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Go for that package! I just bought the tensioner but then I ended up buying a chain half a year after this thread. Actually I'm just about to dismount the lot again for inspecting the camshaft, so if you wait a couple of hours I'll be able to tell you how the tensioner looks after 25,000 kms of service.

The Mother of V11's

Do you mean the TPS is not connected to the throttle cable so you need to find a static compromise? It shouldn't be that hard to connect it (maybe temporary) to the throttle cable. I doubt WOT will be a good place to set it. There are some logs in this post where you can see some Cali P8 ignition advance stuff, like that it seems to be about 10.5 degrees at idle. Maybe it could be of some value for you. Edit: On a second thought, WOT is not that bad. Of course it will still consider the RPM. This is my (1100 Sport) stock ignition map: If I put carbs on and just set the TPS to WOT (that can be done by getting rid of the actual sensor and just shortening two of the cables, isolating the third), I would get 12 degrees at idle and 30 degrees at WOT. That should work, even if it's not very optimal. As you can see, if your map has any similarity to mine, you'd end up with too much advance if you set it on half throttle. YMMV.

Blimey, you're right! Maybe they look more like the flat top ones in that respect. I'll have a look and take some more pictures. After all, it's winter and we should dissect things like this down to last molecules

I think it's the same model as in the older comparison picture with amber text. It's just that I had them at right angle from the gudgeon pin. The other picture showing a flatter FBF piston, are you sure it's not a Cali one? They are separate items but described in the same block of text. (Edit: never mind, it should be 11:1 anyway)

I don't have the means to measure that. Checking with a vernier caliper they are exactly the same, but that's just down to 0.05 mm. I have size "A" cylinders and pistons, the smallest. FBF just sell one size for what I know.

Yes I know. I thought it would go deeper. I'll just leave it though, it's down enough I can't see it when stud bolt is there, and the hole in the jug is larger anyway.

OK, done now. All went fine. For jig I used the head (secured by two bolts) while drilling, and the jug for the first few turns of the tap. Then free hand tapping, without taking one single breath (that I recall) for the whole operation. Two coil inserts just fit (number two made contact with the first one just after clearing the surface). End result is perfect. I'll just need to make sure the engine surface didn't raise a thou around the hole (although that would probably be off the gasket or mating surfaces anyway) Thank you all. Man, do I need a drink.

Good point. Rockers are €107 each... I'll ask the head shop if they can resurface them. All valve ends are flawless.

Recoil is just like Helicoil but (apparently) Australian. There are very similar German alternatives too (V-coil I think). I'd guess the quality of those are similar, but they are all very expensive. I found a dirt cheap brand too (you can guess the origin) but that one I don't dare using. Not for this application anyway.

Will do, thanks. Price is about 20 Euro each. I wonder why the exhaust ones are worse but I recall reading about similar stories. I've been digging deeper into the heads. Inner springs are 37.2-37.5 mm free length, they should be 37.9 mm. Outer ones are 40.3 mm, right at the minimum spec. I'll replace all springs anyway, I already bought them. Much to my surprise, all valves measure out just fine so they can probably be reused. But the valve guides are worn, and oval. I can only feel and estimate, there are essentially no play at all in the directions where the least force comes to play. On the other axis there are significant play on all guides. I'll see if I can get them K-lined or if I should order new guides (I'll supply the shop with everything they need including the Roper writeup and relevant pages from the WHB). As I'm interested in what squish I'll end up with, I measured the old head gaskets. (pistons are almost level with cylinder top, better than I dared hoping for). It turned out the LH gasket was 1.6 mm while the RH one was 1.1 mm I bought them at the same time but they were not part of a set so I guess they were different batches or even different origin. I'll check new ones carefully from now on.

For some reason one of my cylinder studs ate the block threads and ceased doing its job. I torqued it myself a couple of years ago and I re-torqued them after a while with no problem. I guess the reason could be my torque wrench is too cheap and miscalibrated so it was too hard. I'm sure it didn't break at torquing but maybe it was so borderline it broke later at heat cycling. Is that even possible? Anyway I need to fix it. I do most everything myself except valve jobs and tires, unless someone talks me out of it. So here is my plan. I haven't actually done anything yet, just planning, so you have the chance to save me. First, I need to drill by hand without making things worse. So I thought I should make a jig. Then I realized the barrel could be used as a jig, but its holes are 12 mm and drill is 10.4 mm so it's not very exact. But the head's holes are 10.5 mm or something, it's perfect! I wound the crank so the conrod was below surface, then gently placed the head there without the barrel. It seems to work just fine: So, like this I can drill some 15 mm down, and the last couple of mm's should be easy from there. Apart from that I need to take good care of material falling into the ditch pump, is this a sane plan? Question number two: The length of threads is 28 mm. Either I need to find longer Recoil inserts, or maybe I could use two of them? Anyone tried that? I reckon I could mount the first all the way down, wind in a second until that one is a mm below surface and set it there. Any comments are welcome.

