Just finished the 883 to 1200 conversion this Saturday. Went with T-Storm heads and pistons, bored my old jugs, and some SE 536's. Talk about a good feeling when that engine fired up!!! 7 months of staring at catalogs in the desert was def worth the wait. Took it for a spin around the block, and wow, what a difference. That thing is just begging to be hammered on but don't worry, I know I have a break in period before that. The only problem is the old starter DOES NOT like the new engine. When you hit the button, it will crank for like half a second, pause, then the engine will start. I'm guessing cause the engine has a higher compression ratio. Anybody suggest a good starter to go with? Also, I'm going to go with a different ignition and I'm thinking the SE seems to be pretty popular. Going to try and break this thing in all week so I can ride next weekend, anybody have any good break in tips?

 

for the break in tips you are going to get everything from "baby it" to "slam it!" to "just ride it".

The science seems to be beind the slam it approach. http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

 

I wouldn't be so quick to change out the starter. I'm sure the moving parts are very tight and it will loosen up. How old is the battery and are you sure it was fully charged?

 

After having 2 starter failures on my 1200 (starter clutches sheared) each about 15,000 miles apart, I replaced the HD starter with an "All *****" brand starter that I got it from Eastern Performance.

jdvorchak is right that your motor is tight right now and will loosen up after 1000 miles or so, but the HD starter is marginal IMO on the higher compression 1200's, especially when the engine is hot. Given that it took me the better part of a day to R&R the starter when it failed, I figure that $150.00 for the higher performing All ***** starter was a money saver in the long run.

 

Yeah, I personally would replace the starter, only because mine crapped out about 500 miles in to my 1250 upgrade, and it's really hard to do the "run and jump on and pop the clutch" start when your compression is so high.

 

Thanks for the link for the engine break-in jdvorchak, real eye opener to say the least. I'm starting to agree with him to tell you the truth, seems to be backed up by some decent research. It's not just some old timer telling you to beat the hell out of it. It would be the funnest way to break in the engine, I'll give em that!

 

cHarley, thanks for the info about the All ***** Starter. It's the cheapest one I've seen, especially for a 1.4KW. I have a feeling that mine is going to dump on me real soon, especially after I saw a small plume of smoke come from it, haha. Yeah, should probably order one right now.

 

Wouldn't hurt to test the battery and check the connections. Mine did the same thing when it still was a 883, till eventualy it quit turning over all together. Turned out to be the starter relay. I have 10.5.1 compression and don't have any problem with turning the bike over.

 

well if you saw smoke coming from it then............

 

Yeah, I probably should check the battery, I just remembered I forgot to disconnect it when I deployed. I doubt that sitting for 8 months did it any good. The battery is about a year and a half old, I don't doubt the voltage but the CCA's I'm sure are down.