redline for "built" engine? (designing new gauge)

I am ordering a new electronic tach for my KZ1000 project. With todays digital printing available I am able to customize the face to exactly what I want. The gauges I had were from an LTD and had redline at 8500 and top end at 11000. I have read in a few places that I should bring the redline down to 8000 with a "built" engine. Is this true? I have seen MKII(at least i think they are MKII) gauges with a redline at 9000 and top end at 12000.

What would be an appropriate range for this engine? They are sending me the templates and I will be designing the faces myself. Pretty excited. I'm also gonna get a GPS speedo.

Im getting them from Speedhut so far there customer service has been awesome, i spent at least 15 minutes talking to someone there who was very patient while i bombarded him with questions and changed my mind at least 3 times.

FYI, I have a 80 MKII engine, when finished it will have a welded crank, 1075 kit, mild port and polish, webber 118 cams, and 29 smoothbores.

Ask Larry C at: www.cavanaughracing.com/

You can set the redline at whatever you want. Hell 27 million rpm's sounds good to me. :woohoo: If I was going your route I would have the motor dyno'd and see where the sweetspot is and set everything for whatever rpm that would be. You can have a higher rpm with a balanced motor and a set of carbs that won't lean out on the top end. But all motors loose HP on the top end it just depends at what rpm hence the dyno.

Redline is 8500, set it up at 8500 just like the original gauge.
Where it stops pulling may be higher, may be lower.
Redline is maximum safe operating speed for a given engine with the parts involved clearly dictating that given speed.
You have heavier pistons now, higher lift cams now(hopefully with matching springs), ported head now, better carbs. Sure, it will spin way past redline and go boom now. You will know when it noses over to shift. that would be your maximum HP redline. My safe guess would be well under 10,000.

there r 2 redlines. 1 that it stops making power at, and 1 that it stops living at. lol
i'd go with the first 1.
that can realy only be determind by a dyno. id just stick with 8500 to 9000. it will be close. unless u have good porting and a motor that realy breaths well, it will not make power much past that redline.

Once you go over 10,000rpm, you can start damaging the crank bearings. The caged roller bearings stop rolling and start sliding. Do that too much and you need a new crank...