Okay so I picked up the 2010 cat c with the noisey engine at the weekend. Had my mate listen to it last night and its definitely bottom end. Not going to be getting seriously into this project until October so its just going to get parked up in the garage for now. Need to get planning though (helps me pass the day!). What sort of mods are done to fireblades for the race track?. Do the guts get stripped out the stock air tubes for the ram air, or are replacement air tubes (carbon or fibreglass?) the way to go for power?. Do you get like a HRC air blind kit for blanking this once the solanoids etc are removed?. What sort of target clearance should we be looking for when building the engine?, as there seems to be about three different kit head gaskets and three different base gaskets as well. Which race air filters work well on this bike, I run a BMC "race" filter on my GSXR600 race bike it works well on the dyno. Exhaust systems?, what works. Read a few threads stating that the stock headers are pretty good but I would be looking at a full system. Anyone seen real good results with any particular system?. Fueling modules, power commander/bazzaz does either suit this bike better than the other. Can anything be done to adjust the stock ECU?. Any other good mods I might be missing on these machines?.
i'd be stripping the engine 1st and foremost to diagnose the problem,be it g/box,big end,crank etc so then you can at least keep an eye open for anything that comes up on forums/ebay,better chance of getting a bargain. will post more up about engine/bike mods later.
Well this turned into a bit of a nightmare that I'm only just seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Turned out the crank was knackered, but more of that later. Here's some pictures when I got it home from picking her up.
I've heard the BMC filter is really good. To give you an idea of power output with my setup. I have a 09 blade with PCV, K&N filter and full yoshi r77 system. This put out 170hp at the rear wheel and flies at high rpms. I have also fitted the HM GP QS and dash which would be reslly useful for racing and alsp Brembo HPK brake kit. If allowed to in your race series, I would say the brake upgrade would be one of the most advantageous mods to improve lap times. I also have the Brembo 19RCS MC to match brakes. Thinking of racing mine next year so my mods have been picked with that in mind
My sig pretty much says most of mine. In regards to the questions youve asked I will answer to the best of my knowledge Im not an engine builder but was speaking to mine recently (well known, top fella) about rebuilding mine after my crank went in a crash last month. My air tubes are custom. Never saw the standard ones but I ran fibreglass then switched to carbon for "crashability" .. ! I dont know if my kit is HRC or what but theyre blanked off for sure. Thinnest head gasket (blue I think) and standard base gasket is what I think I was told. Kit gasket for generator and clutch etc. Not sure on how much of a difference it is but just what I was told. Worth confirming though! Mines a pipercross I think. Came in the bike. Mine was superstock so only 170bhp anyway but 84ft lbs and a super map so very useable power and not really outgunned much by the bmw's/kwaks. I have a full leo vince ti system fitted. Seems to do the job but lots of akra/arrow systems for these and cant imagine theres a world of difference. I use a PC3 and standard ECU. In terms of more power, to go beyond 170 you will need to do headwork. For another 10hp youll need cams (either HRC or re-profiled oem) and a good set of valve springs (HRC) and then get the head gasflowed. Hope this helps. Im not an expert but these are my experiences
Apologies guys, I dug up an old thread here that was going to be a build thread at the time. Bike is now built up and running, just needs set up done now. It's an expensive tale of woe.
If you want more hp on this blade only one solution : High comp piston + good head work + STD cams retimed => only that . Others cams will killed mid range, std cams keep them. I ll make this test next week, i ve Wiseco 13,5 piston + KWS head work / valve job / decked ( around 14:1 final ) + reprofiled cams. Engine is open tu put in OEM cams retimed.
Looking at Picture 3 it looks like this Bikes been down the road on it's right hand side. I'm wondering if the Tilt sensor failed or was too slow in cutting the engine and thus the Crank was starved of Oil and hence why it's now fecked?
