Vs1400 motor mods

[Coyote95]

This is my first time on a forum of any kind so forgive me if I do anything wrong.
I bought a 1997 suzuki intruder 1400 from a buddy several months ago. When he bought the bike it was not running and hadn't run in a few years. This bike has 29,000 miles.
Well within 24 hours I got the bike running and running very well. In fact it will outrun his Dyna wide glide like it's tied down to something.
I have searched for countless hours for a big bore kit, big cam, or anyone who has done any modifications to the motor and haven't found anything. Since it has such high mileage I'm sure I'll have to do a rebuild soon but I am not content with a stock motor.
My question is can I do anything to increase horsepower and performance? Are there any motor mods that can be done? Has anyone made an attempt?

[Lechy]

There are no magical bolt on kits for a bit extra. Uncorking the beast gives a few more HP but it can turn into a nightmare. This is installing K&N pod filters and re-jetting plus fitting an aftermarket set of mufflers ,don't make the mistake of fitting bigger bore headers as this will take your top end down. Best thing to do is give the old girl a full service, do a carb synch, drill out the plugs and re adjust the AF screws (the plugs were factory fitted covers for the AF screws to comply with US emission regulations).
Loosing a stone in body weight will open up an extra +/- 3 usable horses.
29K miles is just about run in, many have over 100K miles and still running strong.

[emoji41]

[Coyote95]

My worry is I don't believe this bike has been treated well. It's already breathing for sure. It doesn't even have mufflers. So it's got about max hp out of what it's capable of.
I'm just trying to see if there is anything to make this mean little bike a beast among bikes. I'm not content with a stock motor by any means but I'd like to keep an intruder motor in it if I can build it.

[old time rider]

A empty out let does not do anything but get loud.They have to be incoming lots more air/gas to make power.In strip days a four into one with no baffle and stock air box did not help E.T. one bit just sounded real bad.Good luck on finding hop up parts as I never saw any my self. My 1400 hole shot well but ran out of power fast after 90mph.

[navigator]

Yup, you will have a ton more performance if you install exhaust mufflers.
I'll mention that the stock air filters are foam, they disintegrate and plug up the carbs. Replacing them may make it run a bunch better.

[Spacecoast]

I think the advice you're getting, which is good advice, is to conduct a full service and bring the bike back to its stock health.

[Coyote95]

I get that's the advice but as of now it's healthy but eventually I'm going to do a rebuild. When I do I'd like to build the motor. I don't want to just rebuild stock that seems so pointless. I'm just looking for anyone that may have done anything to this motor or tell me why for some reason it's absolutely impossible. In that case it's gonna get a turbo or two.

[navigator]

Any thing is possible...at a cost.
Rebuilding stock or otherwise is cost prohibitive IMO.
I've never seen big bore kits or fat cams for these, Perhaps try Thunderbike
At 29000 miles, she is a spring chicken, like Letchy says, you can get 100,000 out of it.

Fred is working on a single carb setup.

[FallenAngel]

Coyote
You are a rider after my own heart. I have looked on the Internet and talked to a few Intruder mechanics about after market parts for the past year. I have found little to nothing that would be considered a Hop Up kit of any kind. It is possible to have a cam ground to your specs at a high cost, after measuring to combustion chamber. And some testing to come up with the perfect grind But at what cost?
I have toyed with the idea of massaging the heads a little But not sure if there will be any benefits.
One of the most common comments I get when talking to mechanics is “Why do you want to do that It has enough power already”
Somewhere I have a list of Cam Grinders If your interested Ill try and find it Or create a new list. To me it sounds pointless and cost prohibited..
I think a Turbo or two would be the next step and would love to tell you that it cant be done Just to see someone that did it. Also I would love to help you on that project.

[Herb]

These engines are set up to make the power and torque at a low RPM. Even in the lower gears you can feel the power drop off long before it hits the rev limiter. In high gear it actually runs out of power long before getting near to the rev limiter.

I have wondered if advancing the cam timing might help with making power on the top end, not sure of the problems that might arise. I do know that there is no way to change the rear cam timing without pulling the engine. I have pulled 1400 engines a few times, and it is a pain in the butt.

