Your first ride with the Barker exhaust system, MCM, and lidless airbox w lidless CVK setup is going to be a real "eye opener".. I already feel sorry for the DT175 - it's about to get pwned..

2n clip position should be perfect for very cold air.. In summer air, it might be a little too rich 3.5k - 6.5k rpm,, A quick change to the top (1N) will do it up nicely for summer...

 

Haha. My buddy with the DT is a little worried I'm going to trounce him now. The bikes were very well matched when the KLX was only DJ stage 2. Now that I'm talking big game about a potential 25 hp machine, he has taken off his jug and is doing some work. The DT is going to come in strong with some porting and possibly a big-port piston with high crown and cylinder spacer. No one really mods those things any more, so he is going into unknown territory. Should be interesting.

I was thinking just as you stated. With the settings I have now its going to be pretty rich. I might go up to 1N if its boggy. I'll keep an eye on the sparkplug. I'm probably going to run a dry filter on the lake for max air.

 

Ok, for you and anyone else that is running full exhaust system (header and slipon), MCM, lidless airbox w lidless CVK setup(as per the lidless setup recipe), the power delivery will be absolutely smooth and very powerful.. If you've deviated from the recipe and possibly are suffering from overfueling in the midrange, the "tell" will be strong WOT acceleration from 3.5k-4k rpm that all the sudden gets noticeably stronger around the 6.5K rpm area.. This is the point at which the overfueling is no longer overfueling, and the engine power "leaps"into a stronger pull.. It is not unlike the feeling of a two smoke accel as it "comes up on its' pipe"...

If this is happening, reset all CVK parameters to "recipe spec" and your initial accel @ WOT will be stronger than it was before, and with no discernable "leap" as RPM's build..

All that having been said - we do not have data for exactly how the Barker system changes the power band. It is not out of the question that it introduces a "power hit" at some point in the RPM @ WOT.. The only quick way to know if it does is to use the recipe settings for the CVK and feel WOT accels - if a power hit occurs, it will be due to the Barker...

Also note that IF the Barker does in fact make significant power over and above the FMF system, my lidless recipe WILL require tweaking in order to better fuel the Barker.. My recipes actually "lean" toward the lean-side of proper performance fueling - add more power than I created the tunes for (In this case, the full exhaust tune - MCM, FMF Megabomb & FMF Power Core 4), and changes will be required. Only a dyno session, while using recipe settings, will show where the fueling should be tweaked..

 

I took a few pictures of the MCM job just for the sake of it. Its pretty easy to understand but taking notes always helps retain the information.

First, The intake cam. I have removed the bolts in the pic, but no adjustments yet. Sharpie mark is the TDC cam location to match the cam gear lines. Red marks are added to show the change in tooth location after the re-clock of the gear.



Intake gear re-clocked two teeth to the left and cam rotated forward the remaining half tooth to the exhaust locations. The resulting valve timing is shown by the new angle of the sharpie lines. I added the red TDC lines to highlight the 10 degree difference. The engine rotates clockwise in this image. So you can see the sharpie line starts acting on the valve sooner.




Here are both cams after the adjustment. Exhaust cam is the same operation in the opposite direction. Done correctly, the sharpie lines that used to be parallel to each other are now slanted down to the center. So going clockwise in rotation, the intake side acts 10 degrees sooner, and the exhaust side acts 10 degrees later. (cam lobes are facing outward, away from each other during compression TDC)




One step closer... Now I just need to get that valve cover gasket in the mail on Monday. There was an unforeseen issue with the original one shrinking too much when removed. I cant get it back on well enough and made a damn mess with the gasket sealer trying.

 

The way I explain it to members - When you are done, the cams will be rotated toward each other exactly 1/2 tooth each. Resetting the gears moves the cams 2.5 teeth toward each other - which is 2 teeth too much..

 

I got the bike fired up last night. It sounds awesome. The throttle response is very good. I didn't get to ride it. It was too late by the time I finished, so i just let it run in the garage for a few minutes.
There was moment of concern when I first turned it over. It sounded like valves were kissing the piston during cranking. Despite hand-turning the engine without issues, it still gave me pause. I pulled the spark plug to listen closer. Turns out, it was the compression release rattling because I removed the spring. Once the bike is running, it sounds clean and badass! Just as folks have stated, there is a much more pronounced exhaust pop and less intake noise now. I briefly ran the engine a few days ago with the Barker exhaust and stock cam timing with closed airbox. So the difference was very apparent. Now it sounds like a proper warmed-over dirtbike.

I did make one mistake though.. I installed the shift start 180* backwards. The shift pattern is correct, but the neutral light is between 5th and 6th. Its a problem mainly because I can't crank the engine, hold the enrichener and the clutch all at the same time. I have a feeling this has to to with the dowel positions on the assembly. Should be a pretty quick fix.

Riding videos are not far off. I am going to run it one last time on the street to shake it down before I put on the studded tires. We've got enough ice on the lake now for machines. Soon!

 

There is a simple way to avoid any gasket issue - put the cam cap back on with a couple bolts just snug, then put the cam cover with gasket back on and lightly snug it down. I did this with my 09 when I had to wait for shims when reshimming a couple valves. No gasket problem, because it was never off more than a few minutes when I did the valve check and took everything apart, then again when I reassembled and set timing.

I don't know if it would work, but, should it happen again, you could put the gasket in hot water to see if it swells and get a bit softer, kind of like what is done with the carb diaphragm when reworking the jetting, Pippin said put the diaphragm in a cup of hot water. I didn't use any gasket compound either. We used to put grease on the thick soft cam cover gaskets when doing valves on GL1100s, seemed to keep them relatively leak free. The sharp corners at the sprocket area were the worst spots to deal with.

 

I may have been able to save it if I took every measure. The original gasket shrunk a ton though. It was off for a day. When I failed to persuade it into place I did boil it for a few minutes, but it didn't even help a little. It was pretty stiff and four hands couldn't even get it to seat in the cover groove completely. The new one went in so easy it was worth the wait.

I'm in the habit of using a little Yamabond on the cam gear side of the cover. It keeps even the slightest weep away and made all the difference on my old KLR.

 

i don't know if the new ones are as shrink resistant as everyone says, but I won't bother trying to find out. I will continue to put the cam cap on and reinstall the cam cover with gasket - even while the head is off the engine when I swap out cylinders. Especially now that you say hot water won't help.

Yamabond/Kawabond/Hondabond non-hardening compound all work well for what you speak of, pretty sure they're all made by the same company since the labels are virtually the same. Isn't the same as gasket sealer stuff I usually associate with the name. I think of the stuff that hardens or RTV silicone seal. The grease did the same as the bonds did, probably not quite as well though.

 

Funny, I must have a different type of gasket on my 09. I've had the cover off many times, never had to boil, bake or stretch the gasket. Goes on perfect every time.
Lucking I guess! Haha!