I am about to change the damaged head on my my 95' carb'd Fireblade (MK Indy) with the spare I have when a mate of mine said he has a low milage R1 engine I can have at a good price. If I buy it I will have to modify the chassis cradle, instruments (Fireblade clocks used) and dash, propshaft, gear linkage, wiring and so on. The big question is will it be worth it, will the R1 be mind blowing in the difference in performance or should I stay with my Fireblade, which after all is pretty quick. Comments please.

Which model R1 is it? there have been many upgrades and re-tuning of the R1 over the years.

The R1 has always had the edge on the fireblade IMO, and you'll get best part of 100cc more capacity, whether its worth it would be a personal choice, try getting a ride / drive in a similar car with an R1 engine.

Instead of replacing your head why not buy my complete engine in the For Sale section Much easier option!

If you are happy with the performance as it is then stick with the blade.
If you ever get to the point of boredom I would say to go the whole hog and upgrade to a ZX12 or similar.

Geoff.

For the negligible difference in performance, your money would be better spent by adding lightness to your existing car and getting it set up properly (assuming you haven't done this already).

Phil

I'd be skimming the honda head and fitting a set of performance cams and staying with the original setup. As already mentioned lightness is a massive factor too.

Buy the R1 and sell it on for a bit of profit to pay for head gasket etc, wouldn't be arsed with doing any tuning, why take a chance on building in any form of unreliability, standard Blade is more than capable of getting you banned for a couple of years

tony

i also look at this m8 and i decided to stick with the blade engine because the extra power was just not worth i t i was getting a full damage bike for £200

Thanks guys, looks as though I will stick with the Blade then, and also go on a diet to lighten me