Carpenter Questions

Ok, I am seriously thinking about pulling the trigger on the 240hp Carpenter kit. I have read most if not all of the threads on the site but sometimes there are some slightly conflicting accounts and in some cases my simple mind didnt fully grasp the gist of post. So please allow for stupid questions.

Mostly for the sake of time I am thinking about buying the kit and having my bike dude do the dismantling and mantling (is that a word?).

Question 1: Carpenters will flash the ecu but of course they would not be able to perform the dyno tuning. How much HP do you think I would leave on the table sans the dyno tuning? Would a local dyno tune outfit be able to accomplish the same as if Carpenter dyno tuned it (I guess meaning is there anything proprietary about Carpenters dynotune or can any competent shop do it)?

Question 2: Do you need to run premium or will it still run fine with low test (some areas in the state dont have premium)?

Question 3: Does the engine vibration increase, decrease, or remain the same after the conversion?

Question 4: Has anyone had a reliability problem, does Carpenter assist you after the sale (I saw a youtube video where a guy with a blown engine was not happy with Carpenter, but he may be the outlier)?

Question 5: Would you do it again?

Thanks, I will have more I am sure, lol.

There are a number of Carpenter aficionados here, and they will chime in with time.

The answer to your questions are all "Yes", with a heap o' caveats (save the question about vibration - I've seen no reports of that).

*IF* your local guy is truly competent, then yes, the kit can be installed. If he hasn't done it before, he'll be missing the efficiency Carpenter enjoys thanks to multiple installations and you are likely to incur greater overall cost.

*IF* you have access to a good tuner (topic of MUCH discussion on this site and I'll tell you there is a dearth generally -- but you may have one close by) you can do it - nothing special about the way Carpenter goes about it. If it were my bike, I would take the engine map he offers with the kit, and be done with it.

*fuel* is either -- but the bike's performance is lower on lower octane fuel.

The reliability question has been asked many times, and answered many times, and this is tricky. There might be five people who blew up their motors and blamed the bike, sold the parts, and quietly left us, and we never heard from them. What I will say, is that of the people who have the mods, they almost universally like it, and say there have been no abnormal reliability issues, with many many thousands of post-mod miles (and smiles).

If your pocket book can bear the cost, and your heart is set on it, Carpenter is a viable way to go.

I think taking it to Carpenter is the way to go. I would personally love to get into my bikes innards and do the work myself but for the performance I think Carpenter's price is more than fair and I believe the bike is dynoed in the price as well.

Premium fuel is recomended in any motor with a compression ratio of 9.5 to 1 or more. I believe the 240 kit is 12 to 1 and the 265 kit is 14.5 to one.

Any time you increase the power you will be reducing the longevity of the motor and drivetrain will be reduced.

!-IDK
2-Regular, I asked Bob if premium would be better, he said nope, it's tuned for regular
3-same
4_no problems, and Bob seems like a stand up guy, I think if it was his fault he would, but when you are more than doubling the horsepower on any kind of engine, I'm not sure anyone would "warranty" it as such against breakage.
5-yes
A friend who was a lifelong MC mechanic was slightly offended that I didn't get the parts sent and have him do it, I didn't doubt he could, but A, how many have you done like this (0), and B, what if it went bad, you don't have the resources to make it right. I am a carpenter by trade, but I do most everything and anything construction related. I installed my own kitchen cabinets, but for the granite countertops, I hired it, it's specialized, and I'm sure I could do it if I had to, but for the difference, if there's a problem or breakage, it's their problem, not mine. And unless the local guy is working for free, what are the actual savings in the end? Just my opinion, of course, but certain things, I leave to experts.

I stand corrected on fuel then. Weird. I thought higher octane reduced knocking in high compression engines.

Joesmoe said:

*fuel* is either -- but the bike's performance is lower on lower octane fuel.

Click to expand...

I'm very curious what you are basing that on? A bike tuned on regular is tuned to fire for a particular detonation point, someone on another forum did back to back dyno runs on a bike tuned for regular, if I remember 2 on regular, 2 on premium, premium resulted in 2 or 3 hp less than the regular. It's a common misconception that premium is somehow more powerful, or creates more energy than regular. I believe it just retards detonation so you can compress it more and maybe advance the timing a bit.

Norm- it does if you tune/build the engine for it. I think his 265 kit is higher compression and requires premium.

I was influenced, perhaps improperly, by this discussion:

Happy Days My Rocket is Done

Perhaps @Claviger might comment further.

Joesmoe said:

I was influenced, perhaps improperly, by this discussion:
Happy Days My Rocket is Done
Perhaps @Claviger might comment further.

Click to expand...

Yes indeed Paul.
Rob had his first Carp build done by another mechanic when in Hawaii.
He had some major issues and eventually sent his bike to Carpenter.
Rob is now in 24 - 7 boner mode!

265 kit, different animal, higher compression and built/tuned for high octane, Paul.