If someone wanted to try it, it would be a massive trial and error undertaking, but might make a difference.

Here is an article about taking an already built engine and advancing the cam timing 4 degrees, they picked up HP and Torque.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-121 ... -camshaft/

After reading the article, go to the link for the pics of the work and the dyno runs. Picture 11 has the before and after dyno runs and you can see where it gains and loses.

They not only picked up 8 hp and about 15 lbs of torque but it moved the power up the rpm (speed) range. However they also moved the power on the bottom up the rpm band.

I thought about trying this but for normal street use the power on the bottom end is much more usable. I am afraid that if I tried this, even if I do gain on the top, I would lose so much on the bottom that I wouldn't like it. Since making any change is such a PITA, I decided that I don't want to experiment with the thing.

My 87 had 154,000 on it when I sold it, never went farther into the engine than the damn clutch, and it was still running good but it was using a qt of oil every 15-1800 miles.

My first engine on the 99 was running good when the tranny went south at 135,000. I tore it down and rebuilt the tranny, putting new rings in and honing the cylinders because I had the cylinders off and didn't want to put the old rings back in. The bike ran good but when I rebuilt the tranny I apparently missed a gear problem, In 3rd gear it had a weird vibration and noise. I ran it to about 200,000 miles, using 3rd gear as little as possible, and came across a used engine for a decent price. Swapped it out and have put over 35,000 on this engine, total miles on it is unknown although the person I bought it from said that it had about 25,000 on it.

[Coyote95]

That's a good bit of helpful info. My pipes aren't just completely open. I have reducers to allow back pressure but still give a mean rat rod look and as much positive free flow that I could. I have high flow pods for the carbs. The twin turbo set up I'm dreaming of will probably happen eventually. I've even been dreaming of a forced air injection with a high power fan. This is my passion/ hobby. I always try to modify every vehicle I own. I just don't believe in stock vehicles.
So if I went with a big jet kit, fuel pump, and a way to introduce more air than just free flow pods I could be delightfully surprised. I might also build an evo and put it in when this motor breathes it's last breath.

[PrinceMo]

More power is ez.
Uncork the bike
You need baffles or you lose power in the mid range.
I like thunder monster baffles from www.bigcitythunder.com

Next remove the front air box, modify the rear air box and install pod air filters.
I use K&N they cost more than some but you only buy them once. They can be cleaned and reoiled forever.

Next you must rejet.
ONLY USE MAKUNI JETS.
Stock is 125 front and 140rear.
In los angeles at sea level.
l use 140 front and 155 rear.
The jets you need depends on where you are.
I think the best carb kit is stage 2 from cruiser magic .
But they are hard to find. I like CM2 pipes too.

Do not trust the jets you have because you dont know what they are. Even if you see the number the jet could have been drilled.

So start with new stuff and you know what you have.
My 1988 1400 with the jetting l just told you about can pull the front wheel a foot off the road from a 20mph roll just by hitting the gas hard....no clutch needed.

With the added power you will need new clutch springs to get it to the back wheel.
Get your springs from designer here on Intruder alert.
This is not up for debate.
His springs are the best l EVER had and i have been riding since 1960.

Good luck

[PrinceMo]

One more thing.
The carbs must be synchronised or the bike will lack power and run hot.

[pmhearns12]

More power is ez.
Uncork the bike
You need baffles or you lose power in the mid range.
I like thunder monster baffles from http://www.bigcitythunder.com

Next remove the front air box, modify the rear air box and install pod air filters.
I use K&N they cost more than some but you only buy them once. They can be cleaned and reoiled forever.

Next you must rejet.
ONLY USE MAKUNI JETS.
Stock is 125 front and 140rear.
In los angeles at sea level.
l use 140 front and 155 rear.
The jets you need depends on where you are.
I think the best carb kit is stage 2 from cruiser magic .
But they are hard to find. I like CM2 pipes too.

Do not trust the jets you have because you dont know what they are. Even if you see the number the jet could have been drilled.

So start with new stuff and you know what you have.
My 1988 1400 with the jetting l just told you about can pull the front wheel a foot off the road from a 20mph roll just by hitting the gas hard....no clutch needed.

