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Feature Article

Hot Rod Warrior Part 4
By Scooter Kizer
Copyright 2003 Motorcycle Street and Strip Magazine


Photos by Tom Riles

If you have been following this project from the beginning, this is the final story where we kick it up a notch and add color to the whole process. Prior to starting on the final hi-performance portion of this project, we did both dyno and track testing to give readers results after the addition of a Power Commander III, V&H pipe and Baron’s Big Air Kit. Before cracking open the engine, we now set at an impressive 91 hp with our track performance increasing from our original 12.33 @ 106mph to 11.91 @ 109.59mph. If you are happy with the improvements so far, great. But if you’ve got the extra bucks, a good banker and/or the desire to spank almost any cruiser on the road, then its time for the improvements that the removal of government required restraints can’t do. The task at hand is to take Japan’s superb engine design and tweak it. Being a shade tree mechanic, I assumed that I would fall short of having many tools. So I decided to go to neutral ground so not to favor either Orient Express or Patrick Racing. As you may recall, we are using a combination of Orient Express and Patrick Racing parts for this project. I called upon my friend, semi-retired Pro Stock legend Jim Bernard. His shop is located in the mountains of Western Maryland and gladly allowed me the use of his shop for our engine segment of this project.

Time to strip the bike, so first remove tank, BAK filters, vacuum lines, throttle bodies and engine mount from cylinder heads. Before you get going I’ll repeat a note from my first story. Refer to the YSM, “Yamaha Service Manual”. The best advice is to look at your service manual and start taking everything loose or off to access the parts you want to remove. Be very careful to label every hose or connector you disconnect or you’ll need a plumber to help you put it back together. Keep all connections labeled until you are happy with your performance. If the bike does not operate properly, it will be necessary to trace your steps and insure you have not crossed connections. You can easily remove your labels later. Take lots of photos, preferably with a digital camera for later reference if needed. We will be using a combination of both Orient Express and Patrick Racing engine upgrades and components. We are using Patrick modified heads and cylinders, 100mm piston kit, valves, push rods and adjustable push rod tubes. From the Orient side we used their cam, lifters, throttle bodies and valve springs to go with their cam. Patrick heads come with throttle body boots, so you can discard the stock boots. This is a good time to drain the oil; we are going to be installing Yamaha’s ball milled billet drive cover, cam cover, alternator cover and generator access cover to dress out the engine to match the rest of the Yamaha chrome accessories. It is worth noting that all aftermarket parts and accessories are all American manufactured. Sorry, I had to clarify that patriotic side note. Back to draining the oil. To drain all the oil you must remove the oil tank drain bolt and case bolt. The oil tank drain plug is the 17mm bolt near the front of the rear shock mount; it’s hard to find. The next thing is to remove the exhaust.

While you are disassembling your bike to build up the engine, this is a great time to ship off your bodywork to get painted. In our case, I used the only painter I know in the country that could pull off my paint scheme. Note the Williams Graphic’s original artist rendering from the previous issues, which incorporates the seat into the paint scheme. AP Designs in San Marcus, CA are the guys to handle the job. Owner, Alex Paul, is the guru behind this unique concept of recovering the seat with clear vinyl that has been painted from the backside. We also utilized Yamaha’s lower cowl and tachometer cowl to bring more color into the design. After a dry run pre-assembly to ensure a great fit, all parts were shipped to AP. For one additional visual touch I thought it would be cool to shoehorn an R-1 front fender to replace the small stock fender and front fork covers. A quick trip to RC Components to steal the talents of fabricator Bobby Cataldo made quick work of the fender. Two brackets had to be fabricated along with some minor material removal to allow the F-1 fender to clear the stock caliper brackets. While at RC, Shaun Rigsby talked me into bailing on the original idea of using both stock front rotors. I hated loosing all the great braking, but I couldn’t stand not being able to see the RC Comp front wheel. So while hacking up the new fender, we ditched one rotor.

Now that your UPS truck has your body on the way to the painter, lets get back to the engine. As you are disassembling that bike, Jim has a great idea. He uses a muffin pan to keep bolts organized. After removing the throttle bodies, leave as much in tact as possible until you determine what you need to use on the OE ones. Next start removing the head cover bolts. After removing the head covers, remove the rocker arm bases then remove heads. On our project, we are using Patrick heads that are bored to 100mm. Their kits come in two options; ported cylinder head with stock size valves or with 2mm oversize valves as used in this project. Whether you are using the complete kits from Orient or Patrick use one or the other and the heads will come pre-assembled. For this project, OE is supplying the cams, so Patrick has left out the valve springs. We took the OE valve springs and completed the head assembly.

