[StreetKleaver]

What's a engine build without teething problems?
Over the weekend I was doing it's 1000km post rebuild service. Oil, Filter, Cam gear lash and general check over for anything out of the ordinary.
Which one those 1hr service turned into a 4hr ordeal!

Came across this! Luckily it was now, not later!
It would of been a big failure.





The inlet valve push rod had been making contact with a casting sharp edge protrusion of the push rod tunnel. Which was about 1mm thick.
It did have clearance upon assembly, but the scoring is only 1/3 the way around. Possibly at higher rpms during the higher speed runs it may need a little more wiggle room with those things vibrating around all over the place!
The inlet side has a lot less room compared to the exhaust side.
So I took some material away and made a bit more room and tidied it all up. Thankfully I could use the standard inlet push rod while the new one arrives . Its still within spec with the rocker block to head tolerance HMC specifies with the lifters with only 0.5mm difference between the two.

Apart from that minor hiccup, The cam gear teeth look good, cam bushes still look like new, there wasn't any metal filings in the mesh screen and minimal dust on the sump magnets. The 500km service seemed to get all that.
Just have to duck down to the shops today and get a new gasket, oil filter and oil and hit the road for fine tuning sessions!

[StreetKleaver]

Back on with it.

17 tooth sprocket on the front. Fresh oil and filter and everything checked and re-set.



Today was a RDO so I took the opportunity to get out and really give it a good tune targeting specific throttle areas and AFR targets.
I took a more methodical approach. Very much the same as I'd tune a carburetor and it yielded excellent results!

Lowering the front sprocket from a 18 to 17 was a good improvement. Took the load off the engine and at highway cruising speeds it feels very effortless. With the 18 it felt it was laboring just a little bit.
The bike still reached "the ton". Just got there a little sooner and revved out more compared to before it couldn't quite get to redline.

To know I was in the correct throttle position. The program displays (when the key is on) where the throttle is positioned.
Which I marked on a piece of tape on the throttle housing with all the target throttle percentages.
Each time I headed out I'd make multiple runs at a target throttle range from as close to idle as possible in a few different gears on road conditions.

#1 Run : Targeted the 60,80 and 100% throttle ranges with a target AFR of 13.2 to 3000rpm, then gradually richening up to 12.8 in the higher rpm ranges.
#2 Run : Targeted the 15,29 and 40% throttle ranges. These are typical cruising ranges. AFR target was at 13.2 for most of this area and 13.3 on the highway cruising rpm (3250,3500,3700) then set to 13 AFR from 4000rpm and higher.
#3 Run : Targeted the 5 and 10 % throttle ranges. These were 13.2. Mainly in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear pulls at these range to try get the bike to rev as high as possible. Which was around 4500rpm.
#4 Run : Targeted the 2% column. Basically 1st and 2nd gear little pulls in a quiet area in my local industrial estate.

I didn't touch the 0% column. That would be set so there won't be any lean popping on over-run.

This is the end result. No big rich spikes in any cells which was from the bike on over-run (lean) and the auto-tuner trying to correct it by richening cells from previous tune runs.
It feels very crisp all the way off Idle now. There's no dull spots and has a very nice strong, smooth linear pull to 3500rpm then it really starts to sing all the way to 5000rpm.

After todays Session



Vs Hitchcocks Base Map



Vs Autotune Targeting all cells



The 40,60,80 and 100% areas haven't changed all that much. But the main improvement was the smaller throttle opening percentages. The response is a lot more crisp and no weird spikes due to over run.
Targeting and tuning to only specific areas made it tune a lot quicker. You could feel the change after a few pulls until no more change was felt, then on to the next range and so on.
Comparing the base map to my new tuned map. It seems to have taken fuel away in areas. My tuner informs me that is due to the combustion being more efficient in those zones due to the modifications.

Here's plug looking healthy. Running a colder BPR7ES due to the raised compression ratio. Next will be a iridium.



So in all that. I'm very happy with the result and how its running!
I'll fiddle with a few more 60,80,100% runs. But that has to be during "quiet" traffic times. Haha

[Adrian II]

You must be running out of things to do with it apart from any final minor adjustments. A very un-Royal Enfield-like state of affairs! Having the gearing spot-on will give you the full benefit of all the other improvements.

A.

[StreetKleaver]

You must be running out of things to do with it apart from any final minor adjustments. A very un-Royal Enfield-like state of affairs! Having the gearing spot-on will give you the full benefit of all the other improvements.

A.

Tune wise yes. I was surprised actually how much quicker it is when it's approached that way. Basically mimicking what a dyno tuner would do.

Initially I tried a 13.5 AFR in cruising positions but that was a bit too lean for it. 13.3 felt the best and 13 2 for no load/low rpm areas (Recommended by Hitchcocks actually)

I have another Pushrod on the way to replace the scored one. 3 heavy springs for the clutch. It's slipped a couple of times but not consistent and that's pretty well it for the engine.

The Clubman bars should be back from the chromers soon. So they'll go on. It needs a new set of footrests. The spindles are aluminium and the shift and brake lever are steel. So they've worn out the spindles and have a bit of slop. I've fixed them with Moly grease and the good old coke can shim.

There is a typical "Enfield" thing to fix. Found a broken spoke.

Final task is suspension. Cartridge emulators and Hagon rear shocks or get the standard ones revalved. Not sure. Then it's just down to riding now.

[Mr_84]

There is a typical "Enfield" thing to fix. Found a broken spoke.

