Carpenter Stage 1

Pipes were backordered again until end of July. I am curious about the power difference too, but I really got them for the look, should go well with the black 440 shocks and bugscreen. The bike is plenty fast now, but I do ride quickly so I will use the extra horsepower at least. I will post the results when I get em!

I have to say having a sleeper rocket is pretty fun, I have been going to bike nights this summer and with the bike looking stock (esp the cans since everyone puts on aftermarket pipes on bikes here) so many harley riders (mostly, but not all vrods) want to race - it has all been friendly, but they get smoked, and I mean SMOKED! A tricked out evo based vtwin wanted to run bikes without asking what I had done, I almost felt bad for him with all that money spent on his engine how slow it was... almost felt bad that is!!! Got to run with a diaval and older vmax and it wasn't even close. No sport bikes yet, since it's normally just casual roll on a block or too long they don't want take the chance on losing since they can't wind the bikes up that much. Been a fun summer so far!

Carpenter Build Pistons, Headwork and Cams with Jars

I picked up the bike from Carpenter's today and just took it for a short spin of about two miles along the road his shop is on.. All I can say is HOLY ****, BATMAN! It is OUTRAGEOUS!!
I was concerned about low end torque?? As careful as I thought I was being, letting out the clutch from a standstill, I almost wheelied it. It has enormous pull all over the RPM range. I never came close to 3/4 throttle.
It also sounds better and has a much stronger "feel" and rumble to it. Like you are sitting on a beast! They set the idle RPM higher at 1000 which i'm not sure why but is of no concern to me. Maybe the cams likes it better?
This weekend I ride it in earnest and will report back but I can feel the power of the thing right off the bat. The clutch is certainly heavier due to the stronger springs but not objectionably so. The Shorai 36 amp battery starts it fine. Bob puts a heavier ground wire from the starter motor which, he says, is all that needs to be done. No extra battery or 1.4 KW starter motor needed after this mod....this heavy ground wire should be stock!
I must mention another thing which was VERY important to me. I keep my bike in totally pristine shape and always have concerns about whether or not I'll get the bike back the way it went in. It is perfect! You would never guess it was worked on at all. The paint and chrome are perfect and it is dead dry. They put a nice little engraved patch on the cylinder head saying "Carpenter Engineering"..Nice touch.
I am more than happy with the results so far. The bike is a whole different animal! If anyone viewing is thinking about this job... The only thing that you should be concerned about is your budget but not the work! First class in every respect.
Missed seeing you there, Art...maybe another time.

The bike has Jars and a PCIII plus Tuneboy. The higher curves are with velocity stacks only. The lower numbers are with an under the tank K&N filter.

TriumPhil said:

No doubt, your problems were caused by installers who were not up to the task. I won't get into what my (ex) dealer did that totally screwed up my, at-the-time, bone stock Rocket when it went in for the 10K mile valve svc, but hindsight is indeed 20/20. They completely bunged up my cam timing and they had three chances to get it right! I'm certain that knowing or suspecting what you know or surmise now, that you would have sent the bike to Carpenter Racing to have the work done and done properly in the first place.

WARNING: Given my extensive and painful experience with them, Trebour Cycle in Ledgewood, NJ (my ex-servicing dealership) has the wrenching skills of a rotted cadaver, the owner has a personality to match and their overall level of integrity is on par with Bernie Madoff's. My advice.... stay far away from those Bozos!!!

Click to expand...

Phil...That is my dealer! I've always found their service to be great. Amazing difference in experiences!
Where do you live? I'm in Denville>

Zen no matter which dealer you use from now on do not let them alter your map in the ecu or mess with the cam chain and valve timing. It is above there knowledge base.

Lying, incompetent scum are they, zenbiker! I would not recommend them to add air to a tire let alone perform anything more sophisticated than that.

I'm in Long Valley, btw, quite close to you. We should hook up for a meet and greet and, perhaps, a ride down to New Hope. I'd be happy to introduce you to my good buddy, Art (IFT).

Ok, I admit it now. I should have just shipped the thing to carp.

Results with TOR's and staintune 180hp

Results with jardine's 166hp.

The tuner called carp and asked about it, while bob wasn't there the person they spoke with said that is what jardine's should make but switching from ToR's that does not make sense.

Wheeee. At least the bike picked up some midrange. I guess. When Frank switched from tor's with xover to jars he gained like 8%, not thrilled with losing 14hp. Oh well, at least it runs well and the a/f ratio is good...

hart24601 said:

Ok, I admit it now. I should have just shipped the thing to carp.

Results with TOR's and staintune 180hp

Results with jardine's 166hp.

The tuner called carp and asked about it, while bob wasn't there the person they spoke with said that is what jardine's should make but switching from ToR's that does not make sense.

Wheeee. At least the bike picked up some midrange. I guess. When Frank switched from tor's with xover to jars he gained like 8%, not thrilled with losing 14hp. Oh well, at least it runs well and the a/f ratio is good...

Click to expand...

Ride enjoy and save some money you can always go back to Carpenter Racing for a real good flowing pipe and increase the HP.

"Ride enjoy and save some money"

I like that advise, but once you reach a point dumping money at something you have to call it quits, so the money I save will not be going at the bike. I can't think that the brute would give 40hp over the jars, but hell, I guess I make poor choices anyway - and I have no desire to drop 1500 in shipping and another 1800-2k on the pipes with baffle and heatshield plus whoever knows what else to figure out what is going on.
The jars leaned it way out by flowing better than the TOR's and the HP dropped, so I don't know how the brutes would do better by flowing even more - but I am over this whole mess. Every step with this has been a pain, even posting about it. I really wish I would have never done any of this, just the triples and pipes. All you r3 owners have have done K&N and pipes that are making 140-150hp and gobs of TQ - stack up that 5 grand you have lying around and hug it.

Ok, rant over.

Ride safe and take care. I'm out.

I forgot whether your running triple filters or not as that might be restricting soem also. Its a trade off the Ru2780 are the only filters you can run with the bear claw well them and tune boy sells some foam ones.
I think the RX4040-1 are much better but you would have to cut the bear claw to look like Hanso's which is pretty darn good looking.
Personnallu if you not wantint to spend more cash I would put the tors back on and sell the Jardines sense they are produing more power anyway.

Anyway enjoy the beast.

The TOR's are going back on. If anyone wants a CHEAP set of jardines look at ebay next week. Used for about 3 hours...

starting bid? not sure if that will be $1 or $50 yet