Boxer Boost Camshafts (Cams) for the BMW R1200GS

Wunderlich Boxer Boost Cam for the BMW R1200GS

Installing performance cams in the R1200GS / R1200 motor may reduce bottom end ‘grunt’ dependant on the cams chosen but will give much better performance in the high rpm range i.e. this is a modification aimed at fast road riders! The current R1200GS (2008) only has 2 camshaft bearings as opposed to the R1200S which has 3 cam bearings for prolonged high rpm use such as on a race track. So if you’re trying to tweak the R1200GS for track / supermoto type use, you could go with aftermarket cams but hitting the rev limiter regularly with aftermarket cams could potentially reduce the life expectancy of the engine.

BMW R1200GS Engine Cylinder head / barrel drawing showing the camshaft, cam sprocket, timing chain,
valves etc

A 2006 BMW R1200GS with Boxer boost cams
By Kerry Stewart

Full Remus exhaust system, Techlusion Power Controller and the icing on the cake Boxer Boost cams…….man does this thing go and it still rides smooth in traffic and on the open road (got plenty of them in Australia!)

I first purchased the bike brand new in Sydney, the first thing I added was the full Remus exhaust headers, exhaust pipes and can, a noticable difference, the bike freed up and reved out a lot quicker not to mention the weight saving!

About 12 months later once I’d saved the money(!), approx Aus$1500 which included the labour costs as well, I had the camshafts put in. I decided to get the job done while the bike was getting a service. Motohansa in Sydney did the work for me, they specialise in BMW. I had the bike back the same day 🙂

OK the first thing you notice is the low down grunt and the mid range which is what Wunderlich advertise the cams will do. There is only a slight lumpiness at idle, nothing to get worried about. The next thing you notice is when you take it through some twisty roads it pulls out of corners so much better.
The fuel consumption hasn’t changed dramatically, especially when you ride legally!

I also have a Techlusion (power controller) fitted to the bike. I have to say I’m not sure about these things, I think it might be all in the mind. There is a BMW workshop in Canberra and he dosn’t even put them on a bike even when he puts the performance cams in. I will have to try mine without the Techlusion and see if there is any difference. So far I am very happy with the bike and the mods that I have done, the only thing I can complain about is that it wants to stand up on the back wheel too easily, especially when the Mrs is on the back!! 🙂 

Update: I disconnected the Power Controller just to see if any changes would occur, the bike did a lot of backfiring on deceleration and I think it ran a bit hotter as well, so I have reconnected it again and the difference is a lot smoother with no backfiring.

The boost cams I chose for my R1200GS are sold by Wunderlich, you can download a cataloge from their website. I had them put in by a BMW technician ,it took about 5 hours to complete. The results were amazing, the off the mark power and mid range improvement is great. There wasn’t a big gain in top end speed. The technicians gave me a few hints on how to adjust the Techlusion to suit the cams and the Remus system.

The settings are green=1 Yellow=3.5 Red=4 Blue green=3 Blue yellow=6 Blue red=6

I am happy with the results of the camshaft upgrade to my 1200gs, the bike has done 10,000km since the cams were done. The camshaft sprockets were not replaced as they could’nt get any from Wunderlich at the time, so there might have been even better performance increase to be had. There has been no change to the temperature the bike runs at, the power comes from off the mark grunt to mid range (awsome!). The cams were supplied by Wunderlich and have been tested for reliability, they are only mild, don’t cause any radical rough idling and the bike is very ridable in the traffic.

About 20 extra horsepower and a lot of torque!! 🙂

I havn’t had the bike dynoed, I’m approximating the 20hp gain, a friend of mine in Canberra has done the same changes and has done a dyno and got 19+ extra bhp but every bike is different, I can only go on what it feels like to ride and I’m impressed by the feel of the bike 🙂

No changes to servicing, the bike is serviced every 10,000km and I do an oil and filter change every 5,000km myself. I also have been changing the final drive oil every 10,000km under BMW’s new policy.

2007 R1200GSA with 125 BHP at the rear wheel (yes wheel not crank)!
Done by a Belgiun guy whose English is not up to him giving much detail (no criticism….I [AndyW] speak no Belgiun/Dutch!)

K&N Air Filter
Full Remus exhaust stystem
Cams – from BBPower
Pistons (higher compression) – from Wosner (machined the valve seat out of the pistons) they are higher on top for more compression
Injectors from RSR
and the fuelpresure is higger 4.2 bar.
“Chip Tuning” (which means TFI/Power Controller or PCIII?)

Photo story HERE

A few more Wunderlich performance goodies for the R1200GS