With the added power you will need new clutch springs to get it to the back wheel.
Get your springs from designer here on Intruder alert.
This is not up for debate.
His springs are the best l EVER had and i have been riding since 1960.

Good luck

After reading several of the posts, i thought to myself, why is everyone giving the wrong advice? Solid, educated opinons no doubt, but he is asking what else can he do and everyone is saying do nothing, lol. So this post has it good, uncork it... drop some weight, and use the designer springs..

I have built a few car engines and i can say if you can find any pistons with the same geometry on the underside, you adjust the compresson up slightly, even as far as over boring to get you closer to or maybe slightly above the actual 1400cc mark. I am new to motorcycles, but i did it in my integra about 10 years ago. Its a lot of work, and sometimes pretty costly... also, needing to make sure your valves dont hit the piston and find ways to keep the engine cool enoigh if youre going to be increasing power... im not exaxtly sure if turbo charging an air cooled bike is a great idea, even if its been done before, seems like a LOT of heat that will be hard to get rid of.

Lastly, if you ARE serious avout more power, you have to be serious aboit either time or money or hell, even both.... it may be more ecomical and... hell, easier, to buy a new softail slim s woth a screamin eagle 110 motor in it and call it a day lol

[Coyote95]

A few people have said the same thing and I've already said my bike is uncorked. The bike runs like a scalded dog and I'd probably outrun most cruisers. My point was asking about mods to the motor. Not how can I get the most power with a stock motor. For those of you that actually said something related to my question thanks. For the rest, learn to read.

[navigator]

A few people have said the same thing and I've already said my bike is uncorked. The bike runs like a scalded dog and I'd probably outrun most cruisers. My point was asking about mods to the motor. Not how can I get the most power with a stock motor. For those of you that actually said something related to my question thanks. For the rest, learn to read.

I did learn to read, and answered your questions. You're welcome.

My question is can I do anything to increase horsepower and performance? Are there any motor mods that can be done? Has anyone made an attempt?

[Lechy]

This place was producing an injection kit for the 1400, purportedly giving a 53% power increase but that was a while back.
The website is in German with a half arsed translation choice.
Check it out and contact them.

http://www.lmc-bikes.de/

[emoji41]

PS, re-read your first post, and then read the answers to that post, they were all good.

Don't be an askhole, we had enough of them over on the purple board.

[emoji41]

[Coyote95]

I guess I didn't really clarify. I was specifically talking about anything motor internal.
You have to admit it is pretty aggravating when people say the same things as the person before them especially when you have stated you've already done what they have said before making the post.
I guess my overall aggravation is the immediate assumption that there is no way to do it instead of saying here's why it's not possible.
That fuel injection system is really cool I'll have to read into it.
As of right now (excluding the fuel injection) I am completely maxed out of ways to increase hp without getting extremely creative and playing with ideas. What I want most of all is to find someone that's tried to do anything to this motor. You can't bore these jugs but is it possible for 1500 jugs to work with modifications?

[Herb]

I guess I didn't really clarify. I was specifically talking about anything motor internal.
You have to admit it is pretty aggravating when people say the same things as the person before them especially when you have stated you've already done what they have said before making the post.
I guess my overall aggravation is the immediate assumption that there is no way to do it instead of saying here's why it's not possible.
That fuel injection system is really cool I'll have to read into it.
As of right now (excluding the fuel injection) I am completely maxed out of ways to increase hp without getting extremely creative and playing with ideas. What I want most of all is to find someone that's tried to do anything to this motor. You can't bore these jugs but is it possible for 1500 jugs to work with modifications?

Everyone here has given you the best advice possible, considering your original question.

I have been riding 1400's since 89, spent a bunch of time on the tech board on Intruder alert Cafe, never heard of anyone actually making internal engine mods, except there was a post about someone that planed the heads to give a higher compression.

So, you have had all of the best advice/experience that the site has.

So, quit acting like a dick.

[Coyote95]

I haven't been acting like a dick. Haven't said anything to a single person to be a dick. I've got some good Info from some but others have repeated what those before them said even after I told the people before them I have already "uncorked" my bike. However I claimed fault for not making my question more clear. I absolutely got it. Let the bike breathe. She's breathing.