Iron 883 to 1200 conversion

[Griffin]

Hi - just looking at buying the 2012 / 13 Iron cos I love the look of the bike (havent found anything else that catches my eye the way it does) but I am dubious of the stock power of the 883. I have heard that you can convert to 1200 and this makes a big difference but then I have also heard that with later models 11/12/13 onward that it isnt worth doing for various reasons.

Anyone here done this / know enough about it to give sound advice?

Thanks

[GrayWolf]

Hi - just looking at buying the 2012 / 13 Iron cos I love the look of the bike (havent found anything else that catches my eye the way it does) but I am dubious of the stock power of the 883. I have heard that you can convert to 1200 and this makes a big difference but then I have also heard that with later models 11/12/13 onward that it isnt worth doing for various reasons.

Anyone here done this / know enough about it to give sound advice?

Thanks

Go for the XR1200, it's the best performing/handling HD... (excluding the Vrod for outright engine power, but I'd put the XR way above in the cornering stakes). OR stick with the Trumpy... it's a superior bike in every sense. ..... Or maybe look at a nice Guzzi??

[BIG DOUG]

You could just bore the cylinders out the old 883's out to 1200,but with the new ones harley decided they could make more money by not letting you do this so now you have to buy 1200 cylinders.A 1200 will have more torque than an 883 but hey the iron is still a good bike and if later on you want a 1200 get the cylinders.

[wysper]

but I am dubious of the stock power of the 883.

Obviously this is personal taste or opinion.

I ride a stock 883 (06). Power is fine(for me) up to about 120 ish and then it is starting to lose its legs.
I bought mine fully expecting to be doing the conversion to 1200 soon as.
I haven't and have no plans to.

But then I don't ride that quick, don't feel I have to pass everything on the road. I ride at my own pace so don't care if someone is well quicker than I am. Which will 90% of the time be my riding skills rather than the ride.

So your best bet is to take out a 883 and then a 1200 and see what you think.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Anyone got any powercand torque graphs so a decent comparison can be made?

[sinfull]

If you like the bike and nothing comes close .........well ?

Test ride will be the teller, if ya think it's under powered price up the cylinders as Doug suggested, so ya know what yr up for, but there'll be a few things you might be able to do in the meantime to get a few more legs, air flow, pipes, new fuel map perhaps, flow the heads ? Might not be worth it with injected (i'd be replacing barrels pistons etc if i took the heads off)

[SS90]

You could just bore the cylinders out the old 883's out to 1200,but with the new ones harley decided they could make more money by not letting you do this so now you have to buy 1200 cylinders.A 1200 will have more torque than an 883 but hey the iron is still a good bike and if later on you want a 1200 get the cylinders.

It has been quite a whioe since I spannered on new Harleys, but I understand that with the later small blocks, you need to buy the 1200 cylinders (profit above all else), but I am unsure if you are aware or not, earlier stuff is/was not a case of simply boring the cylinders out, and away you go.

883 and 1200 heads are two different beasts, and (logically) 883 have a smaller combustion chamber volume, too small infact to be able to use on a set of 1200 pistons (I can't remember what the combustion ratio is when you simoly bolt 883 heads onto a set of 1200 cylinders, but it is WAY too much (it may have been over 17:1, but its been a few years and I cant remember)

HD provided a template you could use to simply dremel out the head to achieve the correct volume and therefore compression ratio, but the easiest (and cheapest) way was to buy a special set of after market 1200 pistons, that had a concave crown equal to the same volume that needed to be removed from the head, it was then simoly a case of buying these pistons (cheaper than original 1200 pistons), and the customer only needing to pay for reboring the cylinder to suit the pistons, opposed to head work.

I saw several examples of new top ends destroyed by people unknowingly fitting a 1200 top end to standard 883 heads, and detonating it to bits with in 100km's, simply because they didn't understand the basics.

[carbonhed]

I ride a stock 883 (06). Power is fine(for me) up to about 120 ish and then it is starting to lose its legs.

mph? Surely that's got to be mph?

[wysper]

mph? Surely that's got to be mph?

