Tierney Hollen V4 Oil Kit
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written by: Robyn Landers rblanders@math.uwaterloo.ca
last revised: September 1997 to include part number of large oil filter
previously revised: November 1994
copyright: by Robyn Landers. Copies must include this header.
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I have installed a Tierney-Hollen V4 oil kit on my 1983
Honda V45 Sabre. This is a description of the kit and my
experience in installing it. After tens of thousands of
miles with no cam wear, I can tell you it certainly seems to work.
DESCRIPTION
The Tierney-Hollen V4 oil kit claims to solve the common
Honda V4 problem of premature wear of cam lobes and rocker surfaces.
It is similar to ideas developed by Honda Racing which solved the
problem for HRC, unlike the other approaches such as use of the
special valve adjusting tool and so on which help but don't cure.
The stock oil system picks up oil from the oil pan through
a strainer to the oil pump. The pump feeds oil out in two
directions. One, at about 6psi, runs towards the transmission.
It splits to feed the tranny and the cylinder heads. The other,
at about 70psi, runs to the oil filter and from there to the crank
and main gallery.
The kit requires removal of the existing external oil lines
that run from near the transmission to the cylinder heads. An adapter
is placed between the engine block and the oil filter. Freshly filtered
oil at higher pressure is taken from the adapter to the cylinder heads.
T-H claims 50% increase.
PARTS LIST
Check the ad in the back of Motorcyclist magazine (any issue)
for a photo of the kit parts. Well, not any more. They used to
advertise every issue but seem to have quit late in 1991 or so.
One black anodized aluminum oil filter adapter, a new threaded
hollow bolt on which it mounts, a brass L fitting that screws into
the adapter, a long piece of braided steel hose that runs from
the L fitting to between the cylinders, a T fitting, a medium and
a short piece of braided steel hose that run from the T fitting to
the cylinder heads. There's also a bolt to block off the feed
from the transmission, a set screw and O-ring for the adaptor,
and two Honda bolts for remounting the charcoal canister on
emissions-equipped bikes. Some LocTite is provided, as well
as a mini allen wrench for the set screw, and a rod to screw in
the new threaded hollow bolt.
PREPARATION
Remove gas tank, drain oil, remove oil filter. Removal
of radiator is recommended. (It would be pretty darn difficult
without doing this!). I also had to remove my carburetors for
other reasons. While T-H doesn't suggest this, it sure gave me
a whole lot more room to maneuver. It's possible to install the
kit without carb removal, although more awkward, and carb removal
itself is a big pain, so I don't know which would be better.
Remove external oil lines. Remove existing hollow
threaded bolt from engine block. (I can't see how to do this
without using pliers and damaging the threads.) Thoroughly
clean engine block threads with non-flammable solvent.
INSTALLATION
Block off the original oil feed with the bolt provided,
attach new oil lines to T-fitting and to cylinder heads.
Test-fit hollow threaded bolt, adapter, and brass fitting so you
can see how it's all going to go together. When satisfied, take it
apart, apply LocTite, and reassemble for real.
It took me a whole day to complete the job, but I had
the carbs out (which is optional) and I did a valve adjustment
(time consuming) plus my bike has the SportFairing to remove
and reinstall. If you were doing just the T-H kit and nothing
else, I bet it could be done in half a day.
PROBLEMS
Sigh of disappointment here. Like every other
aftermarket goodie I've ever put on my bike, I had problems.
First, the anodized finish on the adaptor made the threads too
tight for the brass fitting, so I had to have the adapter threads
re-tapped to clean out the anodizing. Not a big deal.
Next, the instructions give no hints at all about how to route
the hoses. After reinstalling the carbs I found I had one fitting
preventing complete seating of the carbs. Flipped it over and
re-routed, and all was fine. The long oil line has different fittings
on each end, but they don't tell you which end goes where (despite
obvious intentions for a certain orientation).
The biggest impact is that you can no longer use
the stock oil filter because the addition of the adapter between
the engine block and oil filter results in no clearance for
the filter behind the exhaust header pipe.
This really freaked me out! I had to dent in the contours of the
end of the oil filter plus loosen the exhaust system to gain
clearance for the filter. So it looked like oil changes would be a
big pain from then on. However -- see section ahead for good news
on an alternate Honda filter that works just fine.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
They're pretty small time, so for phone support you leave
a message on the machine and someone calls you back in a day or two.
But they are quite helpful, and they went to considerable trouble and
expense to ship me the kit on a tight schedule due to travel.
CONCLUSION
While kit is made of quality parts clearly, there's really
no easy way to tell if the kit works as claimed. But they told me
their warranty extends indefinitely. The kit is fairly unobtrusive
looking, and presumably I'll no longer be fearfully
imagining cam lobe material disintegrating when the engine is
overheating in a traffic jam or when I'm winding it out near
redline on some fun twisties. $250 for the kit is a heck of a
lot cheaper than a set of new cams and rockers and labour.
OIL FILTER UPDATE
The oil filter problem has been solved! By chance, I visited
a Honda dealership which had recently installed a T-H kit. They
ran into the filter clearance problem too, but found an easy
solution. The newer model Hondas use a smaller filter which they
found to be compatible for flow rate, relief valve pressure, etc.
This is the filter used on the GL1500, RC30 and others.
It fits perfectly on the T-H kit and there's lots of clearance.
My only problem was finding an oil filter wrench small enough to
grab it. The original filter is about 3.25" diameter; this newer
filter is 2.5" diameter. Part number for the smaller filter
is 15410-MM9-003. (The original larger filter number was
15410-MB0-00x (for some x) and is now 15410-MJ0-004.)
CLOSING ANECDOTES
The Honda shop that told me about the oil filter trick said
they ran an engine with the cylinder head cover off to see how much
more oil was reaching the top end. Verdict: a heck of a lot!
While at the AMA Museum, I saw Freddie Spencer's VF750 Interceptor
Superbike. It had an oil modification kit as well: oil is taken
from a deeper sump up to the heads. The T-H kit should be better
because it's fresh from the filter.
Tierney Hollen Engineering
573 Hampshire Road, Unit 233
Westlake Village, California 91361
phone (805) 497-2679 changed to 499-8645
Or, from their business card,
721 Blue Oak
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
August 1994 update: my most recent valve adjustment was at 71,000 km,
which means the cams are about 33,000 km old, and the T-H kit has
been on for about 28,000 km. The cams are in excellent condition
with no signs of scoring or pitting. Also, I have had no leaks
or other problems with the kit. Verdict: it works!
ALTERNATE METHOD
A fellow rec.motorcyclist, Phil Rastocny, has also researched
this topic and tells me he developed his own oil system modification,
not quite as fancy as the T-H kit, but nowhere near as expensive
either. He looked into various revisions of the top end oil
feed bolt, and provides step by step instructions on how
to improve this bolt, and replace the thin stock oil lines
with larger diameter lines. If you want a copy of this,
let me know. This is the basic idea my mechanic suggested
to me years ago as an alternative when I was considering buying
the T-H kit.
FROM THE RUMOUR MILL
Several other rec.motorcyclists told me they were going
to try to get one of these kits. Those few who got back to me
said they could not get hold of T-H. Given that and the cessation
of advertising, I suspect T-H is no longer selling these kits.
That's too bad.
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Robyn Landers | "Any profit should go to Arnie's `get the
rblanders@math.uwaterloo.ca | daemon carved on Mount Rushmore' fund."
Den0051, KotV4 | - Marty Albini, DOD0550
VF750S Sabre (his) FZX750 Fazer (hers)