Data on impact of pre-cat headers, PC, Staintunes etc.

Folks,

A few weeks ago, I put a posting up stating that I was going to have non-cat (98) headers, Staintunes, BMC filter and Power Commander put on my ’05 VFR/Interceptor ABS. As promised, here’s a rundown of that process. In the end, I also went for braided steel brake lines – more about that awesome mod later.

Before getting into it, thought, I’ll give a high level summary: The bike now works like it should have out of the factory. Drivability is totally different now. The suspension and frame design of the VFR always impressed me, and now the rest of the systems are up to par too.

The engine pulls from < 2000 RPM all the way through the range so smoothly that you’d swear it was a V8. The most important change, though is around throttle response. There used to be brutal, choppy low rpm (think making a tight u-turn) throttle response. It was next to impossible keep the bike from bucking. Also, there was slop in the throttle at all rpm’s that was pretty unpleasant. The combination of smooth linear response and no slop means control is a lot better. Frankly, it just makes the bike more confidence inspiring to ride.

Take the awesome throttle response, and add in Galfer steel brake lines, and you get an awesome package. From day one, I felt like the brakes were a tad squishy. I think this was driven by the enormous length of the brake lines themselves. From the lever to the abs unit, then onto both the calipers for the linked brakes; frankly, this was just too long. A lot of the lever pressure translated into line (diameter) stretch instead of braking, so you wasted most of the lever effort and ended up with bad brake ‘feel’.

In come the steel lines, and the VFR feels like a race bike. The brakes are tighter than the ones on my old Ducati felt. I could barely get the abs to kick in before, particularly on the rear brake, with the rubber lines. Now the brakes GRAB when I want them too. In fact, I’d say I like the brakes almost as much as the fact that the throttle does what I want it to now.

All of this adds up to making the bike way more pleasant to ride, and in turn making me a faster rider. I took my favorite turns about 10-15% faster than before the mods took place. And that’s what it really comes down to.

After comparing notes with some friends who’ve had their bikes tuned – one of whom has a VFR too – I think the reason my experience was so good comes down to the care taken by R-Cal racing down in Huntington Beach. The guys there took the time to do the job right, even though I was bugging them to get the bike back. The tuning is flawless, and the brakes work great, but there are other details that indicate how much effort they put in. They fabbed a tiny triangular center stand stop that probably weighs less than a quarter ounce, looks great, and works awesome. They also shaved my license plate so it would fit right between the Staintunes, whose mounts were modded a bit to make them fit even better. All in all, everyone in their shop was very competent, very friendly, and above all did great work. Rick is the owner though, and he’s the dyno wizard. From now on, my bikes and my friends’ bikes are going to him. Some folks think that you can just throw a bike on the dyno and go, or perhaps buy a PC and download a map the ‘sort of’ works for your set up. I’m now convinced that doing things right is worth it. And doing things right means getting a guy like Rick, with years of experience, on the job.

Details:
Total cost: parts you can figure out, labor came to about $800 for the dyno runs and tuning, about $1000 for the brake lines

HP Gain: 5-6 hp

Speed Gain on my normal ‘test’ run: 11% on first run through, 14% on my second run, both over my previous best

Fun Gain: 100% J now it works like it should

Tuners: Rick of R-Cal Racing in Huntington Beach, Tel: (714) 848-6797.

I have dyno charts, but no scanner....if someone wants them, I can fax copies.

- Karsten.

 

nice write up.
would like to see your dyno charts... just put a Motad exchaust on mine and looking to see what others have done with the mapping. could you email rather than fax?

 

Ikavo;
I had very similar results doing essentially the same mods you did. Bike and I are very happy now. Check us out under post "The Promise of the VTEC".

 

Great to hear its working so good. $800 aint cheap, but if you are happy that's all that matters:yo:

 

Guys I will try to figure out if I can find someone to scan the charts so I can email them instead of faxing them out. Bear with me...

As for the $$ - it's still cheaper than the bmw r1200s, ducati doesn't make an st4 anymore and it would also cost more. Finally, I like Hondas better!!!!

If I could describe how much of a difference the brake lines make, i think it would all make more sense.

K

 

Yo Ikavo--If you are nice enough to release the data I'd be more than willing to use my scanner and email it to you. PM me with your email address I will send you my fax number, get as good a copy if possible. I will scan it in and email it to you for your records etc.. then you can post for all to see using www.photobucket.com or whatever.!! You can thank RVFR for teaching me that trick!!!

more than happy to help.eace:
Rich
might take a day or so, tons of work with kids :yo:

 

Thanks for the help! Will pM you for your fax number now.

K

 

Sorry it took a few days Ikavo, things have been nutty..

Here's Ikavo's results: in case verbage is illegeable it reads "Guys, as you can see, main benefit of tuning was to get rid of air/fuel problems others address thru pair valve etc. side benefit is a bit more power/torque and less...cant read.."

Great to talk to a real rider dude and enjoy the brakelines!
Rich.

 

Great post Ikavo, the one last thing I was thinking of doing to my VFR is brake lines, thanks for the information...

 

VaRollOn,

Thanks again for taking the time to scan the sheet and post it up. It was great to talk to you and compare notes on the bikes.

As for the brakelines, they made as much difference on stopping as the dyno tuning did for the throttle. It's a different bike. Now I do stuffI wouldn't have thought about before. That much more confidence inspiring!

Just have to keep in mind that there's a cost to being too outrageous

 

drool! you make me want to commit arson to my pockets!

 

I understand how valuable driveability is to lap times but all that money for headers, slip ons, PCIII and tuning for 4 rwhp is pretty steep. I also see that there was nearly 20 degrees difference in ambient temperature between the stock and modded run. I wonder how much of that power increase was due to colder air that day. I was thinking about these mods as well but now, not so much. I'd love to hear your bike in person though, I bet it's great without the cat!

 

You're right newticious - lots of $$ for the hp gain. Would I do it again? Yes, if I had another Interceptor since it was unacceptable with the throttle issues etc. Brake lines we SUPER AWESOME in terms of improvement too.

The real alternative to me isn't not doing the work to the VFR, because it was pretty necessary to get it where I wanted it, instead it would be maybe buying a bmw S bike with ABS.

That would cost even more though .