Like Tom and Slavek I just removed my heads and barrels for some work. Cylinders look like new after 72,000 kms, pistons look good too as far as I can tell. But the followers doesn't look all that good. On both sides the exhaust follower showed pitting while intake side was better. Here is left side pair, exhaust at the left. Here is right side ones, again exhaust at the left. Cam looks absolutely fine as far as I can tell without actually dismounting it. Questions include: Should I replace some of them, all of them, none of them? What do I need to know if I replace them? Break-in measurements? Mineral oil with lots of zink? Moly? Or just pop new ones in and forget about it? And what's the price tag on these things anyway? I'll find answers in older posts here and on other boards but anyone bored with the low activity here please speak up if you wish!

This is my right side piston. They actually look pretty good (to me) even now after 72,000 kms. Anyone correct me if I misinterpret what I see but I reckon there's no blow-by and skirts looks wonderful - but it doesn't seem to have had any coating ever. Does anyone know why on both pistons, the amber colour is below second compression ring, but not between first and second? Oh yeah, milling the heads was cancelled from my to-do list as soon as I bought the FBF pistons. I'd rather have MR ones but I got these dirt cheap. I was pleased to see that on my particular bike, the piston tops are level with cylinder tops. Here is my right piston compared to an FBF one. They are 'connected' with a gudeon pin for comparisons. I'll post some other issues in a separate thread (did you check your followers, Tom and Slavomir?)

Ah, sorry, I read that but then I forgot it

Take care not to over-tighten the terminals. They put up with significantly less than you instinctively want to use for an M6 bolt. Over-tightening may break the terminal internally, rendering the battery useless. Guess how I know. I (now) always use a screwdriver-handle, not even the tiniest wrench.

Thanks for sharing this Tom, I'm about to do similar work @ 72,000 kms (45,000 miles). I'm also replacing the pistons with FBF ones I bought unused from Antonio. That was just because I got a good price, my initial plan was to take a millimeter or so from the head to set squish and raise compression. I'll be interested in your progress and I may report some of mine if something interesting comes up. If my memory serves me, your pistons look a lot worse than mine did last time I looked. That was when I broke an exhaust stud at 42,800 kms which is very similar to your mileage. I don't have any pictures of piston sides so I'm not sure.

I really hope there's an end to your trouble. To help the odds a little, cut/slice the hoses off the injectors. Someone (here?) reported breaking a V11 injector fitting in a way similar to your QR fitting. Not replacable, hard to come up with a bodge fix and injectors are not cheap.

+1 and make sure they mask the brake rotor seats & bolt holes as well. I failed to mask the rotor seats and I had to pay that lazyness with lots of sweat - it is hard to remove for sure. The rear rim has a steel tube in center, where the bearings mount. It's a press fit and secured by a seeger ring. I pressed it out after heating good and using a humongous press. It broke loose with a bang, scary as hell. Before mounting it again I had the tube in the fridge a good while and heated the rim but it still took some insane amount of pressure to put in in place. When you're at it, replace the valve stems with right angled ones from Ducati, and you'll thank yourself every time you check tyre pressure

Thanks. So in order to put 400 lbs on the spring, I just put the same 400 lbs on the seat, regardless of ratio. I thought that would be multiplied too. How come I can lift things heavier than myself using a leverage (and longer travel) then? Not the same thing?

Correct^. OK, here's what I'm trying to say. Surely I'm wrong but please tell me what is wrong with the following: 1. To compress a 400# spring 1 inch, we apply 400 lbs at the spring. With a 2:1 ratio we can instead apply 200 lbs at the seat. So when applying 200 lbs at the seat, the spring compresses 1 inch. 2. One inch on the spring is two on the wheel. So when applying 200 lbs at the seat, the wheel (or seat ) moves 2 inches. 3. This means the "effective rate" (is there a term for this?) is just 200/2 = it feels like a 100# spring. Unless both GM and Ratch are wrong, there must be a flaw in my reasoning. I've tried googling but it only adds to the mess. I found a post claiming "the spring rate at the axle is the actual spring-rate divided by the SQUARE of the leverage ratio." but that doesn't fit any better. It does sound better in my ears though Edit: um, wait. I read it as SQUARE ROOT but if they mean just square, it actually supports my reasoning. I am so confused.

Sorry if I'm being ultra daft now, but won't the force multiply with the leverage ratio too? So 200 lbs weight on the seat would be 400 (or 100 ) lbs on the shock spring? Or am I confusing force with weight where I'm not allowed to?

You guys confuse me. If we're talking travel (and assuming 2:1), the shock will compress 2 cm from a 1 cm wheel movement. And 20 mm more preload gives 10 mm higher rear. Right? To compress a 400# spring 1 inch, we apply 400 lbs at the spring. That is the same as 200 lbs at the wheel (or rather the seat). But as the swing arm only move 0.5 inch when we do this, the "effective spring rate" is still 400#. Is that right?

I would think you can just ignore it and it will go away with time, I can't see how it could do any harm. I also saw you're looking for a new piston, surely if it's just carbon deposits and no other problem with it, it must be possible to clean it!!