performance mods

[bambam625]

hey everybody,

happy to join the community. Im a proud new owner of a year 2000 honda valkyrie 1500cf. And I absolutely love it, this was my dream bike when I first got into riding and im super happy to finally have one. Anyway, ill get straight down to business, i want to customize mine a bit, while i fix her up. Getting some general maintenance stuff done right now (timing belt replacement, vacuum tubes, and petcock diaphragm). However, I want to hop into some performance mods, right now shes bone stock.

Anyway, i was skimming through these forums for the past few weeks and seeing what people have done to theirs and I have a few questions.

Ive tried contacting magna charger about their super charger kit, and havent heard back from them, any of you have experience with that?

Also a few years back people were talking to a guy named Don Guhl, getting their ecus tunes, however he was having issues figuring out how to get rid of the rev limiter, and top speed limiter, and those threads pretty much never got updated. Has anyone managed to crack that nut?

As far as aftermarket intake & exhaust systems go, what do you all use? Looking at getting the most performance, sound, while nice, isnt really my concern.

I contacted dynojet, seeing if they had a power commander for the valk ( trying to play with rev limits and speed limiter) and they said they do not have anything like that,but they pointed me to their jets for the carbs, and told me you could get a 15 percent power gain from swapping to their jets. Anyone mess with this or have any experience with said jets?

Are there any other performance tricks or modifications i could make to the valk that im not thinking of? Heard I should ask a guy named attic rat about performance mods for the valk. He still around?

Also interested in a big bore kit, 6th gear, etc, but as far as I know,they dont exist for the valk (if im wrong, im all ears, but ive been looking).

This is purely for fun, Im not a dragster or anything like that, just my hobby.


Thanks in advance.

[Avanti]

You need to have a talk with Attic Rat before you make any decisions on the direction you want to go to increase your horsepower.

[bambam625]

Done.

[Davemn]

Leave your stock bike as is and take that money and buy a used Hayabusa. Much cheaper.

[bambam625]

Leave your stock bike as is and take that money and buy a used Hayabusa. Much cheaper.

great advice for someone who wants a hayabusa. All I want is for my valk to have a little more ass. (not to insult the power she already has)

[old2soon]

      Bob-A K A atticrat-IS generally booked WAY in advance. He Is a board sponsor and his ad will be on the top banner. And be forewarned-Bob DO like to talk. No disrespect towards Bob at all cuz I've been to his House and his Shop. Heck of a guy knows more bout Valks then I ever will. Bob has a unique way of adding performance And increasing fuel mileage. And has been known to help a Brother or a Sister if needing help near him. Good guy+++.  RIDE SAFE.

[MarkT]

The bike has been out of production for 17 years.  Most aftermarket suppliers bailed long ago, including the performance parts makers.  A handful are left including Bob Smith aka Attic Rat, and yours truly to name a couple.  IOW, most performance parts are now in the category of unobtainium new, but can be found at high prices on the used market.  Chief among performance parts are blowers and Dyna3000 ICM's.  With a blower, you pretty much HAVE TO HAVE a D3000 so you don't have a flat place on the torque curve, or blow it up w/o retarding the advanced ignition when there's a lot of boost.  Other than some performance increases with Bob's head and carb work, and my pipes (and similar), serious power increases require boosted ingress and/or nitrous.  As Dave said, if you want really high performance you are better off loving your Valk as it is - and maybe spend a bit here and with Bob to eek out what's possible while still retaining Honda's flat 6 reliability - and buy a bike originally built with a ton of power.  Like a Hayabusa, a ZX-14, or the new model V-Max to name a few.  I had the pleasure of riding a friend's Boss Hoss and after a couple practice starts to stop smoking the tire, I got it to take off like a Navy catapult launch.  Over a hundred after I counted off 3 seconds.  Unbelievable.  And they say the Hyabusa and ZX-14 are both faster as they can hook up the power better.

My red bike "George" below is blown with a Magnacharger and has a few other performance mods - great fun but it's parts are hard to find, and it has not more than 150hp.  While being a bit lighter.  I'd guess a turbo tuned right could make even more power, but you'll spend a lot and likely be fixing it as much as riding it.  Though George has never broken for me.

Now I have to get back in the shop...

