This area will be devoted to V-4 cams, with information, instructions and general procedures.  This will include valve adjustments, cam installation, etc.

Contents & References:
Excerpts from V65 Society Members
Dave Dodge's How to Install and Degree The V-4 Cams
Dave Dodge's Preferred Method of Valve Adjustment
My Own Step By Step Cam and Head Installation (Under Construction!)

Overview
Like any normal testosterone laden SabMagger, I wanted more performance out of my 15 year old motorcycle design.  Enter Dave Dodge, of Dodge Racing and Promotions, the undisputed king of V-4 horsepower.  This section will provide details on taking 'The Perfect Magna' and installing high performance heads & cams.  Related topics will be frame strengthening and oil pump blueprinting.

Background
I initially contacted Dave Dodge, and we discussed what I wanted.  My desire was to push the horsepower and torque limits, but still have a streetable machine.   At the present time, I did not want to modify the bottom end at all.  There are many levels of cams available, but the 'largest' one without piston modifications is the DRP 1170, which has an approximate lift of .360" and a duration of about 242 degrees.  These are not exact numbers, but are used for comparison only.   According to DD and other cam manufacturers, the design of a cam is not just lift and duration.  The shape of the lobes, the overlap, the timing all play big parts, and for the most part are well guarded secrets among the cam manufacturers.  This is to be expected, since a lot of time and money goes into testing out the optimal cams for a machine.
    Another subject was heads.  Since there is a lot of horsepower to be gained by porting and polishing the heads, I decided to have this done also.  As with anything good, there is a price, and the price for porting and polishing is steep.  The reason is that there is a lot of hand labor associated with this process, and there is no way around it.  Also, it takes years of practice on specific heads to get them correct, and DD had the V-4 experience that I was looking for.  I'd rather pay a little extra and get it done right the first time.  I have learned this lesson in the past.
    To get optimum performance, the carbs and exhaust must also be modified to take advantage of the cams and heads.  This seems to be all black magic, but in reality it is a matter of experience.  In reading some of Megacycles and Shadbolts cam specifications, they hint at the fact that the jetting must be changed along with the cam.   However, no recommendation was given.  Not so with DD!  He had the exact jet recommendations, and would supply them with the cams.  Another reason to go with the V-4 expert!
    To illustrate this fact, I want to relate some of my experiences with other SabMaggers 'Jet' experimentation's.  It seems that some models of the V65 have the dreaded 'flat spot' at about 5000 RPM.  Many SabMaggers have experimented with the jetting, and come out with the conclusion that a .015" shim on the needled improves this in some cases.  When discussing this with DD, he gave me specific instructions on how to defeat this problem if it ever surfaced, and has been known to send out these shims (or recommend where to get some) to needy SabMaggers.   Most of the experimentation's were IMO, re-inventing the wheel.  Why experiment with the jetting when years of experimentation has resulted in the same conclusion?   I guess it is fun to experiment, but I think the experiment should add something to the pool of knowledge, instead of endlessly repeating the same results.
    Another case which frightened me was that one SabMagger installed aftermarket 'performance' cams in his V65.  They were not from DD, but similar to what he offers.   No specific jetting recommendations were given with these cams.  The owner decided to experiment, and actually decreased his horsepower with every successive jet change.  At the end, it put out less horsepower than a stock machine, which led to some bad feelings at the MagSab horsepower showdown in the summer of 1998.
My aim here is not to reinvent the wheel.  Years of experience with these cams is not something that I take lightly, and I will depend on this past experience and hopefully build on it & add to it.

In summary, I will do the following to 'TPM'
Port and polish the heads
Replace Valves where necessary
5 angle valve job
DRP-1170 Stage II Cams
Modify Oil pump to produce more volume/ Pressure
Update the cam tensioners
Re-Jet the carbs according to DD's recommendations
Modify the exhaust

All of the above should increase the horsepower from 18 to 25%.

Heads
I decided on 'The works' for the heads. 