Remove cylinders and jugs. Be careful when removing heads, cylinders, etc to not let the locator pins to drop into the engine. That would require removing the engine and turning it upside-down to retrieve them. Remove wrist pin clips from wrist pin and remove pistons. When installing the piston rings in the new pistons make sure to not overlap the ends of the tensioner on the oil ring. During reassembly, when installing the piston rings make sure all markings on the rings face the top of the piston. Prior to installing the piston, use white lithium grease or assembly lube and grease the connecting rod, wrist pins. Squirt engine oil on the large end of the crank bearings before installing pistons. Place a grease rag around connecting rod and under the piston to prevent wrist pin circlips from dropping in the motor. Install one circlip on the piston prior to sitting piston on connecting rod. Make sure circlip gap is at the top or bottom. Then install wrist pin and finally the second circlip. Intake valve pockets, (big pockets) on the piston, face the inside of the engine.

Prior to installing the cylinder jugs, it is important to clean the cylinder walls with lightweight oil, we used Marvel Mystery oil. Do not use solvents or cleaners. Light oil will allow you see what you get off. Use toilet paper, a big wad. Make sure your cylinder gaskets are on the cases. When installing the cylinders, make sure the reliefs at the bottom of the sleeves are facing each other. Start on with the cylinder, sliding it over the piston rings, but be careful not to force anything. Go slow and be very careful with the second ring, its cast. Alternate the gaps on the rings every 90 degrees. Rock the piston. After installing both cylinders, take off the cap of the side cover, using a 19mm socket and rotate the motor over a couple of times to make sure every things is working right. Now that the top end is in place, remove the cam cover then remove the lifters with magnet. If not using new lifter, mark the originals so they go back in the same hole. Put the pistons top dead center on the compression stroke. Follow the YSM instructions and Orient Express or cam supplier’s instructions for replacing the cams. Orient calls for extra grinding on the cam area for cam clearance. Make sure to line up the timing marks on the camshaft drive and driven gear. When breaking loose the drive gear nut, use a grab-it tool to hold the gear in place or have someone hold the crank on the other side of the bike. For our picture, we marked the dots with marking paint for visual reference for the story. When taking the cam bearing plate off be careful not to let it pop off. It did when we pulled it off and the stock cams hit the ground. Good thing we have a new set of cams going in. line up the locater marks on the gear side of the cams and insert into the camshaft cover.

Replace cam bearing cover (or cam shaft cover as per YSM), then install the gears using cam supplier’s instructions then replace the cam gear cover. Install gears following manual instructions, using screwdriver through gear hole to hold gear while tightening bolt. Reinstall the decompression solenoid cover. While torqing the gear, use a penny between the cam gear and crankshaft gear. Don’t leave the penny in the engine.

We replaced the stock throttle bodies with OE 42mm throttle bodies, which are bored for more airflow. The replacement throttle bodies require the use of the stock fuel lines and idle adjuster. Remove and replace each on the OE throttle bodies. Check air bleed screws to make sure they are set on one and a half turns. This is very critical in order to get your air/fuel mixture close. Before installing the lifters, fill the lifters with oil by pushing the plunger down and allowing it to spring up while filling it with oil with an oilcan. Replacing the billet transfer case cover. The nice thing about using Yamaha Genuine accessories is the detailed instructions for each piece is packaged with each part. Follow Yamaha’s instructions and assembly is simple. We have also opted to upgrade our clutch using a Barnett SR2 pressure plate conversion kit for better performance on and off the track. When replacing the clutch cover, you will have to remove the sound dampening rubber (bummer), but that’s the case with all aftermarket cover replacements. You will need to remove the kickstand prior to removing the clutch cover, and then follow the Barnett instructions for the conversion kit.

When installing the Barnett pressure plate, remove the stock pressure plate. Note the Barnett plate utilizes springs as opposed to the stock pressure plate spring plate. Take a picture, its pressure plate is pretty and you’ll never see it again. Do not over torque the bolts during reassembly. Make sure to lube the clutch cable good when you finish. As mentioned in an earlier article, I also opted to replace the stock cables with Barnett’s Carbon Coat cables.

