Cam upgrade?

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moleculo

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I've been pondering what engine mods might becoming available and naturally went straight to cams as the first possibility. Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this or other performance upgrades besides the Bren tune?
 
Not yet, but with 1800cc's, there's a lot of untapped potential in these boxers. And you're right, cams would be a good upgrade. I'm also wondering if this engine has the potential for stroker kits. Maybe increasing displacement to 1900, even 2liters!

Mike
 
I recently read an article about a cam upgrade for an older (2006-ish?) 1200gs that achieved an additional 20bhp. That would be a fantastic upgrade for the R18.
 
Makes me wonder about the RSD R1800 that BMW was displaying for a bit. I know it had a nitrous bottle. I wonder about other mods...
 
Gr8adv said:
Yes. With some exceptions R engines are broken in at about 20k and run typically in excess of 200k…let’s mess with it. Lol. I don't get it, but thats me; to each are own.

You do you
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I have had hotrods built.Beasts that run hot,loud and will pass everything but a gas station.For those wanting more go for it.My question.How ya gonna tune the bike after the cam?Then you need to open up those heads.Oh,yeah,now I need a heavier clutch.Oops,need to smooth her out,LOL!
Gasoline is kinda the limiting factor here.Some places only sell 87 and times are changing.Ya think they will improve on octane rating or make the petrol better?Nothing worse than trying to find gas for a bike that has a high compression or pings like hell.Carrying around octane booster is another mess.
Most manufacturing is headed to where you won't be able to tune.The new Indian Chief has a different ECU that is basiclly locked and only a(trick box) powercommander can be used.The Powervision for the bagger bikes that have the same engine won't work.
Sorry to rain on your parade.I really am.I am not a grouchy old man though I have been riding since 1962 and have thrown $$$$ at a problem that was not there.
Been down the road,so to speak.I ended up getting rid of my 2017 Indian because of cams.Yeah.I had a great running Chieftain Limited and put a set of Lloydz cams it it.I was one of the first to try his cams.Ran really well but was noisy as hell.A year later we found folks were breaking valve springs because of the cam lift.
Funny how someone that is selling cams never bothered to check the stock OEM springs for coil bind.Engines started breaking springs,dropped valves and yeah,a few blown engines.
The Indian Thunderstroke engine design allows cams to be changed in less than 2 hours and some builders can do them in less than a hour.
There is a catch.The engine needs to be dropped out of the frame to change the springs so,I decided to do a complete Big Bore kit with all the best parts and have the heads ported,ss valves,chrome moly push rods V2 lifters,60mm throttle body,large fuel injectors,barnett clutch and dyno tuned.
Don't ask me how much I spent.The bike was gone for 6 months because of covid(yeah,she had covid,lol).
The bike was a beast but fun when I rode the bike around town.Traveling and slow speed riding was not.Twitchy,hot and loud and fatiguing.

My R18c with the DNA kit and BT?bren tune with stock mufflers runs pretty darn well and I like how cool the bike runs.
What I find really interesting here is the broad range of opinions that deal with the warranty.
One group of folks only use BMW oil and parts because of warranty fears.Others are cutting off their mufflers.Hey,I like the: YOU DO YOU!
Just don't: DO IT TO YOU!
 
Has anyone seen or heard of engine power upgrades yet? We all know how much untapped power there is in the HD milwaukee 8 engine has and how well it responds to mods. Curious if the r18 motor can go toe to toe with the m8 in the power upgrades arena. We already know it's a much more reliable power plant though.
 
seattleswimboy said:
Has anyone seen or heard of engine power upgrades yet? We all know how much untapped power there is in the HD milwaukee 8 engine has and how well it responds to mods. Curious if the r18 motor can go toe to toe with the m8 in the power upgrades arena. We already know it's a much more reliable power plant though.
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Not yet. I think we have a lot of owners who are still in their warranty periods (myself included).

Once we get well past warranty, I think you'll start to see some engine tinkering amongst us gearheads. I have some things planned once I'm past my warranty ;)

Mike
 
seattleswimboy said:
Does anyone know what the specs are on the oem cam shafts? I'm considering trying to get s set if used cams and sending them off for a custom grind.
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Check with your dealer to see if they can find a wrecked / salvaged R18 motor to source a cam shaft. I know my dealer has access to an online system that they use to source used parts for BMW bikes from dealers / shops around the U.S.
 
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