Degree the cams?

[storm 64]

Yes, the sprockets need to be slotted. I could do that for you... I have some 1100 4 valve sprockets. I'm not sure if they are same as the 1000/1100 2 valve sprockets. I suppose you could send me your sprockets and I'd slot them and send them back to you.

Some people would use a Dremel tool to slot them. I can do a more professional job of slotting them.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Thanks Norm, I've been thinking about how to do it. I'm sure I'll enjoy slotting those myself. I was thinking a drill press would work if done slowly.
If it only needs a few degrees of adjustment, that would be a very short slot.

 

[Tom R]

Slotting them yourself is not a terribly difficult job. Degree your cams before you remove them to figure out which way you want to go. I have ‘83 cams in my 1100 that were 107.5 / 98 ex/in center lines. I left the exhaust cam alone, slotted only the intake sprocket and degreed (is that a word?) it to 105. Really changed the feeling of the bike... it used to start to lift the front wheel around 6000 rpms.....the front end still starts to feel light at that point, but it doesn’t really lift the wheel anymore; but it feels much quicker 6500 to 9000. I like it, though in reality I don’t redline it all that often. But it’s nice to have.
I just figured how far 8 degrees should be, marked it out on the sprocket, and filed it by hand. I was attempting 106, but I figured close enough for my likes and not worth taking apart to file the sprocket for another degree.

 

[Dalfort]

To be honest I would not bother on a bone stock bike unless you just want to learn how to do it.

I played with cam timing a bit on my 16v 750E back in the late 80's. Its a pretty simple procedure but you do need a good dial indicator that holds true and a quality wheel and pointer setup. I made a piston stop out of an old sparkplug to find TDC.

It seems like all the performance cams back then specified 110 degree centers. I ran several Cam Motion regrinds over the course of several rebuilds and they were all 110 degree centers. Even the nice .350 lift MegaCycle street/strip cams, I probably have an old catalog with all the specs laying around somewhere.

I remember dialing the intake back into the 104-106 degree range to bring the power on lower in the rpm range but you gotta be careful as you can start running into valve to piston clearance issues.

I ran GSXR750 cams in a Bandit 1200 set up like that and with a set of RS36 Mikuni's it was an absolute beast in the midrange.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

I had a difficult time with the set screw in the timing rotor. Stopped when It looked like I was gonna round off the bolt head of the rotor.
Anybody have a trick way to attach the degree wheel without undoing the set screw?

 

[Guest]

I ran GSXR750 cams in a Bandit 1200 set up like that and with a set of RS36 Mikuni's it was an absolute beast in the midrange.

When you say "set up like that" do you mean the intake cam at 104-106 with the exhaust at 110 or something else?

I had a difficult time with the set screw in the timing rotor. Stopped when It looked like I was gonna round off the bolt head of the rotor.
Anybody have a trick way to attach the degree wheel without undoing the set screw?

On my 1100E I just unscrew the smaller bolt in the center of the large bolt on the end of the crank. No set screw in sight. Sounds like yours is different than that?


Mark

 

[Guest]

Back in the 80s when these bikes were new, there was one shop that did a tuneup that really woke them up. Whet he was doing was degreeing the cams. The stockers were all over the map. He did a lot of them, we supplied the sprockets.

 

[bobgroger]

I am wondering if any of you tack weld the sprocket to the cam once you are done degreeing? I have heard of a couple people that do, just wondering if it is common or necessary. If you do, do you remove the cams to do it or weld it in place trying to keep spatter out of the motor?

 

[Guest]

Not common. On Hayabusas they will tack weld the adaptor to the cam.

 

[GregT]

As Jay says, only if you've fitted an adaptor. I've never had a slotted sprocket move in use.

There are engines on which you couldn't weld the sprocket as they've got to come off to remove the cam. Honda SOHC comes to mind.
On those it helps to have an engraving tool handy to mark the sprocket position once dialled.

Jay's comment about the shop offering tuneups in the 80's rang a bell with me. I must have done 15-20 16V engines in a 3 year period. All dialled to 106/108
Happy days indeed, lol