[bambam625]

The bike has been out of production for 17 years.  Most aftermarket suppliers bailed long ago, including the performance parts makers.  A handful are left including Bob Smith aka Attic Rat, and yours truly to name a couple.  IOW, most performance parts are now in the category of unobtainium new, but can be found at high prices on the used market.  Chief among performance parts are blowers and Dyna3000 ICM's.  With a blower, you pretty much HAVE TO HAVE a D3000 so you don't have a flat place on the torque curve, or blow it up w/o retarding the advanced ignition when there's a lot of boost.  Other than some performance increases with Bob's head and carb work, and my pipes (and similar), serious power increases require boosted ingress and/or nitrous.  As Dave said, if you want really high performance you are better off loving your Valk as it is - and maybe spend a bit here and with Bob to eek out what's possible while still retaining Honda's flat 6 reliability - and buy a bike originally built with a ton of power.  Like a Hayabusa, a ZX-14, or the new model V-Max to name a few.  I had the pleasure of riding a friend's Boss Hoss and after a couple practice starts to stop smoking the tire, I got it to take off like a Navy catapult launch.  Over a hundred after I counted off 3 seconds.  Unbelievable.  And they say the Hyabusa and ZX-14 are both faster as they can hook up the power better.

My red bike "George" below is blown with a Magnacharger and has a few other performance mods - great fun but it's parts are hard to find, and it has not more than 150hp.  While being a bit lighter.  I'd guess a turbo tuned right could make even more power, but you'll spend a lot and likely be fixing it as much as riding it.  Though George has never broken for me.

Now I have to get back in the shop...

alright thanks  bud. Ive contacted bob, and ill be giving him a call within the next few days. Id definitely say if theres ways i can increase performance without sacrificing reliability, thatd be the way id prefer to do. Ill look into what attic rat can do for me, as well as getting some exhaust work done.

[Gregory Scott 16248]

Remember Kiss Keep It Simple Stupid.

You got your dream bike, don't mess it up with unrealistic HP gains. Spend the money on dressing it up. Buy some chrome, LED lights, do some Mods, enjoy what you have.

[bambam625]

      Bob-A K A atticrat-IS generally booked WAY in advance. He Is a board sponsor and his ad will be on the top banner. And be forewarned-Bob DO like to talk. No disrespect towards Bob at all cuz I've been to his House and his Shop. Heck of a guy knows more bout Valks then I ever will. Bob has a unique way of adding performance And increasing fuel mileage. And has been known to help a Brother or a Sister if needing help near him. Good guy+++.  RIDE SAFE.

talked to bob. set up a time, and sending a deposit to him in the next few days. he sounds like the safest bet.

[f6john]

      Bob-A K A atticrat-IS generally booked WAY in advance. He Is a board sponsor and his ad will be on the top banner. And be forewarned-Bob DO like to talk. No disrespect towards Bob at all cuz I've been to his House and his Shop. Heck of a guy knows more bout Valks then I ever will. Bob has a unique way of adding performance And increasing fuel mileage. And has been known to help a Brother or a Sister if needing help near him. Good guy+++.  RIDE SAFE.

talked to bob. set up a time, and sending a deposit to him in the next few days. he sounds like the safest bet.

Congratulations! I’m jealous, what is your appointment date?

[DarkSideR]

I was like you trying everything I could to get just a little more power out of her, and I ended up where you are. Two years ago I took my bike to Bob and got the GLH (Goes Like Hell) package. Results are impressive.

Heads up! Bob likes OEM, and its for good reason. Bob's package is based on factory exhaust, and ECU. After Bob works his magic you won't need to, and shouldn't do anything else to your bike.

For example. I cut the extensions off my exhaust. Results were more noise, and didn't run as well. I went back to stock exhaust and the bike is much happier.

Another benefit is that I ride with the peace of mind that my 19 year old bike is in tip-top shape and reliable as ever.

One more heads up. Something happens to you when you enter Bob's shop.. might want to shove some extra $$ in your pocket when you leave to drop your bike off.

Good luck 

[MarkT]

I was like you trying everything I could to get just a little more power out of her, and I ended up where you are. Two years ago I took my bike to Bob and got the GLH (Goes Like Hell) package. Results are impressive.

Heads up! Bob likes OEM, and its for good reason. Bob's package is based on factory exhaust, and ECU. After Bob works his magic you won't need to, and shouldn't do anything else to your bike.

For example. I cut the extensions off my exhaust. Results were more noise, and didn't run as well. I went back to stock exhaust and the bike is much happier.