Your making to much power and thrashing it to hard now

[Arschloch]

I've had ~4 or 5 broken spokes in the first 5k km, if you true the wheel properly and ensure equal tension on each spoke there won't be any issue. Broken spokes are a bit annoying.

[gizzo]

I've had ~4 or 5 broken spokes in the first 5k km, if you true the wheel properly and ensure equal tension on each spoke there won't be any issue. Broken spokes are a bit annoying.

Same here. Broken spokes early on, replaced and tweaked by the local wheel genius and no more broken in the last 50k km.

[StreetKleaver]

Got a spare spoke here. I'll replace and re-true and check the spokes.

Maybe it's a anomaly. Bike has done 25k kms.

[StreetKleaver]

Not a very significant update. But it's more of that tailoring to suit my comfort really.

Finally got the Clubman bars I modified back from the Chrome platers. Reasonably priced but took well over a month turn around. But I wasn't in a great rush for them.





From a few posts back. I shortened the offset, added a little more pull back and a little more angled down.

Fitted up.







They are somewhat in a similar position to the standard clip ons, the bar clamp bases are shortened by 10mm, Clubman bars are about 5mm more forward, a bar width lower along with a little more angle down. What feels nice to me.
The standard clip on position was too high and felt cramped.
Now I feel even pressure on my hands and feet.

Original Clip On vs the modified clubman.



I could been a "bolt on bandit" and be done and happy with it. But you guys know my trend by now. Not all but most things get nutted out and changed or upgraded in one way or another.
I'd rather build my own iteration with a little more thought than handing my dollars over.
Here's what the supplied bar clamp from Hitchcocks came like with standard Clubmans fitted vs the evelotion of fanatically modifying to suit.



Lastly I've added these little rubber dampening mounts from HMC to the Speed/Tacho clock mount. They get a violent vibration up at 4500rpm and beyond.
Along with the shorter handlebars, big lumpy bar end weights and now the clock bracket not acting like a tuning fork on the upper triple clamp. It should be quite pleasant on the hands along with being able to read my speedo after 4500rpm!

[gizzo]

Those rubber things are a Must Have. My bracket disintegrated and then the clocks stopped working from the vibration before I fitted those.

[Taurim]

When I bought my 535 the metal bracket holding the clocks was broken. I replaced it and installed the new with the same rubber things. No problem since. A must have !

[StreetKleaver]

Took it out for a good ride to test its new ergonomics. Feels like it's well suited for me now. My ass is up against the hump and my arms in a nice position. Feels like equal pressure on my hands and feet. I can get down and tuck in.
Everything feels neutral and comfortable. A win!

The tune now feels like it's pretty well spot on.
Rung it out to make sure the new pushrod anything is fine. The surprises keep coming!
It exceeded 100mph! Especially that I could actually read the speedo now with the rubber mounts, instead of it vibrating into a blur!
Touched the (stock) rev limiter at 102mph!



Although I did modify the mount slightly. With all 4 off the rubber dampener mounts installed. At idle the assembly would wobble around a lot. More annoying than anything. So I added some rubber fairing mounts on the outer bolt holes to stiffen it up. The outer holes drilled out to 12mm and the rubber grommet pushed in along with the crush tube. It doesn't wobble at idle nor does it vibrate when riding and at higher rpms. A good compromise.

 



Came home, checked the inlet pushrod to make sure it hadn't made contact with the housing. It was all fine.
Today was a good day.

Next endeavor is suspension tuning.

[StreetKleaver]

Hello all. Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas where ever  you are.

On Friday/Saturday. Jumped on the bike and headed to the city. A 4hr ride for me. The bike ran flawlessly. Managed 27 to 32km per litre depending on the types of roads. In standard trim it was 30km per litre.
Our Highways are 110km/h. On those roads the bike would drink a little more compared to the 100km/hr zones. But Definitely surprised still.
It's Interesting not much has changed in consumption vs a stock engine. The bike is now great fun on the highway. Can quickly spin her up for quick acceleration and overtake.
Here's a few snaps of the scenery worth stopping for during my runs on my B road travels.

Saturday morning was Cafe Racer meet. The little red bike got a lot of questions and queries and commended how "traditional" it looks and the fact its a Ton Up machine. Was great to meet new people and actually be around like minded interests. In my home town I'm it when it comes to a Cafe Racer in a plethora of Adventure Bikes, Harleys and Sports rockets.

My 2 days was 743kms in under 24hrs. I was buggered by the time I got home!

Hope you're all enjoying your Christmas festivities!

Ben

[Arschloch]

The improved power output when tuning the GT has to come from improved efficiency since you basically can't increase the cc's neither the revs significantly. And that means more power output per liter fuel if you ride mainly in the power range where the engine puts out most of it's torque.

Very good looking pictures. 

[Adrian II]

My 2 days was 743kms in under 24hrs. I was buggered by the time I got home!

Metaphor to the rescue of this post, I hope!   

The improved power output when tuning the GT has to come from improved efficiency since you basically can't increase the cc's neither the revs significantly. And that means more power output per liter fuel if you ride mainly in the power range where the engine puts out most of it's torque.

Very good looking pictures. 

It's efficient now, for sure. As for capacity hikes, there is the long-stroke crank available for the EFI/CGT models if you wanted to take it out to 612cc, but would the end result actually be as good as it is now? Discuss!

https://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/21608?cont_page=Royal-Enfield-535-Continental-GT-Accessories&keyword=crankshaft&year=2014

A.