Rktech user results

[Washy]

I have two different kits at home for two 2012 155 pro's. One kit from RK Tek, Pistons and a 13.5 head and one from Terra Alps with pistons shim and 13.1 head. My thoughts on the kits before install.

• Heads - Both heads are very nicely machined no fav here! Now turn the head over without the domes installed and I'd have to say I like the terra Alps head better. Reason being I don't like how the RK head has such a large area for the coolant to hang out in.... (pressure and flow theory)
• Domes - Straight up going with Terra Alps on the domes... Hard to get into detail on this because I'm not going to get my pecker slapped for giving out to much info on each part (sorry).
• Pistons - Each piston is very different in size which should make for a very different running engine do to different port timing. Wossner pistons are very nice OEM pistons are well OEM. Weight between the pistons are very close....
• Shim - Only from Terra Alps and looks like a shim
• Other notes - No pin bearing from RK Tek, wish both kits come with new o-rings for the head install. Sorry but I'm not going to give out any pics of parts or any measurements. I head back to work tomorrow so the install won't be complete until the first week of Jan. I'll be on the snow that weekend and I'll be back with a full report. This is a straight up comparison I felt would be cool to try out......... To be continued.........

Will be interesting results

But I have to question why the terra alps head would be better because it has a smaller coolant passage space. With this thinking why not shrink it by half of the stock head coolant area then this would create even more "pressure and flow". Thus creating better cooling. NOT.
I would disagree with this reasoning. More coolant area = more cooling and a better capacity to keep the head temps More consistent as opposed to your smaller head coolant space thoery

I also wouldn't give ted (terrain alps) another red cent of my hard earned money. But that's just my experience with good old ted.

 

[die hard poo]

I ran the kit as posted above and didnt get 100 yards from the truck and sled was DET and bogging at 6500 RPM AND UP. i RUN A 11 PRO WITH NON ETHANOL GAS. Went to my shop and swapped heads back to stock and went back up and sled ran perfect with stock head and rk tek direct replacement pistons. Im gonna call kelsey tomarrow and see what he thinks but it deffinitly leaned it out way to much.

With his head, I am sure you are making MORE power, which means you need to clutch for it... Too light of clutch weights WILL give you this false det code and limp mode (over taching). The pros are very sensitive to this for some reason. You will want to load the engine more and give that a whirl. If you are running too low of octane for the additional compression could also be issue also, but if you bought the head for your altitude and fuel requirements, I still think you need to re-clutch.

 

[Jkinzer]

running great 200 miles and counting! may play with the fuel map a little as it is a little rich on the bottom end, however it is running so good why fix something thats not broken? we ride at 5-9k feet depending on where we go, running slp stage 4 mapping right now. clutching is 62-42-40 helix, 66 gram belly buster weights, hc5 alloy 140-335 primary spring, hc5 alloy 160-240 secondary spring. pulling 8200-8400 rpms and putting an ear to ear chit eating grin on my face

here's another vid from yesterday, loving the over the bumper POW in DECEMBER!

 

[aebsledder]

Wow. 66 gram weights? And still pulling 8200-8400? I have found when my sled gets much over 8300 rpms at lower elevations it hits the rev limiter or something and "skips". My sled is completely stock. I am really intrigued by the RK tech/slp combo, but fuel controllers scare me. It seems like whenever I am around one the person who has it is always fiddling with it every time we stop. Not really my style. I would love to ride one though!

 

[Jer27]

Why spend a great deal of money on mods !! But not on fuel ? Det is 90% fuel , but not always. I think vendors sell HP ! Pump gas big HP , and fuel controls , maps ??? Ect! Why not start out with a new set up , 95oct & back into it rather than Det , surprise ! Just a thought !

Thx for your thought.... I do plan to run a controller just not sure which controller yet. Always some negativity

 

[Jer27]

Will be interesting results

But I have to question why the terra alps head would be better because it has a smaller coolant passage space. With this thinking why not shrink it by half of the stock head coolant area then this would create even more "pressure and flow". Thus creating better cooling. NOT.
I would disagree with this reasoning. More coolant area = more cooling and a better capacity to keep the head temps More consistent as opposed to your smaller head coolant space thoery

I also wouldn't give ted (terrain alps) another red cent of my hard earned money. But that's just my experience with good old ted.

I'm not going to get into this but clearly your remark about shrinking the size of the stock area is well..... Will leave it at that.... but if you'd like to learn more about fluid dynamics feel free to pick up a book.

There are also a lot of people that wouldn't spend a dollar with RK.
" is what it is "

http://www.dynotechresearch.com/blog/archives.asp?chosenMonth=2&chosenYear=2007

 

[PaulAnd]

What's wrong with RKTEK?? I'm confused!!

 

[snobyrd]

There's nothing wrong with rktech stuff, its just a big soap opera between all the engine builder shops, the turbo builder have the same soap opera going on, just like all the brand bashings going on here at SW, you need to decide for yourself what kit ur gonna buy, do some research and pull the trigger on a kit. Iv waited over a month before I pulled the trigger on rktechs kit. I don't believe in websites and advertising, cause their all bias, you need to hear from real costumers and even at that some blow smoke up ur azz.

 

[Jer27]

I ran the kit as posted above and didnt get 100 yards from the truck and sled was DET and bogging at 6500 RPM AND UP. i RUN A 11 PRO WITH NON ETHANOL GAS. Went to my shop and swapped heads back to stock and went back up and sled ran perfect with stock head and rk tek direct replacement pistons. Im gonna call kelsey tomarrow and see what he thinks but it deffinitly leaned it out way to much.

