More Power

[Goosedog]

I am doing a makeover on my 2006 1600 Nomad. Wondering, while i am making the tins and accessories look like I want. What can I do to increase Power?

I am currently running Cobra true duels with a commander kit. I also have take the air box out and have a custom K&M air filter giving it good air.

Anything else you would suggest?

George
(Goosedog)

[DragonLady58]

Well here goes, I will give you the A to Z on 1500/1600 performace, the easy way, and the hard way, in its various steps.... I am a Hi- Perf. Machine Head....I like to go fast, but I LOVE to build shite that goes fast. My dad had a shop that exclusively dealt with Hi-perf HDs....we split up our time running his bus. as we were both Harley dealership mechanics.
OK, the Kawa 1500/1600 is not a HD. Its a big bore long stroke that loves to rev....it shouldn't, but it does. It'll run 5000, anything above that mark all bets are off, and she'll leave you with one helluva mess and/or scrapheap to contend with. Its a sickening sight to think just a few seconds before it was a shiney great running engine....I was hard of those BUBF bikes, but I learned what would keep them alive and what would break them.
*For nearly stock options, Add the tuner, after you add a BAK or such. Then, add a low restriction exhaust system. Add your tuner....you can get about 15 to 18 horses over stock and a lot of torque. And believe you me, you will feel it! Bike will feel alot peppier, will rev alot freeier, and will like you just bought a bigger, faster VTwin bike! Not to mention, will run cooler, look cleaner, get better fuel mileage, etc....
**Now, the next stage is what I refer to stage II.... Go find yourself a 1500 Meanstreak engine, use the heads, jugs&pistons, and throttlebody. The MeanStreak has hotter cams, slightly more compression, better flowing heads. Please note- this is a serious upgrade! And will make alot more power! This alone will awake the Dragon, adding about 20-25+HP to the mix.
Don't worry about the 1500/1600 diff., they are the same engine with the 1600 being a slightly longer stroke and the top head covers being rounded....all else is the same.
This concludes what I call stage 2....
***Stage III is when you start getting your hands deep into the internal workings. Thunder MFG., I guess is closed now, or they're rebuilding their co....whatever, but had a great hop-up kit for the 1500/1600/1700s which consisted of a set of pistons that you had to bore your jugs to, and a set of performance cams. The kit came with the gaskets, everything to increase your power by 100ccs and add some good low and midrange horses in a kit form. Yes, you had to have the barrels machined to match the pistons....
You can put that same kit together, using speciality car pistons that weigh the same, therefor not throwing the engine outta balance, getting 100 to 200ccs over stock on each engine.... I can make alot of power by having the heads and manifold cnc ported and port matched. Yes, its expensive and if your on a quest for horsepower, its well worth it....There are 3 cam grinders out there that will either take your stock cams, weld them up and regrind them, but I often as I can get a billet, even if it costs more....the cam will live longer thru many engine rebuilds.
Horsepower is directly proportional to how much the engine could breathe. The 1500/1600s are huge engines, once let loose of their snorkles so you can pump some fuel and air in, they can make big power.
I don't race my bike, but I've let a friend that does pilot my bike after a freshen on the rings and valves, doing a 1/4 mile pass. My bike is no means the fastest out there, but I wanted a bagger that couple rip off a 11 second 1/4 mile....This year, he finally hit that mark. I am now happy, but, in retrospect, it took a damn lot of engine work.
Now, put that into a Meanstreak, just improving on ma kawa has done.....you have a recipe for records, like the Z1s had, Or the old 750 Triples.
Put it like this, I don't want or intend to come across as a badass, but my lowly 2001 Nomad, with a heavily reworked 1600 Nomad engine, has eaten its fair share of straightaway victims in the 110-120 cu.in. in highway roll ons on those old wide open highways.
Anymore mods than this, well, reliability will suffer. I've got the 1600 which I have very heavily CNC ported, milled, running as much compression as I can on the street, aftermarket speciality pistons, mid/top-end cams, ported throttlebody, custom injectors, hi-perf. coils, aftermarket tuner, Thunder Clutch, Nomad drag pipes as I call them, etc., have netted 120 horses on the dyno.
There are alot of harleys I walked away from that made slightly more power, but is due to the effect that the kawasaki is a freeier/ higher winding engine that I pulled this off.
These Kawasaki Engines are a marvel of modern engineering. And a damn great bike engine that can go 150,000 miles + between engine rebuilds, if taken care of....

