TOPIC:

I have decided to keep my 1000 shaftie and convert to chain drive.

What are the downfalls of this engine for building, and what are some things needed to do? I have heard things like "big pin crank" and "smog head". The bike runs great right now, I just need more umph. I am currently running a 4-1 no baffle, my 900 carbs, pods, ignition upgraded.

I am planning on spending around $1000. Don't want a turbo, a little Eaton M90 would be cool but probably unpracticle. Needs to run on 93 octane also.

THanks

130-160hp is gonna be really hard to hit for the amount youve allowed yourself to spend,not to mention what 130-160hp is going to require to put it to ground and stop it safely.id reccomend gradually building up your bike as time and money allows.maybe talk to gearbanger to see what he did to his shaftdrive bike to hold driveline together. goodluck,happpywrenching!

I think the only way you are going to get 130-160 hp for $1000 is a turbo or nitrous.
And possibly an Eaton M45/M90, but that's if you do all the fab work yourself.

To do it on motor is going to cost more than that.

My opinion anyway

$1000 won't get you there. The parts alone will be more than that. All the machine work might be around a grand. You do have the best motor you can get so thats a good sign. You should start with getting what you need for the chain conversion then get the crank done and the tranny undercut. Don't go cheap with the bottom end. If you get the best bottom you can the rest is easy and can be built up over time without much work.

$1000 dollars could be put toward a good used header, free flowing filter, and a dyno tune to get the best out of it. It's not necessarily the hp, its the torque and throttle response is where the fun is. Your $1000 won't be wasted, it could bring that bike to life. The chain conversion could be expensive and held off until you have the budget later.
My bike is being done in stages - engine was first with a few suspension tweaks and ridden for 2 years like that, this year full suspension and brake swap/upgrade, next year will be paint and cosmetic work. If I did it all at once it would be way over my budget set aside each year for bike shenanigans.

www.oldkawman.com/oknd.html

love him or hate him, he has got a nice step by step for what you will need to do.....

$1000 budget isn't much these days. Kind of like trying to use a toothpick for a baseball bat.. To get that HP level out of a bone stock KZ1000, on that budget would require a lot of self ability and some parts connections. Let's look at some options available to you.

There is the top down vs bottom up methods to consider. You want it rock solid...go bottom up - You want it now...go top down.

If all you have to start with is a bone stock motor, then APE's SSR1075 kit should be on your consideration list...there goes nearly $800 but you have something that will make a marked performance improvement and you should be able to get by without welding the crank...for now. If the crank is in good condition, you're not likely going to break it.

You could run that kit with stock, rejetted carbs and exhaust if you had to and still notice a big improvement in performance. You'd not get the most out of it but you definitely would feel a difference.

Another option would be drop in cams. The thing with those is later on down the road, they may be inadequate.

Street porting without cams to complete the airflow may leave you disapointed. At least a drop in cam shold compliment the porting.

Good smoothbore carbs and a pipe will give you a very noticable improvement in performance and compliment big bore, cams & porting when you can afford it. If you got the right deal on the carbs and pipe, you'd have enough left over to freshen up the cylinderhead.

Based on your long term goal for the bike you may want to build the foundation first and have the bottom end work done. You won't feel any big seat of the pants gains from it but you will have it out of the way and not need to tear the entire motor down if you went with the SSR1075 kit later on. It will also be a smooth running engine will minimal vibration.

Hey high toned,What do you wanna change your shafty to a chain for ??? You can see what all i've done to my 1100 shafty,the drive shaft system is holding up faithfully . I'm pretty tuff on the old girl so if the shaft system was gonna come aprt i'm sure it would have by now . Hollar if you have any questions .

geerbangr wrote:

Hey high toned,What do you wanna change your shafty to a chain for ??? You can see what all i've done to my 1100 shafty,the drive shaft system is holding up faithfully . I'm pretty tuff on the old girl so if the shaft system was gonna come aprt i'm sure it would have by now . Hollar if you have any questions .

(key up the soul music)who is the man with the 425 cams ?uh..... geerbanger:whistle:

Let's see, a new chain, engine cases, chain style output shaft, sprockets, swingarm, rear wheel, etc... I think that you may find that the rear brake won't fit much of anything so you will have to fab some type of mount for the rear caliper if you intend on using it... This should leave you about $3 for the engine upgrade! hehe If you don't understand all the things needed to convert to chain, start there and think through the issues and then decide if you can do the work and if you will have any money left afterwards for the engine hop up.

To get far over 100 hp, you will need a "big block"... start by pricing a block and piston kit from APE... Then price some headwork or conversion to a head with bigger valves... then price some cams.

$1000 won't get you there...

geerbangr, why don't you tell him approximately what it would cost for him to duplicate your motor? I think that would put him somewhere near his wants for crank hp, although he didn't specify 130-160 crank or rear wheel hp.

I think drive train losses for the shaft are generally assumed to be around 20%?

Some info in the Archives:

First

"Posted by mpowell"

My motor isn't too radical. I have:

29mm smoothbore carbs
mildly ported head with stock valves
anderews 4x cams .430" lift
heavy valve springs and shim under bucket conversion
wiseco 1075 piston kit 10.25:1
welded 900 crank
undercut trans
heavy duty molly cylinder and case studs and head nuts
heavy duty cam chain
breathing out through a Vance & Hines PCO sidewinder
dyna electronics dyna S, coils, wires, 2 step rev limiter and shift minder

This setup makes about 120 RWHP and propelled me to a 10.69 @ 124 mph last year in the 1/4 mile with a bad clutch. It runs real strong and if you build a motor like it you'll be pulling your bike back apart and puting a wider wheel up under it with a slick 'cause a street tire is usless in the first 2 gears.

LINK to Archived thread

Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/11/22 09:19

steell wrote:

...I think drive train losses for the shaft are generally assumed to be around 20%?

%5 to %8 on average, given a good set of bevels and everything is lubed and working right.

Likewise, a a good chain in peak adjustment can be as high as %98 efficient. Early helicopters tried using long-ass chain setups to run the tail rotors for the same reasons - weight savings and power transfer efficiency - but ran into the same problems that dOOd with the dual-ie Yamaha in the other thread is begging for...

If gettin' ponies to the rear wheel is the issue, though, it's hard to beat a good chain...