Reports are consistent my pipe mods make more power than stock. So do every other exhaust mod to OEM that entails replacing the muffler with a full flow glasspack.  Average improvement is around 8 ponies, with torque improvement being similar.  I have not heard Bob say our mods are incompatible - the OEM headers remain untouched, and that's all the backpressure the Valkyrie needs. But then you don't have my exhaust, but as you say, did your own mod whacking off the piggies.  Though it's not clear to me how that would affect anything except add drone.  Maybe it was just perception rather than measured difference.  Butt dynos aren't very objective or accurate.

[98valk]

I was like you trying everything I could to get just a little more power out of her, and I ended up where you are. Two years ago I took my bike to Bob and got the GLH (Goes Like Hell) package. Results are impressive.

Heads up! Bob likes OEM, and its for good reason. Bob's package is based on factory exhaust, and ECU. After Bob works his magic you won't need to, and shouldn't do anything else to your bike.

For example. I cut the extensions off my exhaust. Results were more noise, and didn't run as well. I went back to stock exhaust and the bike is much happier.

Reports are consistent my pipe mods make more power than stock. So do every other exhaust mod to OEM that entails replacing the muffler with a full flow glasspack.  Average improvement is around 8 ponies, with torque improvement being similar.  I have not heard Bob say our mods are incompatible - the OEM headers remain untouched, and that's all the backpressure the Valkyrie needs. But then you don't have my exhaust, but as you say, did your own mod whacking off the piggies.  Though it's not clear to me how that would affect anything except add drone.  Maybe it was just perception rather than measured difference.  Butt dynos aren't very objective or accurate.

dyno results on your website only show 2-5HP, same as others posted back in the day.   please post dynos with your pipes providing 10 HP or more to give u an avg of eight HP.

Header and engine design for at least the last 20 yrs clearly indicate that the exhaust should have zero or close to it, back pressure for best power. 

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a14530205/what-is-exhaust-backpressure-and-why-is-it-bad-for-horsepower/

https://www.musclecardiy.com/performance/automotive-horsepower-guide-mufflers-to-tail-pipes/

David Vizard, written many books, racer, thousands of dyno testing pulls, and college professor.
http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/exhaust/0505phr-exh

Enjoy.

[MarkT]

First off, my exhaust does approach zero backpressure - there is only the BP provided by the Honda-engineered headers - zero from the glasspack, it's 2 1/4 inches ID whereas the headers are 0.94".  That makes the muffler 5.7 times the cross section area of the headers.  The silencers also flow more than the headers, as each exhaust pulse goes through all three ports with the 3 into 1 design upstream of them.  The Trombones have zero BP as well - with 1.88" ID it's also several time the Headers cross section.   It is my understanding there should be SOME backpressure so as not to burn exhaust valves.  You don't want to run an engine with NO exhaust for example.  Honda engineered the exhaust with the size headers they did.  If an engine can make more power with zero backpressure, doing so is not desirable, if that damages the engine to run it under that condition. That might be a choice only for dragsters who severely overstress their engines in order to make the most power and win races.  I don't have proof running zero backpressure damages the engine, it's something I have understood for decades of wrenching.  There is proof that reducing the backpressure of the Valkyrie significantly by replacing the restrictive muffler with a free-flowing glasspack does not hurt the engine as I and some thousands of Valkyrie owners have been running their Valks with such an exhaust for up to 23 years with no reports of damage from it. Meanwhile, feedback has been consistent that the engine pulls stronger after installing my pipes - and other similar exhaust designs.  I have seen dynos that support that, but mostly it's feedback reports.  Part of that power increase comes from the configuration change that creates scavenging, non-existant on the OEM 6 into 6 design, and the rest from recovering the power wasted by the high backpressure of the OEM muffler.  But I don't have enough dyno reports (statistically significant) I can put my hands on, that nail down the figure on improved power.  It's more an estimate or approximation and that's how I try to describe it.   And I'm not going to the expense of creating multiple tests just to nail down a precise number for your demand at this late stage in the life of the Valkyrie.  It's not a precise result and it varies depending on other factors as well. Nor am I going to stop estimating the improvement is around 8hp depending on individual bikes variances.  Buyers of my exhaust, if they provide feedback, it's that they notice it pulls harder.  I will review your links after I finish shop work today - more info if it's valid is always a good thing.

[rockbobmel]

Vacuum Tubes?