[redjay]

Hello and Welcome to the forum.

When you say you have taken the air box out do you mean you have added an aftermarket air kit (BAK) on the right side of the bike ?

If so then you have pretty much done all you can unless you want to tear the engine apart.

Others will chime in.

[hardrider]

I find my 06 Nomad has plenty of power for highway. I can pass anything in my way on the highway uphill. I wouldn't race it in the 1/4 mile but plenty enough power for what it's designed for.

[Goosedog]

Good info! Thanks to all three of you. (especially DragonLady58 - that's the mac-daddy of info.) Most of that is more than I can do, but... I have friends who can help me. It may be next winters project.

On a side note: This is my first post in this forum. I left another forum bc there was no knowledge base there.

Thanks! I am looking forward to future posts and meeting some of you K-baggers on the road.

[magicgrotto]

Great write up @DragonLady58 ! But you have Confused the F**ck out of me LOL, You mention The BUBF Then go on to the MS ! Are you saying that you can change the TOP END off a 1500 MS on to a 1500 BUBF & get MORE PONY'S ?? for your $$ ?? Now I'm not thinking of doing this as the BUBF that I have is NO slouch when it comes to get it's arse in to gear & giveing me a BIG Smile when I twist the Giggle pin ! The ONLY DOWN side of the BUBF that I find is only 4 gears & not being able to alter BUT I think I have read somewere that you can put a 5 speed box in But the ratio is the same in top gear ! PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong !

Steve

[DragonLady58]

Sorry my friend, no, the BUBF 1500s arent interchangable between the 1999 and on Vulcan 1500s, sorry I confused you. Was throwing out alot of info really fast.
I've put y intakes(home-made) on the BUBFs, but I done drag pipes for them, putting on big carbs with the y intakes, had special cams ground, have overbored them enough have the cylinders splint ....hahaha.....

You can use the MS parts on the 1999 and up 1500/1600 engines! Gotta remember, there are several families of bikes in the later years. 1999 to 2004, 2004 on to I think 2008 , then the laters. Within these families, they made many change, some parts were changed, like the frame/motor mounts. The 1500 and 1600 engines are basically identical, except for crankshaft stroke. You can change out the cams, better flowing heads, etc, you just gotta know the years you can swap out.
Here, the parts # books are your friends.....
I have put a belt drive on (2) BUBFs, including mine. Everyone asks about it....was a major pain in the ass lining everything up....machining support bearing and cover to replace angle drive, then machining rear rim, making a new swingarm, I lengthened it 2", made a big difference! More stable at high speeds....
And Yes, the BUBFs are 4 speeds, I have not tried to change out the 5 speed gearbox, so I can't testify it can be done.
MAS should be by shortly and add some info, or correct me on the years....
He and I likes the FrankenBike Builds.....

I'm tempted to see if I can change out my Nomad Front End for a Meanie....maybe next trip to the boneyard....love the idea of additional stopping power.....

[MAS Tequila]

I'm tempted to see if I can change out my Nomad Front End for a Meanie....maybe next trip to the boneyard....love the idea of additional stopping power.....
__________________

They use the same heck bearings, and the tubes will slide into the Nomad triples if you want to go that way.

I would use the MS triples, that way you can use the 17" MS wheel, it's just plug and play.

It will take some getting used to, as the 3 pot brakes will put the big old Nomad into a rear wheel lifting stoppie.

And NO, you cant swap a 5 speed into an A.

