Journeyman
"And this one is just right" ~ Goldilocks
I just finished a Neville Lush piston and cam rebuild in ""record time"" with no prior experience. I had allowed myself a full five days during the Christmas holidays for the install. Well, now, more than three months later, I’m finally in a position to say, "job completed!" and share this story with anyone who might want to read along.
Neville accuses me of writing novels in a simple Email, so be prepared to hang on and bear with me. If you'd rather not read the entire manuscript (I'm crushed) and just want to jump to the dramatic conclusion, that would be that I managed NOT to blow up a perfectly good Rocket3 Roadster that, after all was said and done, hit 206hp and 181 torque on the dyno.
[alternate ending here]
Sorry, but this post will be overly long, not only because I might like to have a record of this adventure to read in my old age, but probably more due to the fact that I’m writing this during the Covid-19 crisis when many of us, including me, have a little more time on our hands.
Before I start I want to especially thank @Neville Lush for his expertise in designing the cams and supplying the pistons to suit my “needs” (torque, torque and more torque) and for patiently answering questions, including many basic ones that someone taking on such a project shouldn't need to ask in the first place (this all took place during the terrible wildfires happening near his home in Australia). Thanks, also, to @warp9.9 who advised me through some tough spots, talked me off some ledges, and offered endless encouragement. Not to forget, this r3owners.net forum where I have found the answers to many problems over the years- I would not have attempted it without this collective body of knowledge, including many posts by @R-III-R Turbo. Finally, to Lee Shierts of Lee’s Performance Center, racer/tuner out of Charlotte, NC who did my final tune- he is a Jedi master.
Oh, and I'd like to thank The Academy......
This won’t be a step-by-step “how to.” For one thing, I’m not qualified to instruct anyone on the process, but I will share some things that I learned along the way. A lot of what follows will be from my rough notes that I tried to keep at the end of each wrenching session.
Let me just say that my hat is off to all the people on this site who really do know their $hit. If any one of them jump in to disagree with something I’ve said about the process, pay attention. I will say up front, right now, that they would be correct.
So, to start, my experience level goes just slightly beyond routine maintenance, including swapping valve shims, brakes, wheel bearings, forks seals, oil changes, putting gas in the tank, washing the bike, etc. I know just enough to be dangerous. Once I pulled the head on this project I was in virgin territory, for sure.
My bike is my main form of transportation and as long as there is no ice or snow I ride, averaging nearly 14,000 miles/year. I ended up having to drive our gas guzzling Roadtrek RV to work quite a bit these past few months. Over the past couple of years I went from a stock bike to TORs and K&Ns. More recently I added a CES header system when Neville Lush insisted that I need to upgrade my exhaust, somehow, first before doing any further performance upgrades. I'm convinced that a performance exhaust system is probably the gateway drug that leads to crack.
My original plan was to get his street cams, since I already had experience pulling the stock cams when changing valve shims. Then, I thought, well, why not just “throw in” some pistons too while I’m at it- how hard could that be? Well, as they say, your mileage may vary. Here goes.....
Neville accuses me of writing novels in a simple Email, so be prepared to hang on and bear with me. If you'd rather not read the entire manuscript (I'm crushed) and just want to jump to the dramatic conclusion, that would be that I managed NOT to blow up a perfectly good Rocket3 Roadster that, after all was said and done, hit 206hp and 181 torque on the dyno.
[alternate ending here]
Sorry, but this post will be overly long, not only because I might like to have a record of this adventure to read in my old age, but probably more due to the fact that I’m writing this during the Covid-19 crisis when many of us, including me, have a little more time on our hands.
Before I start I want to especially thank @Neville Lush for his expertise in designing the cams and supplying the pistons to suit my “needs” (torque, torque and more torque) and for patiently answering questions, including many basic ones that someone taking on such a project shouldn't need to ask in the first place (this all took place during the terrible wildfires happening near his home in Australia). Thanks, also, to @warp9.9 who advised me through some tough spots, talked me off some ledges, and offered endless encouragement. Not to forget, this r3owners.net forum where I have found the answers to many problems over the years- I would not have attempted it without this collective body of knowledge, including many posts by @R-III-R Turbo. Finally, to Lee Shierts of Lee’s Performance Center, racer/tuner out of Charlotte, NC who did my final tune- he is a Jedi master.
Oh, and I'd like to thank The Academy......
This won’t be a step-by-step “how to.” For one thing, I’m not qualified to instruct anyone on the process, but I will share some things that I learned along the way. A lot of what follows will be from my rough notes that I tried to keep at the end of each wrenching session.
Let me just say that my hat is off to all the people on this site who really do know their $hit. If any one of them jump in to disagree with something I’ve said about the process, pay attention. I will say up front, right now, that they would be correct.
So, to start, my experience level goes just slightly beyond routine maintenance, including swapping valve shims, brakes, wheel bearings, forks seals, oil changes, putting gas in the tank, washing the bike, etc. I know just enough to be dangerous. Once I pulled the head on this project I was in virgin territory, for sure.
My bike is my main form of transportation and as long as there is no ice or snow I ride, averaging nearly 14,000 miles/year. I ended up having to drive our gas guzzling Roadtrek RV to work quite a bit these past few months. Over the past couple of years I went from a stock bike to TORs and K&Ns. More recently I added a CES header system when Neville Lush insisted that I need to upgrade my exhaust, somehow, first before doing any further performance upgrades. I'm convinced that a performance exhaust system is probably the gateway drug that leads to crack.
My original plan was to get his street cams, since I already had experience pulling the stock cams when changing valve shims. Then, I thought, well, why not just “throw in” some pistons too while I’m at it- how hard could that be? Well, as they say, your mileage may vary. Here goes.....
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