Installation of Neville Lush Racing "street" cams in 2014 Rocket III Touring

This is a thread starter.

I ordered the cams at the first of the year, after talking about it for the better part of three years. You will NOT hear me say this is the best -- except after all considerations, including my nearing-retirement piggy bank -- this seems to be the sweet spot for me, my lovely spouse, and the machine.

The cams are suggested (no claims here as there are too many variables beyond the control of the seller) to offer an increase of 8-10 hp.

And they are just cams -- no other performance work to the bike is anticipated, leaving all the valve train and lower engine as is.

I have no idea yet, but I suspect, the actual hp gain will be much greater than that thanks to the preparation. What ? (you ask)

Think about painting around a house. People who know nothing about it, buy paint, throw it on, and well, that's how it looks.

Folks who have some experience with painting, understand the wisdom behind the saying, "Painting is 90% preparation." Do all that, and the finished product is much better.

So Mr. Lush suggests I might get seven hp. Then in the conversation (and he is a wonderful interlocutor) it becomes pretty clear that the suggestion is way understated, *IF* one does all the other things he suggests (a common refrain on this site) of having the motor programming optimized for one's particular configuration.

In other words, had I managed (which I haven't - hence the greater expectations) to do all the possible preparation to the bike -- optimized already -- then installed the cams and re-optimized -- then perhaps I would have only looked at a mild increase. And one could say that such a mild increase might not be worth the money. In my case, had it not been for going with these cams, I would likely never have achieved optimization (a strong case for all those captains who choose to remain stock, or just go with TORS), so in my case, the cost per horse power increase is likely to be quite reasonable, as I expect the denominator to much greater in reality than what is suggested.

Photos coming (yeah I know, or it didn't happen).

Again, many thanks to folks who have helped thus far.

Joesmoe said:

This is a thread starter.

I ordered the cams at the first of year, after talking about it for better part of three years. You will NOT hear me say this is the best -- except after all considerations, including my nearing-retirement piggy bank -- this seems to be the sweet spot for me, my lovely spouse, and the machine.

The cams are suggested (no claims here as there are too many variables beyond the control of seller) to offer an increase of 8-10 hp.

And they are just cams -- no other work performance work to the bike is anticipated, leaving all the valve train and lower engine as is.

I have no idea yet, but I suspect, the actual hp gain will be much greater than that thanks to the preparation. What ? (you ask)

Think about painting around a house. People who know nothing about it, buy paint, throw it on, and well, that's how it looks.

Folks who have some experience with painting, understand the wisdom behind the saying, "Painting is 90% preparation." Do all that, and the finished product is much better.

So Mr. Lush suggests I might get seven hp. Then in the conversation (and he is a wonderful interlocutor) it becomes pretty clear that the suggestion is way understated, *IF* one does all the other things he suggests (a common refrain on this site) of having the motor programming optimized for one's particular configuration.

In other words, had I managed (which I haven't - hence the greater expectations) to do all the possible preparation to the bike -- optimized already -- then installed the cams and re-optimized -- then perhaps I would have only looked at a mild increase. And one could say that such a mild increase might not be worth the money. In my case, had it not been for going with these cams, I would likely never have achieved optimization (a strong case for all those captains who choose to remain stock, or just go with TORS), so in my case, the cost per horse power increase is likely to be quite reasonable, as I expect the denominator to much greater in reality than what is suggested.

Photos coming (yeah I know, or it didn't happen).

Again, many thanks to folks who have helped thus far.

Click to expand...

Paul...you installing these yourself...sound pretty advanced...well for a over enthusiastic under talent wrencher like me. If yes would a ‘walk through ‘ if ya ever have time...

I intend to take whatever time is required to make this a walk through.

I'm not happy with the manual, and no way I would ever have attempted this without the support from members of this site.

Here, the valve cover is off, showing the stock cams. The throttle bodies are hanging over the handlebar. The oil tank is out to be swapped for a chrome one scored thanks to @1K9 . The Number One coil has been dismounted and is under the light. The plastic in the lower right is where the fuel tank connects.

On the camshafts, note from the manual, the nearer one (left side of the engine) has a shiny ring with a groove in the middle, designating it as an intake cam. The same shiny ring on the other cam has no groove, indicating it is the exhaust cam.

Waiting with baited breathe for a print out after tune

As well as your riding impressions.

Joesmoe said:

This is a thread starter.

I ordered the cams at the first of year, after talking about it for better part of three years. You will NOT hear me say this is the best -- except after all considerations, including my nearing-retirement piggy bank -- this seems to be the sweet spot for me, my lovely spouse, and the machine.

The cams are suggested (no claims here as there are too many variables beyond the control of seller) to offer an increase of 8-10 hp.

And they are just cams -- no other work performance work to the bike is anticipated, leaving all the valve train and lower engine as is.

I have no idea yet, but I suspect, the actual hp gain will be much greater than that thanks to the preparation. What ? (you ask)

Think about painting around a house. People who know nothing about it, buy paint, throw it on, and well, that's how it looks.

Folks who have some experience with painting, understand the wisdom behind the saying, "Painting is 90% preparation." Do all that, and the finished product is much better.

