Greetings brothers,

I'm asking in behalf of my son, who owns a second hand 2004 sportster 883.

1. He is telling me there is a kit to upgrade the motor to 1200cc. Is this true, is it safe and healthyfor the motor? If there is such a kit or procedure, where may I find it (linkls)?

2. He wants to increase reartire size to 200mm, what would be involved? Again links to useful sites would be great.

Thank you all in advance, all advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

http://nrhsperformance.com/

There is one place, there are many others. The larger rear tire will make it want to stand up in the turns and resist turning.

 

Harley makes a 1200 kit for the 883's. I would imagine that if Harley offers it for their bikes, it would be safe for the motor. The fat rear tire would look cool, but the bike wouldn't handle nearly as good. I'm not sure who makes a fat tire kit for the Sportster, but I'm sure someone does. Also, keep in mind that with the fat rear tire it would be necessary to change the rear wheel. A new swingarm would be needed also. Probably would even need a new rear fender. That would be a pricey mod. It would look good, though.

 

Hey great link on the engine upgrade!

Thanks for the responses, did not know about the problem with the fatty rear...

 

DO NOT USE THE NRHS KIT FOR AN 04 SPORTSTER!!!!!!

I repeat!!!

DO NOT USE THE NRHS KIT FOR AN 04 SPORTSTER!!!!

I really hope that you did not purchase this yet.....

It is notorious for excessive oil consumption in the rubber mount sportsters and is not a good choice to go with. If he had an 03, then I'd say go for it, but many people with rubbermount sportsters (04 and up) have had major oil consumption issues... I believe that one person here would go through a quart every 500 miles. He eventually gave up trying to solve the problem and moved on to another bike.

I would stick with the harley kit for the rubbermount sportsters.

A reputable indie wrench that does all my work converted my 06 883 to a 1200... they sent my jugs to a machinist to bore them out, and put in new wiseco pistons and rings. It's a basic conversion with no head work done and no new cams. Out the door with parts and labor it cost me $1000. I am very very pleased with the results. VERY.

Good luck,
Rob

 

Rob, that story has been de-bunked, the guy who made that claim had all the ring ends lined up in a row instead of staggared around the piston.

 

there wasn't one guy... there were many guys on the xl forums that had this issue from the information that i know.

and one here as well.. I think it was "pig in a blanket"

the original poster wanted to make sure an upgrade kit didn't produce any reliability issues...so in my humble opinion, this is not the one to go with. It's a great kit for 03's on down, and produces some stong numbers, but I would not recommend this kit for an 04 and up.

I think that the harley kit, while not producing the drastic numbers that the nrhs kit does, is the safer route.

Pig in a blanket, speak up if you read this.

Rob

 

Rob, what would be the difference between one year and another when it comes to rings sealing or not sealing, that doesn't make sense.

 

1200CDriver---

I don't know, and that's what's really puzzling everyone about it. It really doesn't make any sense. And from what i've heard, nrhs hasn't figured it out yet either.

I'll be perfectly honest though, I am referring to heresay, and have no specific knowledge other than what i've heard frompig in a blanketand the issues he says were brought up on the xl forums.

I was erring on the side of caution as the original poster seemed very concerned about reliability.

 

Thanks Rob, I frequent an RC model site and many an excellent enginehas hadits reputation tarnished by unfounded "I heards". Many times the "I heard" is followed by a bunch of "me too's"

Sad isn't it.