Now that the engine assembly is finished, the YSM requires you to fill the crankcase with two quarts of oil from the oil filler cap located top of the cases behind the rear cylinder. Then top off the remaining oil through the oil tank located under the seat. Torque the heads, then install fuel injection manifolds, the Patrick Racing adjustable push rod tubes, rocker base gaskets and locating pins. Clean gaskets. If you are using stock push rod tubes, do not install them at this time. You will need to adjust the valves then pull the rocker bases back up to install stock push rod tubes. I recommend the easy way out by using Patrick’s adjustable push rod tubes. Besides looking really cool, these items will eliminate the need to pull up the base plates after adjustments to install the tubes. Clean the rocker base gasket surfaces and oil passages with cleaner (brake cleaner works best, it evaporates and does not leave a residue.) Sit the rocker base in place, but not all the way down. Next take the push rods and dip the ends of the push rods into assembly lube (moly sulphide) prior to installing. Use the stock push rods as guides to get the length correct. Note that the intake push rod is on the rear cylinder. This is due to the valve train geometry, so this one push rod is approximately one eighth of an inch longer. The intake side is on the inside of the “V” and the exhaust is the outside of the “V”. Sit the non-adjustable end of the pushrod on the top of the appropriate lifter using a flashlight to locate. Line up the push rods to the rocker arm and guide the rocker base flush onto the head.

Get a rough adjustment on the pushrods to take out the slack on the rocker arm. Now bolt down the rocker base with the four rocker base bolts. Then the two 8mm bolts that go through the rocker arms. Install rocker arm bases, throttle bodies, fuel line, hoses, exhaust (pre-assemble and install before replacing the right foot peg and brake assembly. Now that all engine modifications and cosmetic engine covers are in place it is tempting to fire this baby up, but don’t. The bike might crank but it would sound like opening day for duck season. Due to the changes in timing, compression, etc., the bike needs slight adjustments. I recommend taking your bike to an authorized Dynojet Tuning Center to richen the fuel injection to proper settings. Otherwise the mixture will not be correct and the engine will spit and sputter.

Okay, the original intent for this project was for a shade tree mechanic like myself to do this entire project, I lied. You most likely fall into one of two categories. “A”, already knows how to assemble V-twin engines and don’t need to read this story or “B”, really should find someone who knows what they are doing. Even if you subscribe to the “A” category, some of the assembly tips will be helpful to the most experienced, but for those in the “B” category I suggest carefully evaluating whose parts are best for you. Purchase a turnkey kit from either Orient or Patrick and find a qualified person to do it right. Start with your local Yamaha dealer. Make sure they have a certified technician that is proficient at this type of work or keep looking.

I turned to Dean Phelps, Hot Rod Cruiser competitor and Yamaha service manager at Central Yamaha in Plano, Texas. I wanted Dean to do the final tune up on the bike because as he says, “I can put these things together in my sleep.” If you cannot find someone in your area to help, call Dean at 800.246.2640 or see contact information on their website www.centralyamaha.com. So after a final tune up during the Prostar race in St. Louis, we rolled the bike over to Joe Marasco’s Dynojet dyno and proceeded to pull up our final numbers. Recounting, we started with a stock horsepower of 77, then increased to 84.1 with the addition of a Power Commander III and a Vance & Hines Pro Pipe. The addition of Baron’s Big Air Kit put us at 91hp and today we jumped to 105hp at 5000rpm with a max torque of 121.56 ft lb’s @ 4000rpm. It makes 100 ft lb's of torque starting at 2250 rpm's and it never drops below that through out the rpm range. The torque curve is very flat for very good pulling & passing power. When then put the bike in the hands of Keith Dennis for one final quarter mile performance test. The results were great. On the second of only two passes, Keith recorded an 11.35 @ 115.77mph. A nice jump from our original 12.33 @ 106.00mph. One thing to keep in mind is that no two dynos are exactly the same and are not going to give you exactly the same results. If you are going to measure your success throughout your project, I suggest using the same dyno center throughout your project. A few final touches where made after the engine and paint work such as Lazer Star front and rear billet LED lights. I wanted to retain the stock inner rear fender that gave me a mounting location for these tiny, but bright, lights. On the front Lazer Star offers billet tube clamps for front installation. All are easy plug in applications but require the use of a load equalizer voltage regulator to keep the blinker flash time correct. Otherwise they will flash faster because they require less amps. I also added Yamaha’s Speedstar chrome air cleaner assembly. Due to the fact that I already have a BAK with K&N filters on it, I did not use the included air filter. I really wanted that racy look of the Speedstar air cleaner cover to compliment the left side cover.