So Mr. Lush suggests I might get seven hp. Then in the conversation (and he is a wonderful interlocutor) it becomes pretty clear that the suggestion is way understated, *IF* one does all the other things he suggests (a common refrain on this site) of having the motor programming optimized for one's particular configuration.

In other words, had I managed (which I haven't - hence the greater expectations) to do all the possible preparation to the bike -- optimized already -- then installed the cams and re-optimized -- then perhaps I would have only looked at a mild increase. And one could say that such a mild increase might not be worth the money. In my case, had it not been for going with these cams, I would likely never have achieved optimization (a strong case for all those captains who choose to remain stock, or just go with TORS), so in my case, the cost per horse power increase is likely to be quite reasonable, as I expect the denominator to much greater in reality than what is suggested.

Photos coming (yeah I know, or it didn't happen).

Again, many thanks to folks who have helped thus far.

Click to expand...

And here I sit having put the TORs and crossover on, but still dragging my feet about doing the Ramair. I just can't seem to get motivated to do it and then drop on another tune.

Good luck with the cam install. May it meet your expectations.

I have crossed the Rubicon.

The stock shafts have been removed, respective drive gears swapped, and new cams laid in their journals.

The manual says rotate the engine to all three pistons are away from TDC (it adds, "approximately 15º after top dead center")

I have three identical brass cleaning rods and stuck them into each cylinder and just enjoyed the dance as they rose and fell with their respective piston.

In any case, the chain has slipped the drive gear so any sense of timing is no longer.

From here, the manual has the mechanic set a base line.

Fasten down the cams ever so carefully with the oh so fragile ladder (which they tell you in multiple places, "If the ladder is damaged, it will require a whole new head with its own matching ladder").

Once the cams are snug, and can be turned independently -- one curious bit here -- the cams have a hex cross section near the front. This is useful for leverage when loosening and refastening the cam drive gears on each cam, and once the cams are fastened to the head, a wrench is needed to turn them against the force of the compressing valve springs. So the interesting bit here, is the hex on the stock cams have a weird measurement between 19 and 20 mm, and I chose to use an SAE 25/32 wrench which wasn't snug, but was less sloppy than the 20mm wrench. If I had to do it over, I would use a crescent wrench.

The hex on the replacement cams are a tight 21mm.

So once the cams are snug, the motor is turned to the timing mark at TDC aligning a line on the inner engine case to a dot [EDIT: it's not a single dot -- it's a pair of dots -- and for anyone doing this job, I strongly suggest you bite the bullet and order a clutch cover gasket ahead of time, and remove the clutch cover so as to have unfettered views of the cam chain, guides, and all-important TDC dots on the main drive gear face. Thanks to @warp9.9 and @R-III-R Turbo for these beautiful photos worth a thousand words: Another stupid question: photo of the timing mark ? ] on the primary crank gear behind it. A "reality point" here is @warp9.9 says the mark should be aligned just ahead of TDC to better help the chain lay just right. This is a bit odd the first time seeing it, because the small window to the crank gear appears at first to be solid and unmoving. And then, turning five degrees at a time, finally saw what appeared to be a faint star in the empty gray background, shining back at my flashlight. EDIT: This was INCORRECT - I was looking the wrong spot. The 'dot' is actually a tiny round circle or dimple obviously made with a tool, and faint, and hard to see as the mark is down low forcing one to be craning their neck to look through the very top of the inspection port, and it is cramped with parallax issues if the front wheel and fender are still on the bike.

[EDIT: Another stupid question: photo of the timing mark ? it's not a single dot -- it's a pair of dots -- and for anyone doing this job, I strongly suggest you bite the bullet and order a clutch cover gasket ahead of time, and remove the clutch cover so as to have unfettered views of the cam chain, guides, and all-important TDC dots on the main drive gear face.]

Then, each cam in turn is rotated to align a timing mark - a reference line that has an arrow pointing "down" to it when the line is on the side closest to the other cam, and in line with the reference of the head (need to have removed the valve cover gasket so the head surface is clean and shiny).

Then, the manual calls for the timing jig to be bolted to the front of the head, and has two protruding rods that match holes in the respective drive gear of each cam. This presumably holds the cams in position while one fiddles with the chain - which once in place one tightens the cam chain tensioner to keep it there (I don't understand this part yet).

I note that Nev doesn't do this way, but then he knows what he's doing.

Joesmoe said:

Then, each cam in turn is rotated to align a timing mark (an arrow) to horizontal, pointing at the opposite cam.

Then, the manual calls for the timing jig to be bolted to the front of the head, and has two protruding rods that match holes in the respective drive gear of each cam. This presumably holds the cams in position while one fiddles with the chain - which once in place one tightens the cam chain tensioner to keep it there (I don't understand this part yet).

Click to expand...

Cam position tool.
Triumph part Number T3880202

I made my own tool as my cams have slotted adjustment.
I even made two chain clamps to hold the chain to the gears - that’s me being paranoid.
I made this to suit the cams before taking apart to replace the chain guides.

Wow ! Would you sell me one of those -- just in case someone over here needs it ? That is amazing.

(Oh by the way, with all the work I'm doing I'm finally getting around to installing your fancy overflow tank.)

Nice, I like the idea of clamping the chain to the gears.
Would save a lot of grief rather than having the chain jump off, or slip off the gears whilst setting it all up.