There's no need to use the MS rotating assembly.

The compression ratio is the same across the 1500/1600 line, 9.0ish.

The small block Ford and Chevy pistons usually used are lighter.

Combine that with the weight savings from polishing the rods, and the 1500/1600 will rev even free-er.

DL, how far did you go with cleaning up the air flow on the throttle body.

Back in the day, Thunder went so far as to remove the entire center divider creating a single oval passage.

They only did this a few times, but those tb's would flow some air.

It takes a lot of commitment and $$ to really wake these engines up.

But when done correctly they will suck the headlights out of most other bikes, and no one expects it.

If you want to raise the compression with the small block pistons, you'll most likely have to buy a set of 8, as it's difficult to find someone who will split the set up.

Custom pistons are a lot of $$.

But then you'll have to get into other areas like getting a custom tune burned, cc'ing the chambers, and on.

It can become an obsession very easily.

[magicgrotto]

Thanks for the reply DragonLady We must share some of the same DNA LOL ! The BUBF that I've had for 20 odd years sat in the garage was going to be a TAD different to a standed BUBF ! Not a lot of stuff avalible in them days ! 14" center Tree's made on my lathe ! single Carb !(still in attic Brand new of a 1340 HD) & a very different Exhaust system Own made !

So how did you find yours ran on the single carb ? & did it take much setting up ?
I had to shove the forward controls further forward to get the front exhaust to were I wanted it to run (now done on later 1s) It's the gear leaver side that the exhaust is a bit trick & different + the overall length is within 1" both sides so should't have much trouble tuneing
Single top tube HD tank fitted ! will have to drag it out & get it finished one day ! OR just use it for mocking up mods for the one I have now

Steve

[DragonLady58]

What MAS Said....he knows his shite!
It had a very slight stumble when I installed the big HD carb....it was too big for the 1500, fuel wise. After I installed the cams, got the drag pipes right, and installed, Hi-perf. coils, I tightened up the acc. pump to where it'd shoot first sign of movement, Then went down slightly on the jet, but raised the needle 1 groove, set float level high, she sounded like a harley drag bike on steroids....Fast, too.
I used a set of early Harley clamp on forward control setup that bolted to the downtubes, just made custom linkages, I absolutely loved that bike!

[DragonLady58]

DL, how far did you go with cleaning up the air flow on the throttle body.

Sorry MAS, didn't see that q until today....
Theres about 1/8 to 1/4" of divider top and bottom of the throttlebody throat

[andyvh1959]

I'm in the process of mounting a Mean Streak front wheel to my VN1600 Classic. It bolts right up to the stock Classic fork legs, same axle, same spacers. But, the discs are a good bit larger in diameter, so I am making a set of caliper mounts using an extra set I have. Also the disc spacing is a bit narrower on the MS versus the Classic. I'll cut up the extra caliper mount plates, and weld them to the original Classic caliper mount plates to allow for the larger discs and the slight offset needed for the MS discs. Then I'll have the four piston calipers on full floating MS discs, and I'll install a new set of SS Braided hoses. Should make for one strong front brake setup.

[DragonLady58]

Yep, no matter how fast a bike engine you build, if you don't improve your braking system, you can find yourself waaaay over your head if you can't stop suddenly....
My dad build up my (at the time) a 68' 900 xlch. Had a Paucho rigid frame, mustang tank, 10" over fork tubes and a slight rake so the bike was Long and low....Loved that bike. Had a 21" spool front wheel, a S&S stroker kit in it, sifton cams, 40" muffled drag pipes. Fast as hell, but the first time I ran her out on the road, I had to jump down on the brakes....
Every since then, I give my brakes alot of respect....
Fun and 1 mechanical rear brake and a spool front wheel doesn't stop all that well....


Stay safe!

[mick56]

Having pulled my bike apart, more than once. I am left wondering.

[schoeney]

There tons of ways to increase your power but sometimes it's just more efficient to buy a more powerful bike.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk