Todays' conversation with Bill Blue
 

Long talk today with Bill. He is, as always, a fantastic person with a wealth of information.

Hi Lights:

- His Barker exhaust system, with its' unique design, could produce the highest power levels ever seen on a stockbore with a lidless airbox and lidless CVK setup.

- There is evidence that the Webcams 101 may not be worth the money. The 101's were not designed for use in a stockbore. They were designed for Larry Roeselers' stroked race bike. He has a set of custom cams created for him by Webcams that he has never tested. I or someone should buy these cams from him for a back-to-back Dyno test.

- Kawa may be bringing a new EFI KLX to Canada.. Can our Canucks confirm?

- CSC RX3: He has a BB kit done, fueling the BB RX3 with the RX3's EFI is still in development..

- He has the ability to take the Honda CRF250L to over 350cc's but it's expensive due to the specially made stroker crank. ( Yall see the new CRF250L Rally?)

- More as I remember...

The Barker system was carefully developed for the KLX, it has a unique design, and produces +4.9 HP over stock. Bill was quite sure that, as usual, the +4.9 was with a lid and KDX snorkel on the airbox. The largest increases occur @ 6k and up - So, a lidless airbox and CVK setup would likely add a few hp on top of the +4.9 hp. Since the Barker dyno chart already shows 24.26 hp, this could result in a 25-26 hp stockbore!

Nice report.
Did Bill say anything about the Barker on a 351?

IDRIDR: No, we didn't talk about that particular combo.. Since the 351 exits its' exhaust through the same Ex. valve and port as a stockbore, the Barker design should work its' magic.. I'm sure a purpose built 351 system would have a slightly larger header I.D. as the increased volume of gases would be better served - of course, not so large as to loose too much velocity/scavenging.. Yall call him..

For a long time now, I can't shake the feeling that his Barker system will create a whole new paradigm/standard of stockbore power levels. You see, all those charts of mine and Houstons4 allow us to easily compare the most common mod combos. My bike almost keeps up, in TRQ below 6.5k, to a stock header+non-MCM+lidless bike. THis implies that there would be a big loss in that area if I were to Un-MCM my bike - Meaning the Megabomb+PC4, on a stock bike, would see a large loss of TRQ below 6.5k compared to the stock header+slipon. The Barker system improves TRQ below 6.5k over the stock header AND should also beat the FMF system above. That's a game changer!

He was surprised to find out that our lidless setups are making more HP than a 351 kit on a stock KLX - of course the BB kit on any KLX will make +2 lb ft TRQ over any stockbore.. And that is a significant seat-o-pants difference..

When I talked to Bill the other day we also talked about porting the head. I wish I could remember how much of an increase it made... but maybe he didn't give me numbers. I just remember him saying that most people don't do it because it's expensive. He's got someone locally who does it for like $700 (don't quote me on that). I would love to see your setup with the Barker and porting. But that was regarding the 351 when I talked to him. Sounds like it was a good discussion. Thanks for sharing klxster!

He probably told you - but porting and cams are only for getting the last few HP out of his 351 Big Bore kit when you've done all the other performance mods - and those last few HP come with a very high price tag.

Also, the clutch must be upgraded once you get the 351 uncorked with a TM-36, open airbox, and full exhaust system. These engines will produce 28+ hp and sooner or later, with "spirited" riding, the stock clutch will begin to slip.

While I certainly rejoice with anyone that creates a 34hp 351 KLX, that money ($2500+) in addition to the selling price of a good KLX250 could buy a nice used KTM EXC - which has waay more power and capability than a KLX will ever have.

anything special that bill does to the barker or is just the same as on the barker site?

https://barkersexhaust.com/collectio...exhaust-system

wonder how this compares to the fourstroke works system?

They are the same - buy through Bill for a price break..

No comparison with the FSW system.. The Barker midpipe alone is a big departure - it's a straight section megaphone. The header must be sized in a special way as well because it produces a TRQ increase over the stock header below 6.5K. You can see the header has what appears to be a "step up" in size at about the midpoint. I am thinking that it'll make better power curves, with a lidless setup, than we've ever seen before..

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/04...g?v=1424119454

The only tuner I know of that mentioned he was running a "megaphone" type midpipe was Richard Avatar. He said he was constantly getting power wheelies on the 1-2 shift ! His bike was non-MCM+lidless setup..

interesting. thanks for the info.

KLX not even listed on the Kawasaki Canada site as of today.

http://www.kawasaki.ca/products/model-line/dual-purpose

Since you brought up the slipping clutch issue....What would be a way to overcome this? Aside from going back to a 250. I'm almost done working the kinks out of my big bore kit, and I've heard of this happening, but I haven't found anything about better clutch plates to help with the slipping. Some of the guys at the Kawasaki shop in Oklahoma were talking about shimming the clutch springs, but that doesn't sound like something I want to deal with.

Well, the information is readily available in here.

Barnett springs on a "like new" stock basket seems to head-off failure. Otherwise, if you run a stock clutch until it starts slipping, you'll be needing the whole kit..

One thread I found: https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...barnett-37222/

once i installed barnett springs with new oem plates i havent had an issue for over a season now

It's more about good spring pressure. Shimming springs will help, but better springs are... better! Back in the 70s it was almost a given to put in heavier clutch springs in most performance street bikes and basic off roaders. Motocrossers usually had better stuff in the later years.

The KLX being a general duty bike may have even lesser strength springs than the old KLX300 considering they may have wanted lighter clutch pull on the dual sport.

You might be right at least with second gen KLX250s.

KLX300R and Gen 1 2006-7 KLX250S use the same clutch spring from OEM:

92145-1095 SPRING $7.16

Gen 2 2008-2015 KLX250S use a different clutch spring:

92145-0637 SPRING $7.45