HRC installation the night before race?

[LPjustin]

well, i ordered an HRC kit for my 05 like two weeks ago off ebay and it's due to arrived friday - the night before a race. neither my dad or i especially are professional mechanics lol, and so he's worried that if we try and install it we won't finish or it will take us too long to get it right or whatever you have to do(i really don't know much about it). he said that we could maybe just put on the airbox and exhaust cap on for the race and install the cam later. would that even make a power difference? do you guys think we should go for it or play it safe? thannkss.

[400exrider707]

Well the air box lid will make quite a difference by itself, but you will need to jet to compensate for it. The cam is the big power adder, and I would definitely install it! Its really not hard to do, even two guys who aren't mechanics can do it! You're going to have to do it some time!

[mytrx450r]

400 ex is right about your jetting, but i think the jet came with the hrc kit. as far as the cam goes, i would wait till your bike can be down for a day or two because you will need to check valve clearance and also the decompressor. it is not difficult, but if you havent done it before and you dont own a shim kit, you prob should wait. there is a chance you can just drop the cam in and wont need to adjust anything but i wouldnt bet on it. just my two cents. good luck at your race

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by mytrx450r
400 ex is right about your jetting, but i think the jet came with the hrc kit. as far as the cam goes, i would wait till your bike can be down for a day or two because you will need to check valve clearance and also the decompressor. it is not difficult, but if you havent done it before and you dont own a shim kit, you prob should wait. there is a chance you can just drop the cam in and wont need to adjust anything but i wouldnt bet on it. just my two cents. good luck at your race

The jets inlcuded in the kit are for the full kit w/ cam, if he isn't putting the cam in, the jets are going to be farther off.

[d3ktrix]

Originally posted by 400exrider707
The jets inlcuded in the kit are for the full kit w/ cam, if he isn't putting the cam in, the jets are going to be farther off.

As long as he switches the air box lid and takes the baffle out the HRC jetting should be fine cam or not.

I wouldn't try to do a cam swap the night before the race if its your first time. Its guna take a while and the main / pilot / needle are going to take a good while also.

[400exrider707]

If you are using two people who can turn a screwdriver and a ratchet there is no reason this cant be done in a few hours taking your sweet time...

I cant believe people are actually advising against this....

I guess it's up to you ultimately, if you aren't feeling confident doing it, then dont bother, but after you race and then try to put it in, you are going to be kicking yourself.

However if you use the night before the race to get all of your race stuff ready, then dont bother, because focusing on getting everythign ready and not forgetting anything is important as well.

[LPjustin]

thanks for the help guys.

[IMSROLL450R]

[i]
However if you use the night before the race to get all of your race stuff ready, then dont bother, because focusing on getting everythign ready and not forgetting anything is important as well. [/B]

I'm pretty sure thats the most important thing. He cant do any good if he doesnt show up because of some unforseen problem with installation of the cam. Always better to play it safe its only 1 race and some points are better than none.

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by IMSROLL450R
I'm pretty sure thats the most important thing. He cant do any good if he doesnt show up because of some unforseen problem with installation of the cam. Always better to play it safe its only 1 race and some points are better than none.


What unforseen problem could he run into? If there is an unforseen problem inside the motor, chances are you wouldn't want to be racing it anyways!

[IMSROLL450R]

Originally posted by 400exrider707
What unforseen problem could he run into? If there is an unforseen problem inside the motor, chances are you wouldn't want to be racing it anyways!

how about cracking the valve cover or breaking a bolt off in the head by overtightening. you never know.

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by IMSROLL450R
how about cracking the valve cover or breaking a bolt off in the head by overtightening. you never know.

True, hey anything can happen. If you were to do it the night before, then just take your time, dont over tighten anything and you'd be all set. Those valve cover bolts are designed to break away too to prevent being over tightened. Just snug em up, no need to crank em.

[IMSROLL450R]

Originally posted by 400exrider707
True, hey anything can happen. If you were to do it the night before, then just take your time, dont over tighten anything and you'd be all set. Those valve cover bolts are designed to break away too to prevent being over tightened. Just snug em up, no need to crank em.

wow i didnt know they were made like that. thats cool. you are full of useful info man!

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by IMSROLL450R
wow i didnt know they were made like that. thats cool. you are full of useful info man!

next time you have one out take a look at it. The middle of the bolt, the diameter goes to about half. This is a stress point on the bolt. As soon as you turn too hard it breaks away right there. Honda designed it this way so you wont break you valve cover! It's probably not a bad idea to carry a couple extra ones of those bolts. They really do not need to be tightened very hard. I use a 1/4 drive ratchet and literally just snug them up, and then maybe 1/16 of a turn more, thats it!

[IMSROLL450R]

Being a mechanical engineer I knew that special bolts were made with a reduction in diameter sometimes so there is a stress concentration at that point but I damn sure didnt know that honda used them. thats awesome.

[pro-rider46]

yeah i just broke one of those f***ers a couple hours ago:mad:

[Coolidge]

I have a 06 model, and installed the kit (all but cam) myself. I would def. recommend getting a FACTORY service manual 1st.

As for doing the kit the night before....my experiance would be "don't". When it comes to these kind of things, they never seem to take the time that you *think* it would take. BTW, I figured I would wait till I had valves adj to install cam (@ dealer) and could not be happier now that its done. I thought it was quick w/o the cam, but holy $hit!!
Do it once, do it right. Good Luck!

[LPjustin]

yeah, friday night we installed everything but the cam. just that took a pretty long time. in my race i was running 4th and accidently hit the killswitch and didn't realize it for like 10 minute :(

[400exrider707]

Originally posted by LPjustin
yeah, friday night we installed everything but the cam. just that took a pretty long time. in my race i was running 4th and accidently hit the killswitch and didn't realize it for like 10 minute :(

The switch on the bars? Take it off... get an MSR clutch lever w/ hot start its about $35 in RMATV and well worth the money. you can eliminated the parking brake cable, and get rid of that entire headlight switch assembly. Then you wont have to worry about doing that again.