I am the king of the cams!
 

Just got back from my test ride, and somewhat to my astonishment I don't appear to have turned my bike into a grinding ruin while doing the K3 cam swap.

First impressions? I've got a big kick of power where I didn't used to above 6000 rpm, but it was too wet and slidey to really go for it. The other rthing I really noticed was the engine sound- much louder, and very different on engine braking. In fact, this combined with the twin system made me feel very paranoid about using the top end... At anything above 7000rpm it sounds mental, actually quite unsettling, so I found I was short shifting every time unless I really concentrated on using hte full rev band. I'll need to do a bit more riding before I decide how big a benefit it's given, of course

Also, the job itself was far easier than I'd expected... Removing and fitting the cam chain tensioners are probably the hardest bit, the rear one almost made me cry :) Very fiddly- the front one's under a frame spar but at least you can see it. Haynes manual recommends to take the rear wheel off to get at the rear tensioner, but I didn't really think that'd help. Other 'n that, nothing really difficult at all. I think it'd become harder if you managed to knock your timing off, mind, but as long as you're careful and check everything it's really a doddle.

For anyone else thinking of doing it, I've got a big page of instructions condensed from SVRider, but frankly I hardly used them- positioning the new intake and doing the intake/exhaust swap is really a matter of common sense and care. In the end I found the directions confusing and ignored them.

At the same time I replaced my screen, removed my blown Glowgauges tach gauge, and serviced the front calipers- the calipers were the hardest part! I hate bleeding brakes, give me cam surgery any day :)

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When you going to get it on the dyno?

:lol: :lol: :lol: You'll turn it all into a K3 eventually :wink:

If I crash it enough it'll end up as ugly as one anyway :)

Burner, don't know... Alvins is open again this week so I'll give them a bell and find out when they can actually do the work (they've got a dyno but a lack of trained staff who can use it properly) and I'll need to see about getting bigger jets as well first. Couple of weeks, probably. Also, I need to decide what exhaust system to keep... What a hardship ;)

Out of interest did you revert back to the standard timing key or have you kept the advanced one?


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It does sound like you have got the engine to behave like a K3!!

There was definitely a kick at the 6,000rpm mark and all hell broke loose at 7,000-ish rpm... Mine was a little noisy, as most people who knew it would, I'm sure, confirm - earplugs were a necessity! :shock: Below the 4-5,000rpm mark, it was fairly well mannered, noise wise (useful around town but flick that wrist!!!! :twisted:
God, I want my bike back! :cry:
I would definitely be interested to hear the results of a dyno-run!

[quote="northwind"]:winner:

Good question. Mebbe he'll let us know.

A little more time on the bike now... The difference is pretty solid, I wouldn't just measure it in hp- there's a real immediacy to everything, power on and off, and... Hard to explain, but theres a real feeling of solid power about everything, as if it'll just keep on pushing you forwards forever. This is what i love about the SV anyway, the easy roll-on from about 2500 revs to the redline, but now it's the same only more so.

Still on the advancer- shouldn't cause any problems, other than a little more stress on the engine. You can fit the advancer into a K3 after all. I'm told that you only need to worry about advanced timing if you start raising the compression or you're running on low octane fuel- in other words, you're doing things that are more likely to cause ignition/pinging/detonation.

Coombest, it's a hotter cam setup than the K3 stock- the exhaust cam is supposed to be the most restrictive of the two. With the system, jetting, filter, and advancer, it should be in the high end of the 70s- that's proper bhp at the rear wheel not your cheatin' crank figures ;) But I don't really want to make any assumptions to be honest. I don't have any proper before/after figures, so I'll not be able to pin any increases down to just one bit- time and cost meant I couldn't get it properly jetted before hte cams when it might want doing again after.

The bike was outrageously noisy even without the cams, now it's downright hostile... Plus there's no way of making it go quiet- with the old single can system I could just cruise past police cars at 3000 rpm, lovely- but with the twin system and cams there's no quiet option. I'll borrow a meter and clock the volume at the weekend.

So shortly to be for sale, one demonically loud twin exhaust full system :) Going to get Zorstec to knock me up a baffle and maybe a heat shield for the WRP then swap back.

Would be interested in more details of what cam set up you went for.

We replaced my Y2K exhaust cams with some from a K3. Ended up with 75.1 SAE at the rear wheel - An increase of 4.5 hp over the stock set up.

Even if you just went for the stock K3 cams in your older bike you should be looking at 78 plus as the intake cam is the more, er, hairy of the pair.