Back to the Phazer (Vader returns)
- Thread starter lupystoy
- Start date
NorthofSixty
Member
Secondary pic was too large. Currently running a Blue-Green spring, C-2 70deg twist and 8K4 45/39 dual angle helix.
NorthofSixty
Member
I have also run a Red-Pink spring with 3 shims with the 82M-90 weights.
Hi it sure does. Thanks for the information. We had gotten some snow here in eastern Ontario and was able to do some more tuning. (Sadly raining like crazy now !). I have the phazer zinging along now. I installed a set of 8VO weights with the special Olav orange spring. (This spring is really for the later model short cap clutches) a little machining on the spider of the YPZ and it fits perfect. Spring has a 40kg preload and 2.75kg/mm rate. ) It got my rpms up. Set the secondary to B1 with the Blue/green stock spring for 1988. Running the stock 47degree helix. Stock gearing. Carbs are sorted out and performing well. Need more snow now. It maybe running as good as it gets. For a 488 fan no complaints. Impressed the youngsters too.
NorthofSixty
Member
Good to hear. I will be trying the pink spring in the secondary again to see if the hole shot improves. These Phasers may be approaching 40 years old but they are still competitive. My son won the 550 Max fan open class snow drags last spring on the one we built. First time racing so he was pretty pumped. No end of fun and something kids can learn to wrench on unlike the new stuff.
Good to hear. He must be so excited winning an open event like that. To think back in 1990 a phazer set up like ours would have put a serious scare into the very top iron of the day at the snow drags. It’s fun to mess around with it. I’ve kept the compression ratio stock so she’s very reliable, on good gas.
Darryl
Darryl
NorthofSixty
Member
We are running a single layer head gasket so compression is up a little but running fine on fresh 91 pump gas.
That’s neat. I use premium as well. Never tried a thinner gasket. Maybe it would be worth a try sometime. Are you using the stock carbs? Not sure how sticky the race organizers are on that. I never raced it in a sanctioned event. I like the flatslides because if anyone but myself are trail riding it, I don’t have to worry about it leaning out at trail speeds. I basically have the exact size main jet in the flatslides as I would in the stock units.
Have you had any luck gearing it up to 18T? I suppose likely not if your really only doing the real short drags.
Have you had any luck gearing it up to 18T? I suppose likely not if your really only doing the real short drags.
NorthofSixty
Member
Depends on the class and race rules the organizers post. Stock class requires original carbs but open class had no issue. I am running stock carbs with 110 pilots with Boyesen reeds and the AAEN quiet can pipes. I have not had any issues so far down to -10C with either trail or race but I also have 115 pilots if I see any sign of midrange leaning out at lower temperatures. We do a series of 1000 ft plug chops at 500 rpm intervals all the way up to WOT to check the entire range. Although I have 38mm flat slides I understand they are of no real benefit on a Phazer unless the engine is fully race ported and heads modified. In general for drags we don’t spend any time in the midrange and I find the throttle pull on stock butterflys shorter, lighter and quicker than the 38mm flat slides on my 95 VMax 600. For long trail rides there is less thumb fatigue as well. From what I’ve read the flat-slides need a fully gutted air-box or they’ll run pig rich.
NorthofSixty
Member
With the AAEN pipe and proper jetting gearing up to an 18T works great on the trail sled. On the race sled I went with the 9 tooth drive wheels and geared down instead to improve rolling efficiency. You can also swap out the stock ypz clutches for the yxr (92 to 96) that have a wider ratio.
True. I’ve tried the 18T sprocket a couple times this season but have the 17T stock in now until I’m sure it’s getting proper RPM. That’s been my largest issue. I haven’t had a long enough space to let it wind out long enough to see max RPM. Gets to 7100 or so no problem now so that might be it. I might search out the newer clutches later on. I have a couple YPZ units. Just locating primary springs is tougher than t thought. I am using the larger spring that I got from AAEN performance with my pipe. It’s got a strong rate. I thought for sure my RPMs would have went sky high with it, but so far even with the lighter 8VO weights it’s just over 7100. Good engagement at about 4500. This is with the stock tachometer. Some of the lower RPMs earlier were due to an overly rich midrange and top end setting on the flatslides. Didn’t realize how rich it was running. I had 160 then 157.5 mains and both made it fall flat at top. At least I started rich. Now I’m at 152.5 and my needle is one clip from the top. Much more responsive. I think I’ll leave that calibration until I can prove it safe. My notes from my phazer years back had my stock carbs at 152.5 mains and 110pilots.
I do have the airbox gutted, I just don’t have the cold air kit like I had back in my original phazer. I used to use a YPZ silver/silver spring with 8VO weights back then. Haven’t been able to source that spring yet. Will keep at it. I also have the stock unstudded track still on it. (Good condition for this stock Yokahoma)
Darryl
I do have the airbox gutted, I just don’t have the cold air kit like I had back in my original phazer. I used to use a YPZ silver/silver spring with 8VO weights back then. Haven’t been able to source that spring yet. Will keep at it. I also have the stock unstudded track still on it. (Good condition for this stock Yokahoma)
Darryl
BornYamaha
Member
If either of you guys can locate a set of the custom weights made by Reichard Yamaha near Milwaukee around the late 80s to early 90s they pull like a freight train compared to any of the 82Ms or 8VO weights back when I was running my modded Phazer. They were a crude hunk of metal but they worked great. Did have to notch them to get any kind of engagement. Glad to hear people are still pushing the old Phazers hard.
