Joeak47's update on the squish band hemi head and the first desert ride!

[joeak47]

Ok, here are some updates on the performance of the head...

First off a little bit about the Blasters...
Both are stock stroke. The blue one is still on the 66mm bore,and mine is at a 66.50mm bore. Both have forged wiseco pistons,however I beleive that a cast piston would work perfectly!
The blue one is my buddy's its a 2002. Mine is the red and black 2003
They both have the same "aggressive trail ported" cylinders that are port matched to the engine case,V force 3 reed valve assemblies,stock vm26 carbs, no air box lids,Uni filters, stock gearing,and the stock "Fat Squishy" rear tires...don't make fun of them they are great in the desert and have saved our butts multiple times! The lower profile tires most of you run,reduce the ground clearance too much. You would be asking for trouble out here.

My buddy's blue 2002 is running an FMF Fatty pipe and FMF Turnine cor 2 silencer. Main jet is a #340

My Red and black 2003 is running a DMC Alien pipe and silencer. My main jet is also a #340

One last thing... We both run the stock oil injection with ZERO ISSUES! Works perfectly! We also both run redline 2 stroke oil. I was running yamalube (worked great),but wanted try some of the red stuff. I like it.

Before the head modification to my blaster, the bikes were a "dead heat" in a drag race. We repeated this multiple times,and then switched bikes,and drag raced some more...same results

Now we went out today and went for a desert ride in 94 degree weather. I was figuring that heat might be a factor. By the way...we are at 4,400 feet above sea level.

After afew hours in the ride,I can say that the head modification helped everywhere in the power band,but was very pronounced in the upper part of the power band. Hit the throttle,and HOLD ON! Feather the clutch a bit and REALLY HOLD ON! The power band hits like Thor's hammer! Very impressive!. It would without question,be even more noticeable without the porting. Porting on my engine was a HUGE improvement of the stock engine. The squish band head enhanced it (the porting) alot! I believe that you would notice a huge difference (bigger) on a stock engine.
I did bring my infrared laser thermometer with me to take temp reading on the trail. The cylinder temps on both bike were right in the 330 degree to 345 degree range after a hard run. The cylinder head teperatures were about 10 degrees to 15 degrees cooler than the cylinder tempuratures.

These tempuratures were right about on par with the tempurature readings when the bikes were bone stock. Now back to the drag racing...

After the ride,and we were heading home,we decided to drag race once again. Same method...drag race multiple times,then switch bikes and do it again. We would get both blasters up to an even speed in second gear side by side and then go for it!

The squish band hemi head was instantly noticeable,and it pulled on the other bike all the way through six gear each and every time! This is a modification that I would definitely recommend! I'm impressed and so is my buddy. Time to make another head for him! It impresses me how the increase in the efficiency of the "Burn" in the combustion chamber can make such a huge difference. It definitely has a crisper steadier idle. It revs up a bit more quickly,and full throttle is a big WOW! I like it!!!
If my bike isn't in the 30-32 HP range I'll lick the hair off my arms!
Here's a few pictures of the desert ride. It was hot and fun. The dead thing in the road made you ponder life. I'm thinking of adding some boysen ports next (top and botton) and also doing the "piston slot" modification to improve piston pin oiling. Stay tuned....

Dead things in the desert

Out in the middle of "no where"

Watching out for the rocks! They're everywhere! This is where the stock "Fat Squishy's" (rear tires) come in handy.

This is me... I forgot my hat,so I decided to use the rag I have under the seat. Sun burns are 10 minutes or less!

Doing some shooting. Thats my buddy Vern

Snakes,rabbits,coyotes,and lizards!!!

Weird land scape out here! Lots of lava rocks that look like they were place there by somebody.

Nice day! About 94 degrees

Lots of Silt! (fine baby powdered dust)

 

[blasterBruce]

Great pics and good to know the head mod helped cool the Head Some more, Glad other people are trying new things with these motors on there own , Kepp up the great work Joe , Rep Given !!

 

[joeak47]

Thanks man! I'll share everything I do on here. You can do more at home than you think!

 

[blasterBruce]

Thanks man! I'll share everything I do on here. You can do more at home than you think!

I know that for a Fact haha !

 

[joeak47]

Another thing I'm going to try....

I'm going to re-install the stock pipe and silencer on the bike and re-test as before.

The reason I'm going to do this is because the pipe shoot out from 1996 shows that the stock pipe was damn near "right there" with the loud after market pipes,but with the HUGE advantage of being quiet!. I'll even mix it up a bit, an try the stock pipe with after market silencer,and the after market pipe with the stock silencer. This is going to be interesting,because that stock pipe isn't as bad as everybody thinks. A lot of people "think" they're blaster is faster because it sounds louder. I've ran into quite a few people that thought there bike was faster,but wasn't any faster that another stock bike. Its amazing to see what people "think" and "feel" after a modification,or a modification that was done incorrectly.

 

[Triple_B]

Awesome pictures man!

Really cool that your hemi-head worked out for you. A lot of people reccomend the re-chambered heads as an affordable upgrade that also has a very noticable gain in power. I like that you did it yourself, too!

Thanks for sharing your info with us and keep up with the good work!

 

[joeak47]

Awesome pictures man!

Really cool that your hemi-head worked out for you. A lot of people reccomend the re-chambered heads as an affordable upgrade that also has a very noticable gain in power. I like that you did it yourself, too!

