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| Our crank is stock. If your engine is over 5,000 miles old, it is advisable to start with a new crank and bearings. |
The rest of the engine including the crankshaft remains stock. If your engine has more than 5,000 miles, it might be worth considering replacing the crankshaft and bearings. It is also a good idea to replace the thermostat as well while the engine is apart. When we assembled our engine we used Chanito’s high strength head bolts. These ARP bolts made to Chanito’s specs prevent head lifting when the engine is pushed hard.
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| Chanito's ARP head bolts help prevent head lifting. |
We started our engine and ran it for the first few miles on standard mineral 10w40 oil to help break it in. We switched to slippery Motul 300V synthetic in 5w30 after 100 miles of break in. Honda recommends 10w40 but Motul's superior lubrication properties will allow us to run a thinner oil for less viscous drag, critical for small engines like ours. We ended up only having to up the main jet one size to an 82 for tune perfecting. Our engine had so much compression that the starter motor could not turn the engine over until the engine was fully broken in or about 300 miles. Even then our starter struggled against the high compression.
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| Our engine ready to bolt back into our frame. |
You might wonder how our motor runs; it runs like a rocket, accelerating over twice as fast as the stocker. Heavy traffic and aggressive drivers are now easily dealt with. We are certain this is the fastest GET motor ever built except, the stock clutch and gearing are holding Project Ruckus back. Our bike rockets up to around 53 mph, and then bangs into the rev limiter hard. We end up spending a lot of our time sitting tight on the 10,500 limit. The stock clutch is beginning to glaze and slip as well. To get the most from our engine, we will have to gear up and do some more clutch and variator tuning.
Stay tuned, in thenext installment of Project Ruckus, we’ll tune the powertrain to get the most from our engine's newfound power.
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