I probably phrased that poorly. Re reading it looks like it won't go faster than 120, didn't mean that at all.

It just doesn't accelerate as quickly past there like a 1200 will.
Not dramas going fast enough to lose your licence, just might take a fraction longer to get there than the 1200 will.

Accelerating from 120 to 140 say (not that I would because I would be dead because speed kills and it is illegal) is not all that rapid.

Still the 883 is perfectly capable of getting to loss of licence speeds (and beyond). In controlled conditions on closed roads. (or off cliffs for you smart arses out there)

[carbonhed]

I probably phrased that poorly. Re reading it looks like it won't go faster than 120, didn't mean that at all.

It just doesn't accelerate as quickly past there like a 1200 will.
Not dramas going fast enough to lose your licence, just might take a fraction longer to get there than the 1200 will.

Accelerating from 120 to 140 say (not that I would because I would be dead because speed kills and it is illegal) is not all that rapid.

Still the 883 is perfectly capable of getting to loss of licence speeds (and beyond). In controlled conditions on closed roads. (or off cliffs for you smart arses out there)

You explode in a ball of flame if you exceed 140...

[Road kill]

The 883 can be made to go hard without Kitting it or boring it bigger.

Head work,good pipes and a hot ignition should impress most people wanting to do it cheap.
Should see 60-65HP.

Or you can buy a 1250 kit for around $3000.
proven 95HP .

Probably kill myself in a month on that.

[wysper]

Head work,good pipes and a hot ignition should impress most people wanting to do it cheap.
Should see 60-65HP.

Roughly what would that set you back?

[pete376403]

It has been quite a whioe since I spannered on new Harleys, but I understand that with the later small blocks, you need to buy the 1200 cylinders (profit above all else), but I am unsure if you are aware or not, earlier stuff is/was not a case of simply boring the cylinders out, and away you go.

883 and 1200 heads are two different beasts, and (logically) 883 have a smaller combustion chamber volume, too small infact to be able to use on a set of 1200 pistons (I can't remember what the combustion ratio is when you simoly bolt 883 heads onto a set of 1200 cylinders, but it is WAY too much (it may have been over 17:1, but its been a few years and I cant remember)

HD provided a template you could use to simply dremel out the head to achieve the correct volume and therefore compression ratio, but the easiest (and cheapest) way was to buy a special set of after market 1200 pistons, that had a concave crown equal to the same volume that needed to be removed from the head, it was then simoly a case of buying these pistons (cheaper than original 1200 pistons), and the customer only needing to pay for reboring the cylinder to suit the pistons, opposed to head work.

I saw several examples of new top ends destroyed by people unknowingly fitting a 1200 top end to standard 883 heads, and detonating it to bits with in 100km's, simply because they didn't understand the basics.

Looks like you now your way around H-Ds. How hard would it be to make an XR883? (ie put two front heads on as the factory did when building the first XR750 motors) without worrying about shortening the stroke. Dual Mikunis and you've got the basis of a nice street-tracker.

[BIG DOUG]

SS90 you are right about the heads but wiseco and some other piston makers made pistons to get around this.Along time ago I built an 883 for the twinsport championship with a mister BRUCE ANSTEY riding it man the things I did to make that bike go faster lol,I even had a german mechanic who had built the 2x german champs bike ask me what I had done do it to make it so fast but I couldn't tell my secrets but some where blindingly obvious but they just never picked up on them ok I'll share one,we used motul two stroke gearbox oil as it was thin as water and was good for about 3-1/2 horses on the dyno but you had to change it every meeting and back in 96 it was about $100.00 4 4 litres and it was all the small things we did to gain some extra ponies that paid off with us winning the title and only losing one race all season, being we didn't enter the last race.

[AllanB]

Hmmm - considering you will be looking at a good $3k to make the 883 go like a 1200 why not buy a 1200 and spend some coin personalising it to suit yourself. You will have all the reliability of the stock 1200 in a unique to you package. After all the iron is nothing more than a factory tarded 883.

Tart you own 1200 I say.