big bore/stroker kit?

[SergeantChuck]

I like to mod stuff too. I usually go overboard. When I first purchased the NCX I looked for performance mods. Remember, I had just stepped down from a CBR1000RR. I did a pretty thorough search and could not find anything. This leads me to two conclusions. 1) It isn't cost effective for manufacturers to makes stuff(not enough bikes). 2) It is not possible or limited results have been achieved.

This bike has been in Europe since 2011. Right? About the only thing you can seem to find is aftermarket exhaust. I willing to bet there are many people like the OP that want more power but there just does not seem to be the aftermarket parts to support that. This means your either going to find it impossible to modify or it is going to be quite expensive and you maybe should have bought a different bike.

Take this post worth a grain of salt. I'm a guy who like lots of power. I installed a supercharger on my wrangler because I wanted more. Just not seeing anything for the NCX. At least not the easy way. Gonna cost lots to do anything and the power increases seem to be very limited. Then again, half the fun is doing the work. It's not always about cost.

 

[Beemerphile]

The only limit to the amount you can spend in the chase for speed is your bank account.

When I was drag racing in the early seventies, there was a saying...

"Speed costs money, how fast would you like to go?"

Understand that, but the starting point has something to do with the cost and outcome of the journey. Speed has been "designed out" at every turn with this engine in order for efficiency to be "designed in". Undoing it all means starting over. Why? As a personal example, I like old BMW Airhead bikes, but I have seen people spend a ton of money trying to make them "fast" and in the end an out-of-tune stock 20 year old sport bike could show them the door. Modding the NC for speed is, to me, like buying a four cylinder Tacoma and replacing the pistons, rods, and crank so I could put a blower on it. End result it is as fast as a stock V6 Tacoma. ???

 

[jdmitchell]

I came from a 160 hp sport touring bike, so for me the nc700x is definitely lacking in the power department. Do I think that I will ever try to get any more power out my nc? Not a chance! A slip on exhaust will be it. Why? Because this bike is smooth as silk and gets awesome fuel mileage, with Honda reliability I hope to put at least 50, 000 miles on it. How many motors have you seen that got modified internally that ended up becoming shrapnel? I have seen quite a few grown men cry when their high performance low drag motor goes kaboom after dropping a couple month's worth of overtime to build. Honda engineers have a pretty good reputation so I will leave it to them. If you need more power and still get over 60 mpg I would recommend the BMW F800GS. It has a little more grunt than the nc but does pretty good on mpg. My buddy has one and averages 65 mpg doing everything from trails to commuting.

 

[JamesD]

About the only mods my NCX is ever getting are the ones I bought with the bike.
Heated grips, power jack, rear rack and trunk.
I have a USB power jack to add as well but that's about it.
Oh, and a new seat may be in it's future if I keep it long.

Is the NC a little short on power at the top end? Yes.
Would I like a little more power? Yes.
Would I install a big bore kit to get it? No!
Even if I bore out the NC motor, it's not going to keep up with my VFR.
I bought the NCX as a commuter and light touring bike. It seems to work well for that so far.

 

[JamesD]

There are two kits available, stage 1 and stage 2.

Stage 1 is a Crossrunner and Stage 2 is a Crosstourer

* Subject to availability in your area

 

[n30r3l0ad3d]

I like to mod stuff too. I usually go overboard. When I first purchased the NCX I looked for performance mods. Remember, I had just stepped down from a CBR1000RR. I did a pretty thorough search and could not find anything. This leads me to two conclusions. 1) It isn't cost effective for manufacturers to makes stuff(not enough bikes). 2) It is not possible or limited results have been achieved.

This bike has been in Europe since 2011. Right? About the only thing you can seem to find is aftermarket exhaust. I willing to bet there are many people like the OP that want more power but there just does not seem to be the aftermarket parts to support that. This means your either going to find it impossible to modify or it is going to be quite expensive and you maybe should have bought a different bike.

Take this post worth a grain of salt. I'm a guy who like lots of power. I installed a supercharger on my wrangler because I wanted more. Just not seeing anything for the NCX. At least not the easy way. Gonna cost lots to do anything and the power increases seem to be very limited. Then again, half the fun is doing the work. It's not always about cost.

Well said Chuck, and couldn't agree more. Some people on here can't and won't understand it, then again it's not their motorcycle to begin with.

