VN800 recent mods

[SlashWylde]

Been doing a bit of work on the Vulcan lately.

* At Easter I removed the first stage baffle of each exhaust pipe. This has allowed exhaust gases to flow more freely, there is a small but noticible increase in power and accelleration and she produces a more pleasing exhaust note - See attached mpg sound file. She still passed her WOF last month so no worries there.

Since then I have been busy with work, studies, and coping with life in general, but in the last fortnight I've made a few extra mods to the stock set-up:

* Removed the after-burner air-intake circuit which dumps fresh air into the exhaust system just after the valves. It's supposed to be an EPA measure but it's a known issue with the VN800 that it dosen't work properly and causes backfiring, sneezing, stumbling and stalling. Basically involves putting vacuum caps on the heads, one on the vacuum line to the petcock, and one on the back of the air filter box. After doing this she runs much better. No more of the symptoms described above, the exhaust sounds smoother and the throttle response is smoother and more predictable. See attached photos.

* Increased the rear suspension pre-load to its highest setting. This has resulted in increased ground clearance and better handling overall.

* Replaced the stock 60/55W H4 headlamp with a 100/90W and tweaked the elevation to cast light a little further ahead than the factory setting. Result - much improved ilumination of the road and hopefully better visibility to other road users.

Overall I'm very pleased with the simple and cheap mods I've made so far. The Vulcan feels like a new machine and I've fallen in love with her all over again :love:

Future mods include K&N filters for the air and oil system, and later, new pilot and main jets which, together with the K&N air filter should produce an increase in HP and torque at the rear wheel.

[degrom]

Sounds good!!! How many horse does she have? Always good to know before and after figures...

[Waylander]

Sounds mean mate!!

Allun must be jealous by now.

[SlashWylde]

Sounds good!!! How many horse does she have? Always good to know before and after figures...

Good question. From the factory they are supposed to make 54HP. Once I've finished all my performance mods (and If I have the money) I'd like to put her on the dyno, but for now I'll use my screamerometer to gauge the difference :msn-wink:

Really enjoying getting in there, gettin my hands dirty, takin her apart and producing positive results. There is a wealth of information out there on this model of bike. Think I'll get myself a Clymer manual for the VN800B while I'm at it. 416 pages of info for $60 delivered. I'd love to make bolt-on mods such as a tacho, new pegs, grips, tank bib etc but I'll have to see what a poor students budget will allow.

[degrom]

Nice!!! Yes you can't believe how cheap knowledge is these days... I want to build my own frames one of these days... But I can't find a proper hand bender that can bend 1-1.5" tube... I saw one in the states but it's a lot of money just to get the heavy thing here.

You would not know of a place that sells Sand Blaster nozzles? I build a small pressure pot one and all I need now is nozzles to test it out. (Want to use it to clean parts)

[degrom]

Good question. From the factory they are supposed to make 54HP. Once I've finished all my performance mods (and If I have the money) I'd like to put her on the dyno, but for now I'll use my screamerometer to gauge the difference :msn-wink:

Really enjoying getting in there, gettin my hands dirty, takin her apart and producing positive results. There is a wealth of information out there on this model of bike. Think I'll get myself a Clymer manual for the VN800B while I'm at it. 416 pages of info for $60 delivered. I'd love to make bolt-on mods such as a tacho, new pegs, grips, tank bib etc but I'll have to see what a poor students budget will allow.

The mod's will come!!! At least you have the bike... I also want to make me new handle bars that are lower. This will force you to sit more to the front in a racing position....

Foot pegs are not to bad to make.. It's making them look good that is the interesting job... :)

[Waylander]

The mod's will come!!! At least you have the bike... I also want to make me new handle bars that are lower. This will force you to sit more to the front in a racing position....

Foot pegs are not to bad to make.. It's making them look good that is the interesting job... :)

Try a set of drag bars. Just flat bars with a minor bend twords you. But if that doesn't clear your tank (doesn't on mine) then some that are like flats but with a minor ride on each side of the clamps will do it. Had that for a while on my Virago.



You still riding with those mini apes Slash? Or have you tried changing those yet?

[07fatboy]

sounds great mate!

[Virago]

Well done!

There must be great satisfaction in making such noticable improvements without throwing lots of money at it.

[SlashWylde]

You still riding with those mini apes Slash? Or have you tried changing those yet?

Yep, see profile pic. I like the feel of those bars. They have a classic sweep to them which is a large part of what I love about the feel of my bike whilst riding it. They are comfortable for long trip whilst on tour, but still close enough to the trees to allow for quick and responsive handling through the twisties. If I was doing more regular touring I might look at fitting a set of risers to bring the grips rearward a few inches to make for a more comfortable ride.

Before I do that though, I gotta replace the cheap stock seat....Arrghhh! more money I don't have :angry:

Gotta sell some junk on Betrademe to liberate some cash.