Thanks for sharing your info with us and keep up with the good work!

I see alot of people asking if they should just cut the stock head for compression,or re-chamber it also. I look at it this way... If its already going on the lathe,do it right the first time and go the whole nine yards ...re-chamber it too! I bet I could modify a drill press or wood lathe to to accurately turn one. Seriously!

 

[blasterBruce]

I see alot of people asking if they should just cut the stock head for compression,or re-chamber it also. I look at it this way... If its already going on the lathe,do it right the first time and go the whole nine yards ...re-chamber it too! I bet I could modify a drill press or wood lathe to to accurately turn one. Seriously!

Do it man , Id like to see someone else with there own Tools to do such work , I tip my hat to you for trying so many different options !!

 

[borednstreched]

^ x2, nice work.

 

[best]

Hey Joe, great stuff!
Liked the picts. I come from a very green and watery wooded region so naturally I find the desert quite exotic and intriguing.

The head mod is awesome isn't it? Over the entire powerband.
Crisper response everywhere, steadier idle, better burn and easier to read jets we found.
I think the stock cone "shades" the plug in a little cove and makes reading harder, and hides the mixture from the spark.
Such a big gain, it should be the first mod. Like you, I feel "forget about simple milling". Get the chamber cut to get results.

Porting, or specifically raising the exhaust port, affects mainly the rpm range of the powerband. It works in tune with the pipe.
Raising the exhaust port usually boosts rpm and upper power at the expense of low rpm torque.
You probably find with 30+hp on tap, you don't have to worry about low rpm torque so much?
You don't need to spend much time down there, and yet still have enough to lug and loaf along, especially with the head mod.

About pipes, I have really experimented with pipes on my street driven 125:

As well, I have a KTM 300 that I have recently gone from a stock EXC pipe, to a FMF Gnarly, to a FMF Fatty, to a Pro Circuit Platinum.
My opinion is that pipes are the icing on the cake. They usually move the powerband a little this way or that, or expand or narrow it.
Pipes can give a little over-rev or shut the rev down like a rev limiter. Usually any gains are offset with a loss somewhere.
It is my opinion that the stock pipes on most bikes (not all) are generally well designed these days and not a lot of gains to be found in most aftermarket pipes.
It is my opinion that the pipe has to be in tune with the exhaust porting rpm range to see a magnified effect.
I also think that Yamaha is pretty darned good with their stock pipe design from any bike I have ridden or worked on since the 1980s.

The DT200 makes its 32hp with a very quiet double lined pipe. Neil has experimented with different mufflers on it and discovered they mainly make noise, not power. I have found the same thing with my KTM 125 and 300, not big gains to be found in mufflers, although I seem to see an effect from the length of the pipe to perforated core. The slower reving 300 seems to prefer longer pipes and bigger cans (we all like bigger cans don't we?) while the 125 like a shorter pipe and smaller can for both noise attenuation and power production. This effect is very small.

I am very interested in what you find in a comparison with the stock pipe. Neil is running an FMF which show on those tests as a low rpm pipe. This would fight the increased exhaust porting. He also has a stock and DG pipe available. Perhaps he'll try some swaps to see what works here too?

I am sure you are making 30+hp. That head of yours is perfect!
(not the one with the rag on it, I cannot vouch for that!)
Your 340 jet sounds quite rich compared to Neil's present 250, even with altitude and stuffed intake port in consideration.
Premix tends to lean jetting (calling for richer jets) too, so I am worried Neil (Triplecrown) might be going the wrong way.
Still, you have to believe what the plug is telling you, and he has been doing a good job of reading plugs so far.

Keep the experiments and pictures coming.

Steve

 

[joeak47]

Best, here is the top end with 5.1 hours of use using "redline" oil. Looks to be good stuff. I try oils of different types to see how good they work. I also like the factory recomended "Yamalube S2". The yamalube doesn't compare to the cleanliness of the redline though. The redline exhaust port was as clean as the head.
here are some pictures...

5.1 hours on the new squish bqnd hemi head...

Here's the bottom of the piston...no cleaning...as pulled from the engine.

My handy dandy hour meter...

Piston bottom...

Here's my piston "wash" picture... no cleaning...as pulled from the engine.

I did swap the DMC Aliem exhaust back to the bone stock exhaust for a comparison. The stock exhaust works VERY well. its by no means an an after market exhaust,but does have advantages. Almost everybody says that the stock exhaust sucks... They are WRONG! It does its job very well,but at a weight penalty (about 6 pounds) over most after market set-ups. The stock exhaust is designed well and gave the engine a bit broader power band,but did take away a power on the upper end. it probably reduced the over all power output about 2 hp (guess),but it is much quieter. I still have to mix and match. I'll be trying the DMC Alien pipe with the stock silencer next.

What do you think of that piston wash? The under side of the piston looks good to me. No burnt on oil from over heating,and I get this baby hot in the 100+ degree weather. Lots more experimenting to do! What do you think about boysen ports? are they worth it? Will they kill velocity? I'm thinking more timed area would be a good thing. I'm not worried about screwing anything up. I have multiple cylinders to play with.

Now back to the experimenting...

 

[best]

Jetting looks bang on Joe.
Piston wash looks perfect, no burn under the piston.
I think the tarnish on the head squish is from heat and 20:1 oil?
I don't really know for sure. Some motors stay perfectly clean. Any ideas.