 

[showkey]

If you need more power and still get over 60 mpg I would recommend the BMW F800GS. It has a little more grunt than the nc but does pretty good on mpg. My buddy has one and averages 65 mpg doing everything from trails to commuting.

Everything come at a price:

BMWF800GS

Base MSRP: $11,395.00
Standard Package: $12,900.00
Please click on the “Pricing” link on the left for complete info on prices and options.

 

[jdmitchell]

Everything come at a price:

BMWF800GS

Base MSRP: $11,395.00
Standard Package: $12,900.00
Please click on the “Pricing” link on the left for complete info on prices and options.

That is why I chose my NC700 over the F800. Almost the same capabilities (with some modifications and farkles) for half the price. I would venture to say that the NC700X is probably the best deal around for an [almost]-do-it-all-bike that sips fuel.

 

[Beemerphile]

If you buy the F800GS, post again after:

1) you have done (or paid for) your first valve adjustment;
2) you have run it on regular gas bought in one gallon milk containers (yes, I have);
3) or better still, after it craps out in the middle of Russia somewhere...

F800GS for adventure traveling? - Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Uh, by my calculations, a working NC has 50 more horsepower than a broken F800GS.

 

[SlowSteve]

Beemerphile,

The 800 doesn't like rubbish fuel, but there are formal mods, supported by BMW, that you can make that will let it happily run on 76 octane fuel - like you get in milk bottles in the middle of no-where.
Well..... if not "happily" then "acceptably".

My guess is that these mod's would be harder/impossible to do on an NC700 given how it's already set up to be so frugal. I have been planning some big trips on the NC700 - Etheopia is the first target - and the ONLY reason for not doing it at the moment is working out how the bike will cope with poor octane fuel.

 

[Goose]

Just clarify, I think you meant $1,000,000 USD per 0.1 second, no way you can pick up a second in F1 for a measly million. Last week I heard from the commentators at an F1 race Red Bull averages 70 changes to the car per race weekend, over 600 people to support the two cars. And, yes, the cup this year was insane in a very, very good way. How big an autoclave do you need to make 72 foot carbon fiber hulls and 130 foot carbon fiber sails? I've sailed a bit, I have never seen a sail boat move like the 72s. 50 MPH in a ~25 MPH wind!

Back on subject, I'm sorry but unless you are doing this for the challenge (a perfectly good reason) hopping up an NC seems like a task that will lead to frustration, pain and not much gain. For a few hundred bucks (the price of a good exhaust) more you could get a 650 Vstrom and have a bike that is about as comfortable as an NC and puts about 15 HP (33%) more power to the ground. Your money, your choice.

Thousands is an understatement, I read during the Americas Cup (big sailing race) that you can show up without spending 100,000,000 smackers. Those sail boats are insane. Last I checked in F1 to shave a second off your lap time cost a million dollars. The only limit to the amount you can spend in the chase for speed is your bank account.

Gigs

Goose

 

[bigjeff]

Wouldn't a bore job screw up the whole ceramic coat thing? This is like making a tuner car out of a Prius. lol

 

[JamesD]

Wouldn't a bore job screw up the whole ceramic coat thing? This is like making a tuner car out of a Prius. lol

Yup. VFR bore jobs also eliminated the ceramic coating. People that had it done didn't seem to have any ill effects.
I believe the VFR was the first bike Honda used that on.

 

[n30r3l0ad3d]

I looked into this further. From what I see without actually tearing my motor apart, the cylinder block is 1 unit with the crankcase. The crankcase splits into 2 parts, the upper containing the cylinder block. This also eliminates the need for a cylinder base gasket.



It would be a lot of work to bore this engine, and if you do a BIG bore kit you would most likely need to purchase an entire upper crankcase. If they DO make the 2014 a 750 like I've read, you could do an engine swap ASSUMING they don't change something and make it different (like change electrical plugs, mounting locations, etc). Or, if someone's parting one out get the upper case and pistons. If it's too outrageous cost wise, just buck down and buy a 2014 model. In any case, the 2014 model would only change the piston size to gain CC, nothing else.

Me personally, I will wait till my NC falters before I look into engine mods of any kind. But I do see room for improvement down the road when that time comes. Then again, after I sorted through tons of video and data on the NC this motor will outlast it's counter parts before it gets tired. Realistically, I have my older honda to modify if I really wanted that kind of power anyway. So the NC will remain the way it came from factory, and possibly a leo vince down the road.