Fully Ported and Polished
Titanium retainers
Stiffer Valve Springs
Bronze valve Guides
Performance Valve Seals

The heads took longer than Dave Dodge initially estimated.    I'm patient, since this was winter in NH, anyway!  Dave gave me information on the condition of the heads, which had small scores in the cam areas.  This turned out to be OK, and the porting and polishing was done.  I received the heads, and WOW!   Compared to stock, the intake and exhaust areas were smooth and a lot bigger.   Dave said that on the flow bench, the flow increased from about 85cfm to about 95cfm.  This will translate to real horsepower on the street!  Now all I had to do was install them!

First Impressions
Detailed report soon, but now....

The bike definitely has more power across the band.  I can definitely feel the difference in how hard I must hang onto the handlebars.  However, there seems to be a 'null' or a bogging around the center of the rpm range, around 4000rpm.  I thought it was my imagination at first, but as you will read, it wasn't.

First day at the track,  Mid-May 1999:
Track times are shown at the right. I found that the wheel kept breaking away at the 1 to 2 shift (it never did that before without trying) and I could not keep the wheel from spinning off the line. I haven't had that 'problem' before. I was completely unfamiliar with the new powerband, and it showed. I hit the rev-limiter many, many times, when I really shouldn't have.
The gigantic Pichler fairing and windshield definitely slowed me down a lot. Last time, I took off the windshield, but left the fairing on. Maybe next time, I will take off the whole fairing.
I didn't do any burnouts to heat up the tire because I didn't want to lose control of the thing. It would have been very embarrassing (and costly) if I dropped it (klutz!)! Heating up the tires probably would have helped the tire breaking away. Maybe I'll practice this in a deserted parking lot somewhere.
It was thrilling (adrenaline rush) unintentionally breaking the tire away in second gear, the bike shifting sideways and bucking. I did it in the 2 to 3 shift once or twice also. I mean, usually if I wanted to break the tire away in its stock condition, I could do it. Now, however, the trick was to get the bike not to do it. Typically, off the line the front end would pull up way before the tire would spin.
John fared the same, (completely stock 1984 V65, tiny Plexi-Natl-cycle type 6" high non-fairing) with a best time of 12.4. We were only together once. When we were together, he took me off the line (my rear tire kept breaking away, two gears, again! It was pissing me off). At the 1/8 mile he was more than 3 bike lengths ahead, and I passed him (not too quickly) and wound up about 2 to 3 bike lengths ahead. I think we both shifted once.

Dyno & Draggin, SME, June 1999
In the meantime, this is a report from the SME in June, 1999, in which many MagSabbers from all over the US gathered to share in a plethora of motorcycle antics!  On the way down, gas mileage was poor.  Prior to the mods, I was getting about 40-45mpg on the highway.  This trip, I was lucky to get 35mpg.  This was the result of extra rich jetting, which will be explained further.
To gauge the results from the cam and head work, a dyno run was done.  The results showed a very wide 'flat spot' in the center of the rpm band.  This was with stock needles, shimmed by .015", .122 Main Jets, and .040 middle jets, with and without the Dial-A-Jet kit.  The Dial-A-Jet caused a large (2 - 4 HP across the band) loss in HP, so it was disconnected.  The resulting plot still shows the flat spot, but the peak horsepower was now 106 as opposed to 103, with better performance throughout the band.  This is a plot of the horsepower.  Sorry, but I do not have any baseline data, but there were a lot of 'stock' Magnas that we tested, which produced approximately 98 RWHP.  Those will be posted soon.

Noting this result, Dave Dodge came up with a revised jet setup.   His explanation was that since there was a longer duration, and cranking pressures were less, that the mixture had to be leaner.  The engine as it sat was running mega-rich, which also accounted for the extreme drop in gas mileage.  The new jet setup was with .120 main jets, .040 middle jets (no change) and no shim.  This definitely works out a little better, I could feel the difference in the mid range performance.  The gas mileage returned to normal.  Quarter mile track times and riding impressions will follow.