FYI HRC cam problems

[450madman]

I just wanted to share an experience I have had with an HRC cam for my 05 450R. I've been trying to diagnose the problems I've encountered after the install of an HRC kit for months now and finally got it figured out. Some of the symptoms were: my 450R idled fast, had no bottom end power, backfired, fell on it's face at full throttle from a dead stop (drag racing). After countless hours of trying suggestions (without success) from friends and mechanics from several different Honda dealers, I decided to remove the HRC cam and eyeball the position of the cam lobes to the hub that the cam sprocket bolts to. The hub wasn't pressed on to the cam all of the way and was turned out of allignment enough to throw my cam to crank timing out about 1tooth. The dealer called around and was told that this problem is common. I am now fighting with the dealer to get my cam replaced and they are telling me that a replacement HRC cam is back ordered until June and it might not be under warranty so they might not be able to replace it.
It is a good idea to eyeball the the hub position of the stock cam to that of the HRC cam before you install it.
I hope this saves someone the head aches that I've encountered.

[ghott]

Thanks for the heads up!

I've heard of this problem with some other cams as well. I believe machinists have been tacking them in place.

[d3ktrix]

When I switched from the HRC cam to the 02 CRF cam I noticed that the hubs were at different angels.

Didn't notice any problems with either cam tho.

Figured the cam was just different, never thought the hub could actually move.

My bike was super hard to kick the first day i put the CRF cam in, figured i just had the decomp a little off, but it went away the next day? who knows lol