[Waylander]

You might talk to Cajun about his famliy's Seat shop out this way.

And yea stay with the current bars. Anything else would look a bit silly on your bike IMO.

[Spider]

Been doing a bit of work on the Vulcan lately.

* At Easter I removed the first stage baffle of each exhaust pipe. This has allowed exhaust gases to flow more freely, there is a small but noticible increase in power and accelleration and she produces a more pleasing exhaust note - See attached mpg sound file. She still passed her WOF last month so no worries there.

* Removed the after-burner air-intake circuit which dumps fresh air into the exhaust system just after the valves. It's supposed to be an EPA measure but it's a known issue with the VN800 that it dosen't work properly and causes backfiring, sneezing, stumbling and stalling. Basically involves putting vacuum caps on the heads, one on the vacuum line to the petcock, and one on the back of the air filter box. After doing this she runs much better. No more of the symptoms described above, the exhaust sounds smoother and the throttle response is smoother and more predictable. See attached photos.


I've been thinking about doing the exhaust modification to get rid of the stupid exhaust whistle that I have but I've been too scared to do it until I get a spare stock set to put back on if something turns pear-shaped. After that I was going to look into the intake mods...

[SlashWylde]

I've been thinking about doing the exhaust modification to get rid of the stupid exhaust whistle that I have but I've been too scared to do it until I get a spare stock set to put back on if something turns pear-shaped. After that I was going to look into the intake mods...

Well it is a one way street doing the mod but it's fairly easy and you'll get good results if you take your time.

Go to http://www.ipass.net/dmvinson/pipemods.html for a detailed description of the process (with colour photos).

Also http://www.2vulcans.net/ is a fantastic resource for the VN800B.

I would definately reccomend the mods I've made so far if you want to extract more performance and enjoyment from your Vulcan. They have been applied to these machines for many years so I'm fairly confident there is no risk of long term harm to the machine from doing these.

[Spider]

Well it is a one way street doing the mod but it's fairly easy and you'll get good results if you take your time.

Go to http://www.ipass.net/dmvinson/pipemods.html for a detailed description of the process (with colour photos).

Also http://www.2vulcans.net/ is a fantastic resource for the VN800B.

I would definately reccomend the mods I've made so far if you want to extract more performance and enjoyment from your Vulcan. They have been applied to these machines for many years so I'm fairly confident there is no risk of long term harm to the machine from doing these.
I might do the mod next week, found that the front pipe is cracking the inner pipe, looks impossible to repair. Hopefully the mod will reduce the back pressure to stop/lessen/cover the whistle.

[Spider]

I don't suppose the WOF guys mentioned anything about the likelyhood of failing future WOF's in the future, I don't know when the new regs are coming out, if they're not out already.

[Shadows]

It won't be that loud.

[SlashWylde]

I don't suppose the WOF guys mentioned anything about the likelyhood of failing future WOF's in the future, I don't know when the new regs are coming out, if they're not out already.

No, the only comment he made on the exhaust was when he asked me if it was a stock factory set-up, to which I replied "yes sir, stock standard". That answer was good enough for him...though there was a suggestion of a wink in his eye when he said it...hmmm ;)

[MacD]

It sounded great on Sunday! Your exhaust has a really nice rumble now, particularly on take off from a stop. :)

[crashe]

It sounded great on Sunday! Your exhaust has a really nice rumble now, particularly on take off from a stop. :)

ditto what this man said...:scooter: :scooter: :scooter:

[Spider]

No, the only comment he made on the exhaust was when he asked me if it was a stock factory set-up, to which I replied "yes sir, stock standard". That answer was good enough for him...though there was a suggestion of a wink in his eye when he said it...hmmm ;)

I like it when they ask questions like that. Like you're going to say "Nah, I just ripped out the baffles to make it sound better" :innocent:

I did the mod today, apart from starting it in the garage, I haven't ridden it yet, probably won't be able to until Wednesday at least, bummer.

[Spider]

No, the only comment he made on the exhaust was when he asked me if it was a stock factory set-up, to which I replied "yes sir, stock standard". That answer was good enough for him...though there was a suggestion of a wink in his eye when he said it...hmmm ;)

I went into VTNZ too see what they thought. The guy thought it would fail and prceeded to stand about 1.5-2m away with the Db meter. It read 96 at about 2000ish rpm. Fail. Mind you, they are supposed to be 3m away aparrently. Went on the Wellington KB ride today, seems to be a bit loud for my liking, especially after 300Km. It's not too bad at 110, but 70-80, it has a drone that makes it hard to talk to people when I stop.

Currently investigating ways to quieten it down. If I put too much backpressure in, I might get that horrible whistle back that I had. I think it was coming from the cracked inner pipe.