Tip to help with DET shim the sensor up about .100 thou...... Sensor will still go off with major DET

 

[Jer27]

There's nothing wrong with rktech stuff, its just a big soap opera between all the engine builder shops, the turbo builder have the same soap opera going on, just like all the brand bashings going on here at SW, you need to decide for yourself what kit ur gonna buy, do some research and pull the trigger on a kit. Iv waited over a month before I pulled the trigger on rktechs kit. I don't believe in websites and advertising, cause their all bias, you need to hear from real costumers and even at that some blow smoke up ur azz.

Yes buddy you said it!!!!
This is why I said what the hell try two different kits and see how she goes.......

 

[briand]

RK dropin kit

Well I finally got my dropin kit installed and running today. and i have to say that i'm impressed so far. Sleds idles much smoother and quieter.
Now i have the 13.1 domes for my altitude (2500 ft) and have been doing some comparison to my old clutching setups. With the same clutching I had, motor runs about 200 rpms more, so put in 2 grams more weights. Running MTX weights with 4 grams mid hole and 3 grams outer hole and motor still hits rev limiter out of the hole and settles to 8350 to 8400 rpm. I am sure I need to have a higher initial angle to help deal with this. now i need to do more testing to fine tune but so far i like the kit.

 

[snobyrd]

Well I finally got my dropin kit installed and running today. and i have to say that i'm impressed so far. Sleds idles much smoother and quieter.
Now i have the 13.1 domes for my altitude (2500 ft) and have been doing some comparison to my old clutching setups. With the same clutching I had, motor runs about 200 rpms more so put in 2 grams more weights. Running MTX weights with 4 grams mid hole and 3 grams outer hole and motor still hits rev limiter out of the hole and settles to 8350 to 8400 rpm. Sure I will need to have a higher initial angle to help deal with this. now i need to due more testing to fine yune but so far i like the kit.

Did u go with a fuel box or no? Kelsey also suggested using the stock Polaris weights, just heavier

 

[gunnerthesnowman]

Did u go with a fuel box or no? Kelsey also suggested using the stock Polaris weights, just heavier

Once you get into the Polaris 66g and above , the profile are the same as the BB.

 

[briand]

Did u go with a fuel box or no? Kelsey also suggested using the stock Polaris weights, just heavier

No I did not go with a fuel box. For me the way its running, its very close. Plugs look great not to lean or to rich but nearly spot on. No detonation issues at all. Running 91 octane with the non ethanol plug
The heaviest weights I have is 66 gram polaris weights so I played around with the MTX and added weights to them instead. In the mountains I try to test with pol weights 66, 64 grams or 62.

I know Kelsey recommends stock polaris weights and maybe he can comment on why he feels this way but In the minimal testing that i have done, it seems that his dropin kits responds very well to heavy heel weights. Now I have not tried them up at high elevations but at 2500 ft they sure seemed to work well for me.

To me it feels like these kits have a lot stronger midrange pull and topend pull then the stock motor. Right now I have loaded up the MTX heavy in the middle hole and still have over rev issues so next thing to try is a steeper initial angle helix. ( running a 73-63-.46 right now maybe need a 75 or a 77 initial.) These kits on my motor anyways really pulls strong at 8300 to 8500 rpm so make sure you clutch for this.
Other thing I noticed is that when you are on a trail WOT and pull off in to deeper snow the sled does not loose as much speed as before. These kits seem to pull better in the deep snow then the stock engine did.
Maybe its just me but this is what I noticed so far.

 

[Seabass152]

Well I finally got my dropin kit installed and running today. and i have to say that i'm impressed so far. Sleds idles much smoother and quieter.
Now i have the 13.1 domes for my altitude (2500 ft) and have been doing some comparison to my old clutching setups. With the same clutching I had, motor runs about 200 rpms more, so put in 2 grams more weights. Running MTX weights with 4 grams mid hole and 3 grams outer hole and motor still hits rev limiter out of the hole and settles to 8350 to 8400 rpm. I am sure I need to have a higher initial angle to help deal with this. now i need to do more testing to fine tune but so far i like the kit.

Where did you get the 4 gram revits? Thought they only went up to 3g?

 

[briand]

They do only go to 3 grams. I used 1/4 " bolts and ground them and the nuts down to get 4 grams. very time consuming to do but it worked. I don't recommend to use them as the more weight you add here the more the shifting profile changes. I should really use the 71 gram MTX but i was just testing it out with the 68. I will get some of these 71 later on.

 

[sureman]

I have a bone stock 2012 163 and a 2012 163 with the drop in kit, stacked with a slp pipe, pcv and slp stage 4 map.. I have both stage 4 maps for testing.. {hillclimb and regular public} I will be running them together most of the winter and will have a solid report... you will either see me back here telling everyone how awesome this kit is ..... or you will never hear from me again..

And for an update.. there is definantly a change, this sled runs better than it did all of last year.. I have about 4 rides now and am very pleased.. I still have some clutching to work out as I can only seem to get 8050 with the setup I have.. Probably just a little less than the 68g MTX weights would be good.. slp stage 4 map is a little fat in the middle and a little lean on top.. made some mild adjustments there.. running about a gal of 110 octane per tank to keep deto at bay... running 7-10K feet

 

[ditch1000]

Kelsey,

Have you recieved your shipment of drop in kit pistons yet??? I'l anxiously waiting to put that bad boy in and do a little harder *** kickin!!

Lindy