im thinking about purchasing a sxs clylinder head for my 2010 ktm 300 xc-w. whos bought this and how does it work? squawks? anything i need to know before i blow 150 bucks? thanks!

KTM 2 SMOKER said:

geez, you are determined to spend more than you have to.  call Mike at Cycleplayground.  For around $60, you can have your head milled to work just as well.

Or, call KTMWorld, IDK what they charge to mill a head, or call Munn Racing, they are in TX and can also mill the head.

i know.... like i said i just dont feel comfortable shipping it off. when i can find a nice durable case to package it up i might do it, i dont want ups effing everything up. some wierd thing i have i guess ha. but i work for the local cycle shop making 14 bucks an hour. pretty good for 15 eh?

i have just contacted cycle playground and am talking to them about turning my 300 into even more of a monster. cylinder decking, porting, the works!

I read a post (on KTM talk I think) that said that due to the design of the stock head you will never be able to get the same amount of power out of stock head than you will out of a SXS head.  At least not from a cost effective standpoint.  That being said, the only experience I have with head work is that my buddy put an SX head on his 08 300XC.  The bike pulled stronger everywhere.  If anything (and if possible) he says it smoothed the power out.  Almost made the bike more 4 stroke ish.

Another thought, cost wise, is that if you buy the SXS head you could always ebay your old head, so the cost difference might not be that substantial.

Nate

I had Slavens do the head mod on my 09 300 and it made a pretty big difference in fact I need to get the head from my 2010 sent off now...

nickeenoo said:

I guess I am a tight wad.   If I can get similar results at less than half the cost, and apply that money to another mod, then that makes more sense to me.

I would be curious to what the squish band is on the SXS head is.

I shipped my head to Mike at CP and had it back in a week.

Good luck in your endeavors, there are a lot of good tuners out there that can transform your bike, just depends on how fer you want to take it.

Wrfrk said:

Slavens did the head and cylinder for me....huge difference. No porting but I might send it to him for porting some day:thumbsup:

I have an 08 300 Slavens deck, port and head and I have an SX head with the squish set by RB Designs. Slavens modified stock is better than the SX head unmodified. SX head with the squish set is the best performer of the two. So the best bang for the buck is a mod on the stock head, if money is no object then go with the modified SX head.

Thank you, Ron. That's the way I understand it as well and the stock head mod is very reasonable IME. I can't speak for other shops but Slavens' turn around is a day or 2. His service is second to none.

Shaving the head is the BEST performance bang for the buck out there. I know of no other mod, on this or any other bike, that so transforms the bike, at so little cost, and with no down sides.  In my experience, it not only increases power, especially low end power, but does make the bike much easier to ride, as it's sooo much more tractable. Also, it will be easier to get jetted correctly. IMHO, this is a absolute must do mod, especially if you ride at elevation!!

You can spend $40-$60+ and have the head shaved or you can spend $150 +/- and get the SX head. I agree with gmoss, get it shaved and save yourself $100.

Now, if you send your head off to somebody to have it shaved, you may have significant down time and increased the cost, because of shipping. I think most good machine shops can do this mod with no problem. With all due respect to Slavens, Munn, and all the other great tuners out there, this is not frickin' rocket science. I checked with several local machine shops in my area (a relatively small community).They all said they could do it and had done this mod many times to different types of machines. I was surprised.

I typically ride my '08 300XC between 5000' and 8000'. My stock squish was about .078". I took .030" off. Squish is now about .048". Compression at 5000' is about 165 lbs. Runs on pump gas - no problem. I probably could have taken a little more off, but I'm very, very happy with the way it runs now. I want to emphasize - there has been NO down side, it's all positive.

My cost - $40 (total, no shipping)
Turn around time - one day.
Down time - didn't miss a day's riding

My advice - Measure your current squish, determine where you want it to be, then check with your local machine shops. When you find the right one, tell them how much to take off and be done with it

Edited by gprodick, 30 September 2010 - 08:22 PM.

gprodick said:

the only difference between a machine shop trimming the face and a moto shop reworking the head is the moto shop will reshape the bowl to maximize burn efficiency, etc.  Most will do this as part of that $40-60 you speak of.

gprodick said:

hm i might have the check into having a machine shop do some work! i think my grandpa probably knows some peope who run a shop. i might pull of my head and run it down there. i beileve im going to have cycle playground deck and port my cylinder. if the machine shop blows up in my face then of well, i only lost 20 bucks. then ill just grab the sxs head. i might have to run some shell 98 octane along with some race gas depending on my compression. its alright if i do though.

[quote name='nickeenoo']I read a post (on KTM talk I think) that said that due to the design of the stock head you will never be able to get the same amount of power out of stock head than you will out of a SXS head.  At least not from a cost effective standpoint.  That being said, the only experience I have with head work is that my buddy put an SX head on his 08 300XC.  The bike pulled stronger everywhere.  If anything (and if possible) he says it smoothed the power out.  Almost made the bike more 4 stroke ish.

Another thought, cost wise, is that if you buy the SXS head you could always ebay your old head, so the cost difference might not be that substantial.

Nate[/Q
ya thats what i heard also, seems like the sxs head is really what i need. i like the idea of having a spare head laying around also or if i  dont want it can sell it. im gonna check into having a machine shop do something maybe also. i might just have to flip a coin.. sxs head vs. head machining maybe ill just solve all my problems and go buy an ATK 700.

Radical_Ron said:

hm modded sxs head...hey man what type head you go on that thing? a modified modified one...
i might have to save up and do that. haah

thanks for the help fellow thumper talkers

One thing that everyone is missing in the cost factor is that you can always sell your old head.  This makes the cost difference not nearly as dramatic.  I just did a quick (very quick) check on eBay and it looks like most heads are selling for about $75 thus making the cost of the SXS head about $75.  I'm not saying that it is or isn't the best way to go, I'm just saying that to be fair on price you have to realize that when you buy the SXS head you have TWO heads and one can be sold.

But I do love the fact that there are so many good contributors to this forum and you usually end up with several options for any given problem.

Nate

gmoss said:

I was never under the impression that most 'moto shops' rework the bowl, for the basic head shave price. The ones I've talked to don't.  I know some do, but don't they charge considerably more to do that? Does Slavens rework the bowl for $60? Does Munn? Just askin'. I think Dick's may rework the bowl, but last time I checked they charge a whole lot more.

At any rate, I found a simple shave, to raise compression, to be a great mod.

KTM 2 SMOKER said:

I am surprised that Mike doesn't want to do the whole package, head and all.  I would want to.

gprodick said:

I believe Mike at Cycle Playground does.  He did on my 200.  IDK what the 250/300 requires or what works best with them, however.  I do know that the 200 head is much more complicated to machine as it's not flat, and the bowl reshaping was included.

Selling the stock head is a definite option.  Myself though, I prefer to keep stock stuff JIC I upgrade later on to a newer model and I want to transfer over some of the things such as the SXS head.  I have the option then to reinstall the stock head.

Good call on keeping stock parts.  I'm always in need of something I just got rid of!