I'm buying an 883 and take comfort knowing that after I've outgrown the power, I can up the engine to a 1200, a level of power I'm more used to.

How realistic is the upgrade? I can't do it myself...do I get HD to do it? Find a reputable engine builder? What does it usually cost if you bring your own kit? Is the engine still reliable after the conversion? I'm buying a used bike so the factory warranty would have run out.

Thanks I know this question is long.

 

i have a 01 883 sporty with the 1200 kit in it when i got it. as normal i took it to a shop to get inspection and a good look over done. the one thing that my father suggested to the have the shop look at the motor because he did not think something sounded quite right. when the shop broke down the motor they found that the pistons were hitting heads just slightly because the person that did the diy kit did not know what he was doin with the machining on the motor. this is just my take on it but unless you have a good know how on motors and machining than i would say let a shop do the actual upgrad. i think it is deffanitly worth upgrading and although the shop is gonna be a little bit of money you can be sure its done right. well aslong as you know that the shop is good.

 

You really should do a search. This has been covered A LOT! Just to give you an idea, my local HD Dealership wanted ~$1500 for parts and labor to do the conversion. Apparently it's not very difficult and can be done over the weekend without any real special tools and with basic mechanical knowledge. Make sure you have a full workshop manual around though.

Another thing with the conversion is that you may need to change from a 27tooth sprocket to a 29tooth. The gearing is a bit lower so you'll be ripping around town but on the highway your motor is going to be reving higher then a factory 1200.

 

Good advice

 

I did my own and it was the VERY 1st time I had ever rebuilt ANY engine in my life. I've done mechanical work...don't get me wrong. I've rebuilt carbs, brake jobs, change oil, tune ups, stuff like that, but had never really gotten deep into it like a top-end job. But I knew I had the tools and mechanical aptitude.

I bought the book/manual, bought a set of Keith Black 1200 conversion pistons/kit and a gasket kit and started to tear into it. The trick was (for me) to take it slow. Label everything, and don't be scared. I took the cylinders and pistons up to a machine shop recommended by the local independent mechanic so he could match them up and bore/hone them for me. That was the only work I let someone else do for me.

I remember when it came time to fire it up for the 1st time I was nervous as he11. But she fired up, ran great. I broke her in right and put several thousand miles on it. Sold it to a guy up the road that kept it for many years on that rebuild/upgrade.

So my point is...if you have basic mechanical ability you SHOULD be able to do it yourself. I don't think it cost much more than $350-400 or so total with parts and the machine shop labor for the boring/honing.

 

I rode for many years two up on a 650 twin with no problems, and did fully loaded touring (added hard bags and trunk) on an 81 750 that had only a little more horsepower and less torque than an 883 with no problems.

Unless you plan on fully loaded touring two up, you will never need more power. You may want more power, but you won't need it. Actually if you do much two up riding you may want extra room more than extra power.

 

very true.

 

Don't be afraid. Of course, this is from a guy that does **** like this in his garage...



Here are some truths about the swap though. The only difference between a 1200 and 883 is the Cylindars, Pistons, and Heads. Everything else is the same. So with a proper 1200 swap reliablity shouldn't be any more of a factor than it is with a stock 1200.

Yes, gearing is different. I never changed the gearing on my swap, got better gas milage on the highway, and never had a problem cruising at 90 mph for over an hour straight in the NV/CA desert. Ran 350 miles on it through CA/AZ in 118 degree weather and no problems with overheating. Tuned right, it will be fine but you CAN change the gearing if you want.

Doing it yourself is going to require a good grasp of following directions, a helper, some 12 point sockets for the head bolts, a good allen ball end type wrench for the stupid intake manifold bolts (hate those things), some towels to stuff into the block around the rods, and some patience.

Now, if it were me I'd call Dan over at NRHS and have him hook you up with a 1250 kit. Again, no modifications have to be done to the block, he has a kit that will work with your stock 883 heads (or go big and get a set of 1200 heads like I did... ) and he will, for a small fee, put the rings on the pistons and load them up into the cylindars facing the proper way before shipping them to you. This makes the upgrade even EASIER if you're doing it yourself.

Dan and NRHS, if you haven't heard of them, do a lot of work on Sportsters and they have a ton of 1250 kits out there running strong. If you really want to try to go cheap, you can do what I did and find a used set of 1200 heads/cylinders/pistons on eBay, ship them to Dan, have him look them over for you, check them out, maybe put a fresh hone on the cylindars and fresh rings on the pistons, and put them together for you before shipping them back. I did this, had to get new pistons because they wound up having to bore mine .010 over to freshen up the cylindars, and did some head work (1200S heads with domed Thunderstorm pistons...still had 10.5:1 compression...would have been a lot higher had Dan not done the head work) and my entire conversion cost STILL only ran me about $700. Here's a shot of everything I got to do my conversion after the heads/pistons/cylinders came back from NRHS:



Do your homework and find out what path suits you best. Remember that you'll want to do ignition, carb rejet, (or PCM retune if you're getting an EFI bike) and now would also be a great time to do a set of cams like some N4s. (I went with a stock 1200 ignition and W-grind cams...which are an upgarde to my 1999's D-grind cams. Now all the new 883s that were produced after 2004, I think, come with W-grinds.)

Seriously though, a 1200 conversion is not that scary.

 

I have a 2005 883 and just did what was suggested got a set of used 12oo cylinders off ebay for 80 bucks plus shipping ... and I do plan to tour with a lady friend loaded ... but want all the reliability I can get ... so every thin else will be stock except for the upgraded rear to air shocks which was suggested on this forum .. and for 45 bucks ebay again are like new and a hugh improvement over the shock slammers .. good luck

 

All good advice. Thank you guys. I have a lot of questions about Sportsters.