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Iraq Moto: Zagraniski’s F450 Blog, Part 8
By Ted Zagraniski
For part 7, go here.
Now that I’ve been back from Iraq for about a month, I’ve had ample time to reacquaint myself with American society and take some much-needed vacation time. I’ve started working out again. I visited family and a few of my friends. I’ve even had my first stateside illness since my tour in Iraq (I hear it’s pretty typical of Soldiers returning from far-off deployments). I can’t help feeling, though, that until I get back on a sport bike, my return just won’t be complete. Luckily for me, the guys at Killeen Power Sports want to see our project on the track just as much as I do!
That's an aftermarket performance dirt airbox, with the off-road outer air-filter sleeve removed. The yellow filter just barely fits between the Race Tech shock's reservoir and the subframe spars anyway, so it's a good thing the airbox came with two. The airbox's improved breathing is what essentially required a visit to the dyno before our visit to the track. * Zagraniski photo
Earlier in the month, I had a meeting with Dustin and John at the shop, and we went over the plan to get our project done. Among a number of small items, we ran into one significant, but essential, change. Originally, we had big plans for a datalogger that would pull double duty as a gauge cluster. Little did we know, until the guys dug a bit deeper, that our first idea was designed only for fuel-injected bikes. When in doubt, consult your nearest off-road aftermarket parts catalog! There, we found a perfect solution in Trail Tech’s Vapor speedometer/tachometer computer. For less than half the cost of a more complicated–and frankly, useless–contraption, the guys at Killeen Power Sports ordered one simple, compact unit that’s going to tell me everything I want to know about my bike and more. Yet another trick, one-off bracket from Paul brought together the Vapor computer with the AirTech kit’s upper fairing mount. When I asked Paul why he added three more holes to the bracket above the fairing mount and below the computer, he said they were to save weight and make the bike go faster. Humor, it seems, is never in short supply at Killeen Power Sports.
As the month ran its course, the last few parts were acquired and installed: A Double Bubble windscreen for the “show” plastics; longer bolts for the front brake rotor to accommodate lock nuts; three-quarter-inch hard-foam pads for each saddle. Little by little, the rest of the project has come together.
With every decision made and every part attached, the guys at Killeen Power Sports were making their way to the point where there was only one more step to take before the bike was ready for the track. That final step was engine-tuning, and it could only be accomplished with the help of Killeen Power Sports’ own dynamometer. Unfortunately for me, my travel schedule last month kept me away from the shop on the day of testing, but Paul and Dustin were able to share with me some details after the fact.
At the front, the brake assembly is road-racing spec punctuated by buzz-words like "Brembo," "steel-braided," and "radial mount." At the back (shown in this photo), it's OEM dirtbike, all the way. * Zagraniski photo
The first thing the Killeen Power Sports team identified was a less-than-optimal fuel-air mix. They replaced the jets in the carburetor to balance things out. Next, they took the bike through a series of roll-on passes in each gear. The idea wasn’t to find out our maximum horsepower, but rather to ensure that the powertrain and gearbox were working together in concert to deliver usable power in any gear. The results of the rest of the runs yielded some remarkable numbers. Peak power over all gears was 42.85 rear-wheel horses. Torque was measured at just over 30 foot-pounds. Most impressive of all, in the fourth-gear roll-on test, the bike reached a top speed on the dyno of 96.81 mph. Ambient conditions and rider factors will always shave some top speed off the dyno numbers when you head to the track, but for a single-cylinder motorcycle, these numbers promise performance well in excess of our initial expectations.
This morning I looked online for horsepower and torque numbers from a stock 2009 CRF450X, knowing that a fair comparison could only be achieved by testing a stock 450X side-by-side with our Formula 450 on the same dyno under similar atmospheric conditions. Nonetheless, I wanted to get an approximate idea. My searches turned up a lot of numbers. I found power ratings between 48.5 and 51.7 bhp, and torque figures between 29 and 46.8 foot-pounds. With ranges like that, who’s to say how much better or worse the Formula 450 is over the stock model? Top-speed numbers for dirt bikes aren’t easy for me to find, but Paul estimated our bike ran about 21 mph faster than stock.
I opened this blog by saying that my return to the USA wouldn’t be complete until I got back on a sport bike. Now the 450 is ready, the team is ready, and all we have to do is head to the track. Thanks to some new friends at Elite Track Days and Harris Hill Road (a 1.8-mile, eleven-turn road course in San Marcos, Texas), my return to a sport bike saddle is closer than ever. As I get closer, I find it difficult to contain my enthusiasm. If everything goes as planned, next month’s installment will give you a first-hand account of what a Formula 450 can do on the track.
This photo was taken looking forward into the fairing from the position of the shift lever. It demonstrates just how tight the fit is between the lower fairing and the stock crankcases (touching each other). Everything in this photo is an OEM part, except the fairing itself and the upgraded final-drive chain. * Zagraniski photo
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