We debuted our Hot Rod Warrior at this year’s Star Days in Ogden, Utah. Star Touring and Riding organizes the annual event in a different location each year. Many of our readers who have been following the project were happy to see and hear the final results. Overall there were over a hundred Warriors with various cosmetic changes. It’s easy to say that no two Warrior looked alike. With a little of imagination and determination, you can take your Warrior to the custom look you have always desired. We hope this project will save you the endless time and effort most go through to find the sources to build your project. We will continue to tweak our project bike and hopefully update you later on new aftermarket items for Warriors as they become available.

We would like to thank all the companies and individuals that provided parts and/or service to bring you the Hot Rod Warrior. I’d like to say a special thanks to Brad Banister of Yamaha for his help in getting this project off the ground and to Jeff Palhegyi of Palhegyi Design for his innovative styling of Yamaha accessories that we were privy to have pre-production pieces for this project. Check out and cut out our final resource guide before you start your project. These companies and products are the best in the business. We’ve done the hard work, now you just pull up a shade tree, read, call, buy and build. Good luck.


Notes to save for follow-up article:
115 hp. With PR Warrior air filter kit and cams. With PR cams you do not have to grind.

1. Notes: Dealer cost to install would be $600-$650.


Resources
AP Designs 760.471.1024 www.apdesignsusa.com
Barnett Performance Products 805.642.9435 www.barnettclutches.com
Baron’s 888.278.2819 www.baronscustom.com
Dynojet 702.920.8030 www.dynojet.com
Maximums Street Performance (614) 272-7472 www.mspracing.com
Lazer Star 800.624.6234 www.weekendconcepts.com
Orient Express 800.645.6521 www.orientexpress.com
Patrick Racing 714.554.7070 www.patrickracingbillet.com
Pirelli Tires www.pirellimoto.com or see your local dealer.
RC Components 270.842.6000 www.rccomponents.com
Thunder Manufacturing 602.269.5033 www.thundermfg.com
Vance & Hines 800.223.5952 www.vanceandhines.com
Yamaha www.yamaha-motor.com or see your local dealer.



Performance
HP ET MPH Dry Weight
Stock 77.5 12.33 106.00 606 lbs
Stage 1 84.1 12.08 107.73 592 lbs
Stage 2 91.0 11.91 109.59 588 lbs
Stage 3 105.12 11.35 115.77 608 lbs

Stage 1 Changes: Power Commander, V&H exhaust.
Stage 2 Changes: Baron’s Big Air Kit
Stage 3 Changes: Barnett clutch; Orient Express cams, lifters, valve springs, throttle bodies; Patrick Racing heads, cylinders, valves and pistons.

Note: The use of aftermarket engine covers and additional chrome brought the weight back to the original dry weight.


Photo Captions
Asterisk * indicates that photo must be in story. Hopefully all can be used.
# 1 *- (cylinders and heads on newspaper) Caption: Patrick Racing kit as it looks right out of the box.
#2 – (purple clutch) Caption: It’s a shame that clutch covers aren’t made of glass. Barnett’s pressure plate are too pretty to cover up.
#3 *– (from top of bike, with no gas tank or top end of motor) Caption: Unless you go into the bottom end of the engine, this is as striped of your Warrior you will ever see. Take pictures to show your friends how brave you are.
#4 – (gears) Caption: Make sure to line up timing marks on the camshaft drive and driven gear.
#5 *– (gears w/ grab-it tool) Caption: When breaking loose the drive gear nut, use a grab-it tool to hold the gear in place.
#6 – (throttle bodies) Caption: Orient’s throttle bodies require utilizing the stock fuel lines and idle adjuster.
#7 *– (duct tape and rags in engine) Caption: Orient’s cams require grinding on the cam area. Make sure to tape up cam area to prevent metal shaving from getting inside cases.
#8 – (fenders) Caption: Note area removed from the blue fender in comparison to a stock R-1 fender above.
#9 – (front forks) Caption: These fabricated R-1 fender brackets bolt to the stock caliper mounts.
#10 *– (guy grinding on fender) Caption: RC Components’ Bobby Cataldo grinding on R-1 front fender.
#11 *– (front wheel) Caption: R-1 front fender with right brake assembly removed for better of view of RC Comp wheel.
There are seven (7) additional photos on slides that Tom Riles took at Star Days. These are the completed bike and require no captions.