Adjustable Camshaft Sprockets

Seeking advice for using adjustable sprockets with 1984 ZX1100A two-bolt camshafts:

What do you want to know?


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What potential gains are attainable by using them in place ot the original stock sprockets, and are the gains (minor or significant) worth the setup effort involved for a bike used exclusively on the road?

 

You can adjust your IN and EX cam independently of each other to compensate cam chain strech or advance/retard the cam lobe spread to dail more low end tourqe or high end power.

Worth doing even on a stock bike and more so on one that's had work.
Cam timing is rarely spot on the design spec from the factory due to manufacturing tolerances and if they stack up the wrong way you end up with a slighly slower machine off the shop floor.
Degreeing the cams can find some missing power , perk the bike up and also compensate for camchain wear etc as Scirocco has already mentioned.

Something else to consider: while you are re-timing the cams check that the factory ignition TDC mark is accurate.  I have found 2 degrees retarded for the TDC mark on the factory advancer. Not much, but it made a noticeable difference once I corrected to actual TDC.

wrote:

Something else to consider: while you are re-timing the cams check that the factory ignition TDC mark is accurate.  I have found 2 degrees retarded for the TDC mark on the factory advancer. Not much, but it made a noticeable difference once I corrected to actual TDC.

The stock ignition was removed for a Dynatek 2000 in 2013.  

I'm not aware of similar accuracy issues with the Dyna system, but good to double check.

wrote:

wrote:

Something else to consider: while you are re-timing the cams check that the factory ignition TDC mark is accurate.  I have found 2 degrees retarded for the TDC mark on the factory advancer. Not much, but it made a noticeable difference once I corrected to actual TDC.

The stock ignition was removed for a Dynatek 2000 in 2013.  

I'm not aware of similar accuracy issues with the Dyna system, but good to double check.

It's the marks on the ATD (ADVANCER) in relation to the crankcase that can be off.
This would affect any ignition regardless of quality that retained those components.
For degreeing the cams though you would establish true TDC via the degree disc and piston stops and done correctly the timing would be accurate no matter whether the factory T mark lined up on the cases exactly or not. 

wrote:

wrote:

wrote:

Something else to consider: while you are re-timing the cams check that the factory ignition TDC mark is accurate.  I have found 2 degrees retarded for the TDC mark on the factory advancer. Not much, but it made a noticeable difference once I corrected to actual TDC.

The stock ignition was removed for a Dynatek 2000 in 2013.  

I'm not aware of similar accuracy issues with the Dyna system, but good to double check.

It's the marks on the ATD (ADVANCER) in relation to the crankcase that can be off.
This would affect any ignition regardless of quality that retained those components.
For degreeing the cams though you would establish true TDC via the degree disc and piston stops and done correctly the timing would be accurate no matter whether the factory T mark lined up on the cases exactly or not. 






 

Exactly. the factory is even aware of this and 3 degree swing is in their acceptable margin of error in ignition timing. Once you establish TDC for the cams. its easy to reset the ignition timing and if you like scribe a mark on the advancer to true TDC - thats what i did. advancing the timing just 2 degrees made the engine a little snappier for me. Ive actually wondered why Dyna doesn't get rid of the advancer entirely and control advance via electronics like some other ignition systems do.

this is the stock iginition curve for KZ1000J/K/M not sure what model  you have 

 

The Dyna 2000 advance is electronic, and it is adjustable at the ignition module.  See Dynatek 2000 factory programmed curve graph found on page 10 of the link below:

www.randakks.com/documents/Dyna%20DDK1-5...2%20Instructions.pdf

 

I stand corrected. I assumed the 2000 piggy backed on the stock advancer like the dyna-s. Have you played around with the different curves? If you end up timing your cams I’d be interested to see where the tdc mark aligns. 

Hi All, happy to stand corrected on this point but I have seen many posts about "degreeing" cams on a range of forums and chat boards however there is something that never seems to get mentioned. whether talking about "true TDC" for pistons or "full lift" on cams - in both cases there is approx 10 degrees of rotation as the cam lobe or crank journal goes "over centre" at which point the valve or piston is "static" . To be 100% accurate the timing should be based on the centre of this "dwell" period.
In the case of "hot" cams (my experience is with cars) the timing data provided is based on "full lift" EG: intake 110 degrees ATDC. If you don't base this on the centre of the "dwell" you could be 5 or 6 degrees out on the cam. Given that cams turn at half engine speed that would be 10 to 12 degrees out on the relationship between the cam and the crank. Depending on how radical your cam spec is this can be enough to cause some "mechanical love making" - IMHO