Author Topic: Performance gain from going 1st or 2nd OS on a twin?  (Read 1088 times)

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Offline Tugboat

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Performance gain from going 1st or 2nd OS on a twin?
« on: August 09, 2012, 07:59:52 AM »
I haven't measured or even really inspected my pistons since I finally got the cylinders off my KZ400 last night.. but in general, is there any performance gain by boring it out to 1st or 2nd oversize? Or is it just an added expense that you should only do if it really needs it?

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing twice.

Offline kirkn

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Re: Performance gain from going 1st or 2nd OS on a twin?
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2012, 08:26:03 AM »
Well, since going oversize increases the displacement from roughly 400cc to, like, 406cc, I can't imagine there's any performance gain whatever.  Certainly none you could detect in riding.  Maybe on a dyno...

Offline wannabridin

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Re: Performance gain from going 1st or 2nd OS on a twin?
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2012, 08:28:08 AM »
do a quick calculation for the total displacement increase.  i'm sure the oversizes are only .25 or .50 mm each jump, so displacement can't be a huge increase.  For example:

Stock CB750 stroke is 63mm and stock bore is 61mm.  this gives a volume of each cylinder of 184cc, so 736 total. 
Increasing to the CB750's 2nd oversize piston (.5 mm) yields a displacement of 748cc.
Increasing to the 4th oversize (1 mm, which I did) yields 760cc.

As you can see, not much of a displacement (or power) increase.  I combined my 4th over kit (wanted it to be "stock") with a 0.010" decking on the cylinder head and a more aggressive cam.  Generally, if you increase the volume of fuel/air, you will benefit from an easier path for it to follow (headwork and cam). 

To answer your question: doing just the overbore is what you should do if a good hone still leaves too much gap between piston and cylinder wall.  Honda believed in their bike by offering 4 sets of oversized pistons.  Add to that the 812, 836 and so on and you could potentially have a CB750 that lasted dang near FOREVER!   ;D ;D  So unless you have clearance issues, i would just do a good hone on the cylinders and it's doubtful you'll feel any big difference from an overbore w/o other performance work to compliment it.  Hope this helps!
1976 CB750K, currently under construction:
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Offline Tugboat

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Re: Performance gain from going 1st or 2nd OS on a twin?
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2012, 08:57:22 AM »
Exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks fellas!
If it's worth doing, it's worth doing twice.