikes. If not, one may cause the clutch to act differently than the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Same oil in both bikes. Same oil, same fuel from the same station, same header (different muffler). I purposely did that so that both bikes would be as close as possible so I'd have as little adjusting as I could to do between the two bikes. Unfortunately, that whole saying about the best laid plans is coming into effect in this situation. I'm pulling the clutch this week because there's another money race at a different track next Sunday. I'm kinda leaning towards just replacing the clutch plates at this point and seeing if that fixes it. I can always go back and go more radical with the springs or the whole Barnett kit. I've read in a couple of different places about the Barnett kit being real hard on the clutch basket. I don't leave hard, so that may not apply to my situation, but I also don't want to take any chances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like the same trouble my boy was having on his 1000 RR. Seems to be a common to some hydraulic clutches. Now this would only happen when he left real hard at the track. It was driving him crazy so much that he put a cable clutch on it that he could only find in Germany that cost him over $500. I let him run my Bird at the track one night and he said that if he pushed it hard off the line, my XX clutch felt the same way. I have read that the Busa can have the same trouble and things can be done to the clutch pack and basket to fix it but I don't remember what they are. I think Dean might have talked about it once, you might try him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon haney Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Sounds like the same trouble my boy was having on his 1000 RR. Seems to be a common to some hydraulic clutches. Now this would only happen when he left real hard at the track. It was driving him crazy so much that he put a cable clutch on it that he could only find in Germany that cost him over $500. I let him run my Bird at the track one night and he said that if he pushed it hard off the line, my XX clutch felt the same way. I have read that the Busa can have the same trouble and things can be done to the clutch pack and basket to fix it but I don't remember what they are. I think Dean might have talked about it once, you might try him. I think the modifications you are thinking of are part of Brock Davidson's "clutch cushion" mod. I have the very first one he ever did for a Blackbird. Furbird, I highly recommend this mod for both of your Birds. It makes the engagement so smooth, you can launch from any RPM you want, and it's not that expensive. I had this done when I was racing in Street ET so I could get a better/smoother launch. I now have six full seasons of racing with the slick & bar, and I'm still running the stock basket, hub, & pressure plate with little signs of wear. I have never left the starting line softly, so don't worry about breaking anything. I don't think it's possible on a stock motor (knock on wood). I'm actually using Hayabusa clutch plates (they are thinner which allowed me to get back the 7th plate I lost from the clutch cushion mod) from MTC. Their chrome-plated steels are so tough you will only need to buy one set, and their fibers have a lot more friction than Barnett. Also, if you want more consistent reaction times, you need to make some kind of "stop" for the clutch lever so you can pull it back to the same spot every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furbird Posted June 8, 2009 Author Share Posted June 8, 2009 Do you have a link to this product? I can find one for a Busa on Schnitz, and I went to Brock's website (or what I thought was his website) but there is no listing for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon haney Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Do you have a link to this product? I can find one for a Busa on Schnitz, and I went to Brock's website (or what I thought was his website) but there is no listing for it. I'm not surprised. The Bird gets no love from the drag racing after-market. Try emailing them: sales@brocksperformance.com You may have to remind them that they have done at least one cushion for a Bird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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