My 950 Refresh or Mission Creep...

[ktm950se]

Originally Posted by sakurama

G

Sweeeeet!

ktm950se

[DeeGee]

An absolute joy to read Sakurama. Thanks for taking us along with the project, looking forward to this. And congrats on the bump

[snowhawk jockey]

Fantastic thread and a fine time spent reading it. The FCR's will bring a whole new kind of happiness when you first hear them belch. I had bug eyes when you showed us the porting on the 990S motor. I am tapping my foot impatiently waiting for the package to run on the dyno! Sumo the Husaberg, you know it will be worth the traffic time saved...

[Deadly99]

[Keith]

Very cool on the 990 conversion!

What's going to happen to the old 950 lump?

[Master]

Forgive my ignorance, but...
What's the advantage of the flatslides?

[Flanny]

Originally Posted by Master

Forgive my ignorance, but...
What's the advantage of the flatslides?

Way more flow, instantaneous throttle response, much better carburator in general, and very highly adjustable performance.

Plus....Major grin factor!

None of which will actually help improve Sakurama's riding skills.....

[Tbone]

Originally Posted by Master

Forgive my ignorance, but...
What's the advantage of the flatslides?

The cool way they rattle at idle...

[sakurama]

Originally Posted by Flanny

Way more flow, instantaneous throttle response, much better carburator in general, and very highly adjustable performance.

Plus....Major grin factor!

None of which will actually help improve Sakurama's riding skills.....

The physical difference in the carbs is that the stock carb is a CV (constant velocity) and what that means is that the throttle actually doesn't control the slide of the carb but rather a butterfly below. When you twist the throttle the butterfly opens which creates vacuum as the engine turns faster. This vacuum then acts on a diaphram which lifts the slide. The idea is that the slide only opens in correct proportion to the amount of vacuum so the engine doesn't waste gas or get bogged down. It works well and was a good solution before EFI but there are downsides and slow throttle response is one.

The flat slide has a few advantages: The narrow slide creates a shorter track than a round slide but more importantly is that the slide is connected to the throttle cable so you have instantaneous response. This can create a bog if you go WFO instantly but that is usually countered by an accelerator pump which compensates for the carbs inability to provide enough gas when the slide goes up so fast (the reason the CV doesn't bog) by squirting gas directly into the intake. It's primitive and it wastes gas but it also works giving you instant and full power. There's a great "connection" between the throttle and the engine and it often creates a signifcant power increase through the range.

Another related advantage is if you've ever been crazy enough to try whoops on the 950. The vacuum slides can be pulled down with enough G forces and stall the bike while the flat slides are on a cable and that won't happen.

A final fringe benefit is that my bike will have the same carbs as Flanny but with a much bigger motor meaning I won't need to actually ride better than him to be that much faster! Of course anyone who's seen Flanny ride knows my grandma could go faster on an XR100 with missing spokes and flat tire - but that's beside the point.

G

[joneswgareth]

What a fantastic read - only just found this thread! Look froward to seeing that 990 engine in there! Thanks for sharing

[Autostream]

Originally Posted by Flanny

...None of which will actually help improve Sakurama's riding skills.....

Originally Posted by sakurama

....A final fringe benefit is that my bike will have the same carbs as Flanny but with a much bigger motor meaning I won't need to actually ride better than him to be that much faster! Of course anyone who's seen Flanny ride knows my grandma could go faster on an XR100 with missing spokes and flat tire - but that's beside the point.

G

Can't wait to see this thing in action.

[Pyndon]

Originally Posted by sakurama

Pyn says that this engine, coming from a 990SM is the same as the 990R spec which is supposed to be 20hp up from the standard bike.

Gregor, good job....get it in there laddy!

The stock 990 adventure is just a few bhp more than the 950, the 990 SMR/SMT motor (the one I sent you) is 12bhp more than the 950 and this is what you've got. With the flat-slides and a nice exhaust system I reckon you'll be between 15 and 20bhp more than you had in your old dog.

The SD motor on the other hand is 29bhp up on the 950

The 1190 is a whole different ball game but totally unpractical for an adventure bike!

I think you'll like the SM motor.

Pyn

Flanny......I've just a couple more 990 SMR motors if your interested

[sakurama]

Originally Posted by Pyndon

Flanny......I've just a couple more 990 SMR motors if your interested

Let me know what it will cost to keep Flanny from getting one of those 990's!

If I saw 20hp that would be a 20% increase and that is huge. I'd be happy.

G

[sakurama]

Okay, sorry for the delay. As you might imagine I moved my studio and then we moved to Portland and then I just got back from a week in the desert shooting the 2012 Rev'It! catalog (which was sooo cool - I wish I could show you some shots but you'll have to wait. Good stuff coming!) so I've been busy beyond belief.

Anyway, once back in NYC I got a day to head to the shop and do a bit of work on the 950. Sorry for the crappy photos - all I had with me was my iphone (well, I also had $100,000 worth of Hasselblad too but I didn't feel like carrying it on the subway - sorry, when I'm not working I prefer a point and shoot or the phone).

The engine is in the frame now:



And for those of you curious what was the demise of my engine it doesn't seem to be related to the water in the oil. I found this when I opened up the clutch side:



And more in the pan:



So it appears that my timing chain exploded. There's a lot of metal and debris in there so basically I now look at that engine as a 90lb spare parts holder - it's very organized with fasteners, clutch, stator, rotor etc conviently stored in an identical place as my 990 engine. Really I consider it now a source of those nice 6mm dished head srcews that are so hard to find. Expensive source...

I was supposed to have dinner with Judiaann but took a rain check to work a little longer since I decided to fly out a day sooner as my daughter was sick at home. Here's "sunset over seeley" at our shop:



And I thought I'd put in a shout out to two really great tools I use to clean a motorcycle. One is very low tech - Pledge. If you haven't used it you should try it. I always carry a small bottle with me on trips to clean face shields (disolves bugs and doesn't streak) but it's also good for plastic and rubber like the harness.



The other is really high tech and no, it's not a deep fryer - it's an ultra sonic cleaner. I got this for $50 and it's one of the best investments ever. You can fill it with any solvent or even just water and Simple Green and turn it on and it will just vibrate dirt and grease away. It's probably the single best carb cleaner I've used.



I have got the left side just about buttoned up. I'm finding a lot of electrical connectors that have changed from my 04 harness to the 09 990 engine (or whatever year it is) so I'm pulling the sensors from the 04 and moving them to the new engine as I'd rather not splice wires.



And ironically enough when I moved to Portland I met Ken (mortimersickle) who did the same transplant and he reminded me to change the timing wheel which I did. It took a monster Snap-On impact wrench to get the old clutch hub off but I got it.



I also found a lot of the little parts I needed in my spares. I always have to remind myself to check my own spares:



And so I only got one day but I did get a fair amount done. I'm back to NYC on the 6th and I'm hopeful to get more days to work while I'm there but I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's going to take more time than I'd hoped and that leaves me bikeless in Portland with all this perfect weather and amazing roads...

Gregor

[SFKLR]

thanks for the update. i feared you had given up and bought a GS.