I'd say ride it first get quick. Worry about power later ? Sorry unless u are ready for it. I'd get suspension and brakes sorted then go for power. And use decent rubber. Are blades still the bike of choice to race. Does riding a Zx/bm make u instantly quicker just for riding one of those
Mine was 179 after an engine and gearbox refresh in April.. Mvr filter, Leo Vince ti system, slightly skimmed head, polished ports , kit loom and kit ecu
So the story is... Bought the bike on EBay as a cat c write off with a noisey engine, paid £3700 for it. Brought it back up the road and my good friend who is a bike mechanic at a Suzuki dealership had a listen and confirmed it to be bottom end. This mate also races and has done any engine work on my bikes up until now then they have been set up by Dynotech Ecosse. I've run my race bikes this was for a few years now and never had any issues. However this time (with the Fireblade being down on power anyway against the ZX10Rs and BMWs I'm likely to be racing against), I decided to take the engine to "Scotland's no1 dyno and tuning centre" (I'd rather not name), as although my mate had found good gains on the GSX-R600K7 I raced previously with a thinner head gasket and shimming the valves, the guy there is an engine tuner and to me being able to degree the cams etc would possibly get an extra 3-5bhp over what me and my mate could build in my garage. So out came the engine and away it went to get rebuilt/blueprinted, this is aprox 8/12/13. So the guy has the engine to strip down and rebuild, get a message back middle of January to say I'm lucky the crank is perfect, just needs shells,rings,rod bolts,head gasket etc, and he's not happy with the oil pump so wants to fit a new one, okay. So within a week that's the engine built back up ready for collection, cost £1200 for rebuild, a dyno set up included in price. Get the engine back. Then a bit of time passed (birth of first child, wee girl). Got the engine back into the bike mid march, started her up and it sounded just the same as before knocking away. Phoned the guy up and he said bring the whole bike through. Dropped the bike back off to him end of march, he had a listen while I was there and reckoned it was just noise from the clutch. Sooo about the middle of June I finally manage to get him on the phone, he's still talking about the clutch, and how it doesn't make the noise with the clutch out, meanwhile I've been doing a bit of research and found that my RR-A model 2010 had a huge recall for a crank issue something to do with the primary drive. Mention all this on the phone to him and email him a link to a thread on another Fireblade forum. A week later I get a phonecall and now my "perfect" crankshaft is faulty, and although my bike is one that should have been recalled because it's a write off and now a race bike I wouldn't get the warranty claim, but he knows a few folk that work at different Honda dealers and for an extra £300 he could get us the warranty parts. I go with it and pay the extra, that week he emails me a screenshot where he has priced up all the warranty parts and it comes to over £5500!, crank alone being £1500. Don't hear anything for a couple of weeks as we are waiting on the warranty claim/parts being cleared by Honda. Then I get to hear about this box of bits that he can't believe how many new parts are there 3x sets of rings, shells, bolts, gaskets for everything, enough for another rebuild after a couple of seasons racing. This is followed by again a prolonged period of no phone answering no replying to messages. By the time August comes he's telling me the bikes in 1000bits and been promised it for weeks upon weeks, eventually just start showing up anytime I'm anywhere near, bikes not even been touched since I dropped it off. Raging but not much I can do, promised again for the following week. Pop in again the next week and he's started taking the engine out, progress at last, still no sign of the box of bits. Promised it again for the next week, still no bike. Give him an ultimatum that if it's not ready for the next week I'm taking it away finished or not. To my surprise when I appeared for it the following weekend it's built back up and strapped on his dyno having done 6x runs. Not set up, PCV, secondary fuel module and quickshifter still not connected, had chucked out 163bhp like that. Notice it now has a gold RR8 engine cover on the generator side, query this and he says he had to buy it to fit with the crank as it was a brand new 2008 crank that was sent out and he needed this to fit it. I find I highly unlikely that Honda would send out a new 08 crank for a 2010 bike, as the 2010 has a different "increased inertia" crank. But decide on the spot that my bike is running, it's not noisey and after the 6month drama I just want the bike back. The box of parts has apparently had to go back to honda and I'm not getting to keep all the parts now, again by now I'm thinking I just want to come out of this with a working bike. Tells me to take it away do a track night with it give it a few heat cycles, drop the semi synthetic oil and put in some fully synthetic before bringing it back for my dyno set up. Went and did the track night up at Knockhill, got about 12 laps in, not consecutively, and the engine management light came on. Now can't get him on the phone again or to answer messages about the dyno set up. So I think I'm going to cut my losses and get it set up by the guys at Dynotech. The guys I should have been dealing with in the first place. Hope this makes sense.
I dont really think there ever was a box of bits and I've no idea where the crank that's now in my bike is from, he did show me my old crank, balancer shaft and clutch basket. The engine was rebuilt the first time, he gave me a bag with the old shells in it to show me them. I'm just left a bit pissed off as I thought I was using a professional with a great reputation for building winning bikes, and I used him over friends that I trust and ended up getting fucked about big time and losing a seasons racing.
Think u must tell us who it is so we don't get stung he's pulled ur pants down. Unless u got a case goin against him f!ck him over
I know it's been a big long saga, and I've every right to be raging but I actually feel sorry for him the guys in a bad place right now, don't want to get into that too much. I could have been tearing him apart on Facebook and twitter etc, but then I don't think I would have gotten a working bike back. It's a small scene the racing up here, the people that know me know, pulling the guy down isn't going to do anyone any good now. There's a clue there anyway, company slogan. I would prefer if anyone picked up on that they don't name them on here either.
A few more photos with the engine out, the screenshot he sent of the warranty parts prices and some toys.
