Re: "The Big Bore" - A Story about an R15 getting tuned.

Hello Friends just an update,

Its been a long time I posted on XBHP, I apologize for being selfish minded to have used XBHP only during my bad times.

Its been over 20,000Kms done with the UMA block kit and did not face even a single issue, until few weeks back the coolant oil started vanishing. Upon investigating found the head gasket to leak. Since the block is 62MM I wasnt able to file the stock gaskets (coz they would lose the adhesive capablity at the filed edges) so requested help from my friend at malaysia and he shipped out a couple of high quality 62MM LC copper gaskets and a suitable adhesive spray. Just removed the cylinder head alone for the head gasket fixture, did not even drain the engine oil below. Took 2 weeks for the parts to arrive and now I am all set again.

The important observation that I would like to point out here is the UMA block/piston quality. On an average a stock piston will have about 1-2MM of carbon deposits after 20K kms of run, so I was expecting the same amount of carbon deposits, but to my suprise the UMA piston head retained the brand new shine in it. Which shows my fuel Map is doing its job quite well. Some may claim that the piston head could have been cleaned before clicking the snap, but the fact is that

1) Its not easy to clean the carbon deposits from a piston, especially when the piston is still in the bore

2) The brand new shine seen is still found on the piston head which is again impossible for a polish

The rings were still doing the job perfectly with no compression leak elsewhere. Now its been about 1000Kms after the service . Atlast I have to say "I got, what I wanted" . A bike that has enough power to keep me entertained.

Re: "The Big Bore" - A Story about an R15 getting tuned.

Hi All,

Its time for a few more updates on the setup. May be considered as a long run report after 2.5years. First of all this place looks more matured now than before, which was expected by me a couple years ago. I myself can feel a lot of maturity in me by reading the previous updates to this thread. Now became a sedate commuter wathcing the RVMs all the time. In fact I have to agree that I skip bike rides at times due to frightening cabbies during late nights at OMR Chennai.







Now about the setup that was sealed on May 2013, was running fine up until this september without any issues and again had a coolant leak. Same headache except for which the modified bike was as good as any stock bike. I wanted to redo the head gasket seal yet again. This time for a change I gave the bike to a known local mechanic and finally he scr*wed up everything. Nothing much to explain on this, I had to replace the entire block. So this time found a newly designed block From UMA racing, that has a deep groove design on the piston head. Also found the head gasket material was upgraded.

So left the bike for fixing the new block, along with Threebond solution pack for head gasket seal. This time it was Yamaha service that did the job for me and its all well at this point.
Below are few points you like to hear, after 2.5years of running on the old UMA block,

Positives,

1) Runs smooth and slick and highly reliable for the past 45000Kms
2) Engine Maintainence is exactly equivalent to a stock bike.
3) Amazing torque delivery from 3K RPM till 11K RPM.
4) You can see 150 on the speedo without any hussle, daily on highways (without FFE)
5) Mileage almost same as stock, if not a little better coz stock used to Max out at 40Kmpl, this setup runs about 4-5kms more per litre at all riding styles.

Negatives,

1) Not as smooth and Vibe free as a Brand new R15. But if I can call the early R15v1 owners, even the stock bike wasnt smooth after 20K kms?
2) Occasional calls to Radiator Fan after long rides, which never happened to me with stock setup.
3) Head gasket seal is a gammble, still I cant get it right.


Current modds,

1) New 180CC Block from UMA racing, Almost no difference to the old one in operation.
2) Added FZ's Swing arm chain cover, it looks awesome and does the job pretty well
3) Fuel pump clean, 10hole inj clean, fork inner tube, all fluids, both disc plate and pads etc were all changed
4) Used three bond and the new gasket for head seal, hoping atleast this would stay for a few more years to come.
5) Was lucky to find a old store having stock tyres. Got both the pairs that was available for a lower cost.
6) Crank had play on the Piston pinhole, so replaced conrod with all the bearings
7) Head was further ported and polished
8) Got all electricals, switch assembly, ignition lock etc replaced under warranty. (The svc guy helped me out with this)





Hope you notice the chain guard on the swing arm, stock R15 should had both the inner mudguard and the chain guard.. Atleast it looks good...



Overall Feedback to Rookies trying to Mod,

1) Never touch the engine while attempting to mod, Air filters, FFEs should do. Anything more you need, then find bike B. Unless, If you known what you are doing.
2) Dont invest more time or money on modifications, coz it simply doesnt worth it. Coz those days the next hop to R15 was a Ninja which was thrice coslier than the R15. Now you got N number of products at cheaper cost.

If XBHP keeps this thread open, then I would be happy to post further updates and make a record of running the oldest "Modded' R15



Love my bike....




PS: Right from Dec 2008 my fuel pump still sounds when parked, did anyone figured what is wants?

Re: "The Big Bore" - A Story about an R15 getting tuned.

Hi Harishk. Do you still own the bike? My R15-S also had the whirring noise from the fuel pump. I have added 0.5 ml of 2T oil per liter of fuel. After 500 kms there is no sound from the pump. Now a day I do that once in 1000-1500 kms.

Regards,
Vijay

Re: "The Big Bore" - A Story about an R15 getting tuned.

[MENTION=37485]HarishK[/MENTION]

Whoa! Man! That is truckload of dedication right there!

Learnt a lot from this thread!

Cheers!

PS- How much have you spent on this machine till date incl mods?