Something I did stumble upon, is how the cylinder walls are surrounded by coolant. Subaru's boxer 4 engine in the legacy do the same thing, and are prone to head gasket failure. I've done 2 head gasket jobs on both my sister's Subaru's at around 80k miles. Then again, I've seen nothing about head gasket failure on the NC yet.

****EDIT: You can buy oversize pistons for the NC700X. Part # listed below. ****

13102-MGS-D30 PISTON (O.S. 0.25) | (Optional).

 

[buckshot]

I looked into this further. From what I see without actually tearing my motor apart, the cylinder block is 1 unit with the crankcase. The crankcase splits into 2 parts, the upper containing the cylinder block. This also eliminates the need for a cylinder base gasket.

View attachment 9048

It would be a lot of work to bore this engine, and if you do a BIG bore kit you would most likely need to purchase an entire upper crankcase. If they DO make the 2014 a 750 like I've read, you could do an engine swap ASSUMING they don't change something and make it different (like change electrical plugs, mounting locations, etc). Or, if someone's parting one out get the upper case and pistons. If it's too outrageous cost wise, just buck down and buy a 2014 model. In any case, the 2014 model would only change the piston size to gain CC, nothing else.

Me personally, I will wait till my NC falters before I look into engine mods of any kind. But I do see room for improvement down the road when that time comes. Then again, after I sorted through tons of video and data on the NC this motor will outlast it's counter parts before it gets tired. Realistically, I have my older honda to modify if I really wanted that kind of power anyway. So the NC will remain the way it came from factory, and possibly a leo vince down the road.

Something I did stumble upon, is how the cylinder walls are surrounded by coolant. Subaru's boxer 4 engine in the legacy do the same thing, and are prone to head gasket failure. I've done 2 head gasket jobs on both my sister's Subaru's at around 80k miles. Then again, I've seen nothing about head gasket failure on the NC yet.

****EDIT: You can buy oversize pistons for the NC700X. Part # listed below. ****

13102-MGS-D30 PISTON (O.S. 0.25) | (Optional).

Dirty. In that case it might be overly ambitious to bore that sucker out over the weekend, but as a winter project totally do-able. I'm expecting to see a hotter cam come on the market before a big-bore kit.

 

[670cc]

Here's what you've got to work with. Good luck.

 

[n30r3l0ad3d]

I see honda learned from the 70's how important that cam chain is, and beefed it up. If I am not mistaken, that does not look like a lot of piston wall clearance to play with. A .25 over piston kit wouldn't hurt a thing, even a .50 over. But, if you want to go bigger the only way I can see that is like I said, new upper crankcase with a design change in the case.

 

[showkey]

Going to need a lot more than luck.........there is no extra meat on those cylinder sleeves..........the above pics should end this big bore mod to stock NC parts.

Cam chain is heavy duty long lasting because it is the chain out of the FIT We are NOT reopening the FIT again

PS over sizing .25mm get almost nothing as far as increased displacement ( as in not worth doing the math)

 

[n30r3l0ad3d]

Going to need a lot more than luck.........there is no extra meat on those cylinder sleeves..........the above pics should end this big bore mod to stock NC parts.

Cam chain is heavy duty long lasting because it is the chain out of the FIT We are NOT reopening the FIT again

PS over sizing .25mm get almost nothing as far as increased displacement ( as in not worth doing the math)

Yes, the big bore kit is not happening. Not unless someone develops a top case / half with lot's more meat on it for bigger pistons. I would imagine for that much metal, $$$.

But, to the debate over boring out the stock case to .25 over. That is entirely possible.

 

[SlowSteve]

Just clarify, I think you meant $1,000,000 USD per 0.1 second, no way you can pick up a second in F1 for a measly million. Last week I heard from the commentators at an F1 race Red Bull averages 70 changes to the car per race weekend, over 600 people to support the two cars.




Goose

Off topic I know, but for the current season of formula 1 it works out a bit closer to $5million per 0.1 seconds. Probably a good chunk more than that if its mechanical grip, but that 10th of a second is worth more than aerodynamic grip, as you can use it at all tracks.

Put a different way, for the entire R&D budget for NC700, which I read was around $25million, RedBull made one of their two cars go around some, but no where near all, of a set of race tracks fractionally quicker than it takes to blink your eyes. Crazy but amazing.

Fractionally more on topic 2015 sees Honda comes back to F1 as an engine builder. Their target is an 800bhp engine from 1.6liters (97cubic inches) with a fuel efficiency of 42mpg.