Thanks. I’ll keep a watch out. I’m an older member and I still love the phazer. Mine started as a recreation for my four boys to try. They had spent twenty odd years hearing of dad’s amazing Phazer. I won’t lie. I’m definitely guilty of embellishing the performance of the little thing over the years. But for what it is, it’s still fun to ride. My oldest has an Apex and we also have the formidable Mach Z 1000. The boys spent one afternoon switching on and off the phazer on an early season ride on a twisty trail. They love what we all did way back then. The “flick ability” of that thing around the trails. Sure it’s no contest for speed, but who cares, it does zing like nothing else. And on our modern wide well groomed trails it rides not too bad. It’s super simple to troubleshoot. Seems the phazers have developed a bit of a cult following.
Darryl
Darryl
Thank you for this post. It explains so much of what I went through last winter. I still need to get my clutches tuned, waiting for that SNOW.
Well snow is almost ridable here in eastern Ontario. My top rpm was due to a rich main jet setting. That’s ok. The little beast is piped, trail ported with Boyesen reeds. Of course the 600vmax 38 flatslides. The carbs and gutted airbox work Awsome (no cold air kit yet). I had the idle and mid-range working so decent that it made me think my primary calibration was holding back some top rpm. I run at just above sea level. With 157.5’s and temps just hovering around 0 Celsius it really fell on its face op top. ( ran so decent straight through the midrange that I though it was shifting out too soon ). I have a stiff enough primary that she should rev out no problem. As dropped to 155’s no much change. That’s where I hesitated and double checked everything. Plugs were dark, too dark, but not wet. ( I burned mine down as a youngster with the stock carbs). Put 152.5’s in and found a substantial difference. Plugs are still dark but not very brown. I will put 150’s in and close monitor. That should be it. If I’m correct that’s three sizes from stock. Much better I suppose. Most tuners on the forum I see have settled in around 150 mains. I don’t have a cold air kit yet so that’s not increasing the jetting requirement. I figure two sizes for the pipe (AAEN quiet can) and another size for the trail porting and reeds. If I had the cold air kit the 152.5’s may be ok. Well that’s where my phazers at so far.
Darryl
Darryl
I mean’t to add to the last post, my slight hesitation to main jetting on the rack 38mm from the Vmax. Back like 30 years ago my TM flatslides from Bender came pre-jetted(for sea level) at 45 pilots (not sure of the needle and needle jet, but middle clip setting) and 330mains. Included in the kit were 320 and 310 jets. These were the hex type. The 330/320 flow like a round jet 160. We are all around 150 rounds which is a 275hex. Yikes. If I recall back in the day, I did install some 290hex jets in the phazer for a drag race that was on a warmer day. The plugs were white that day.
So hopefully some others with much more tuning experience may have witnessed this. The rack style flatslides definitely need way less jetting according to the conversion factor. In my discussions in the above posts that’s really where my hesitation to jetting down originated. Just kept thinking of previous jetting with the old TM individual carbs.
Darryl
So hopefully some others with much more tuning experience may have witnessed this. The rack style flatslides definitely need way less jetting according to the conversion factor. In my discussions in the above posts that’s really where my hesitation to jetting down originated. Just kept thinking of previous jetting with the old TM individual carbs.
Darryl
Hi phazer fellas. Out testing the calibrations today on a local lake today. Temp was 10F. The flatslides are perfectly spot on at 152.5. 150 would be too lean, at least for trail use and longer pulls. Mid-range is a good tan colour and very responsive. Working well for a little fan.
Darryl
Darryl
srv540
Member
Phazers were a great little sled, I had a 92 with vmax 600 carbs and psi pipe and ARC rear skid. Man I wish I never got rid of it. Have fun with it!
That is a really nice looking phazer. The long travel would be so nice on the back.
Basically as a vintage trail machine I’m now quite happy with the final calibrations. I did up the mains to 155. A good 1.5km pull at -12 and the plugs were a bit safer looking than the 152.5’s. Now I do not have the cold air kit. I suppose if I did I would likely bump the mains up to 157.5 and recheck. My needle is set one clip from the top. And two turns on my air screw. Pilots are 52.5. Running the machine at around sea level if this helps anyone out. The overall speed of the phazer as result of my improvements were decent. 100mph ha. Just kidding. The lake I tested it on was very smooth hard pack. Smooth start and full pull for
Just over 1km. No radar just the GPS on my phone. 144km/hr or 89mph. Decent enough.
The plus too is that it is a bit better on fuel than stock.
Hope everyone is having a good time enjoying winter.
Darryl
Basically as a vintage trail machine I’m now quite happy with the final calibrations. I did up the mains to 155. A good 1.5km pull at -12 and the plugs were a bit safer looking than the 152.5’s. Now I do not have the cold air kit. I suppose if I did I would likely bump the mains up to 157.5 and recheck. My needle is set one clip from the top. And two turns on my air screw. Pilots are 52.5. Running the machine at around sea level if this helps anyone out. The overall speed of the phazer as result of my improvements were decent. 100mph ha. Just kidding. The lake I tested it on was very smooth hard pack. Smooth start and full pull for
Just over 1km. No radar just the GPS on my phone. 144km/hr or 89mph. Decent enough.
The plus too is that it is a bit better on fuel than stock.
Hope everyone is having a good time enjoying winter.
Darryl