Still on the project M900W, the next element to sort out was the fuel system. The previous owner had really messed this up. I gutted the entire assembly and installed new fuel lines, a quick disconnect by the tank, a new fuel filter, a Pingel manual petcock, a new Mikuni vacuum fuel pump, and lastly pulled the already equipped Keihin FCR 41 carbs and thoroughly cleaned them.
This segment does not yet have a happy ending, as the electrical system was in even worse shape, so there was no chance of a test fire just yet.
The wiring harness had been cut through as if a kindergartner had been let loose on it with a pair of non-safety scissors. The taillight and turnsignal wiring was in shambles. Luckily, over the Christmas holidays, my father felt sorry for the poor bike's ugly wiring and sprung for Rizoma signals, which I believe he got from PJ's Parts. After some cutting, some soldering, some crimping, and some posi-locks, things are almost wired up. I still had a MotoLED tail light board from the M900V leftover when I upgraded to the Vizi-Tec system, so in it went as well. The tail was further chopped to accommodate a TPO taillight / license plate kit.
A Shorai battery just arrived from Motowheels, and I am excited to install it in the bike. But before a test of the bike can be performed, the electrical circuits must be reviewed again - the regulator had another ground wire coming off of it and running down the frame to the original battery location, and the fusebox contained all 30A fuses! These things will be remedied before its set in motion, and the regulator may be preemptively replaced/upgraded as well!
Other things done: All controls mounted on new handlebar (previous owner had poorly thought out clip-on installation), fresh oil, oil filter, oil cooler lines, bled hydraulics and put in new brake pads (will be upgraded masters to radial SBK masters with folding levers, purchased but not yet installed)
What's left to do? Tires, Chain, Clutch pack, install frame and rear axle sliders, CA-Cycleworks Exact-Fit Coils, sort out the remaining wiring, install shock and hoop, fill it up with gas, and hopefully ride off!
Showing posts with label Keihin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keihin. Show all posts
10 February 2011
10 March 2010
Spring Update
Its been awhile since I've updated last. Lots of things have changed included the abilities of the rider. I'm working more closely with a local shop on different abilities, which coincides nicely with the just begun WorldSBK season, and the upcoming MotoGP season. (I do also regularly watch the AMA races, but thanks to DVR, I seem to put them off until lazy afternoons and don't really keep up with that league in real-time).
The bike has been taken apart for a bit after getting some good miles on fair-weather days in the late-winter/early spring. The weather in DFW is funny and quite unpredictable. It dumped snow recently, without much prediction, and was 70 degrees outside shortly before, and shortly after that weekend.
The bike is having bungs welded to the exhaust headers so a fuel/air ratio monitor can be easily attached to aid in tuning. After the welding is complete, the headers are being shipped off to be coated by Jet Hot, along with the intake flanges. The principle behind ceramic coating is quite simple and something I enjoyed working as an undergraduate in Fluid/Thermal Systems.
To simplify, A biker wants the exhaust to get out of the motor, and out of the pipes quickly, for performance reasons. Similarly, a biker does not like getting burnt by the heat coming off the exhaust pipes. And lastly, if a biker can keep the bike's ambient temperature down, he can extract a little more performance all around (from cooler fuel, to easier engine cooling, etc).
Ceramic coating benefits all of the above. In a standard setup, the expelled exhaust gases are free to lose heat through the walls of the exhaust, evident if you've ever grabbed a hot exhaust pipe or, worse, header pipe. The exhaust gases cool as exhaust gas loses heat to the metal, and then to the ambient air. This cooler gas becomes more dense and moves more slowly. If the pipes were insulated, via exhaust wrap or ceramic coating, the exhaust gas would be less able to release heat before exiting the pipe. Good for performance, good for your extremities which get too close on occasion, and good for keeping radiant heat down.
The ceramic coating process, in its preferred form, adds the coating to both the inside and outside of the pipe. The intake manifolds, those which connect the carburettors to the cylinder intakes, are also being coated. Instead of keeping the heat in those pipes, as the goal is for ceramic coated exhaust, the goal is to keep the heat out of the intake air. A cooler, denser intake air increases performance of the motor as well.
While everything is apart, the carbs have been pulled to be thoroughly cleaned, and since the fuel lines and vacuum hoses all around have been on the bike for well over 5-years each, its time they be replaced. While the lines are being replaced, I took the opportunity to remove the vacuum petcock system and replace with a good old fashioned fuel valve. No more risk of vacuum troubles arising from the petcock's failure, it's related hose failure, and a cleaner look all the way around. The fuel pump needed rebuilt as its the original from 1999 (likely put on the bike in 1998 during assembly and sitting on the shelf for who-knows how long before that). Chris Kelley of CA-Cycleworks sells a convenient, inexpensive vacuum operated Mikuni replacement that is rectangular to replace the vacuum operated Mikuni pentagon shaped pump. The great bonus with the replacement fuel pump is that its cost is the same as the rebuild kit!
The fuel supply line is now run around the left (alternator) side of the bike, rather than in front of the vertical cylinder belt cover. To keep heat away from the fuel line and fuel inside, the lines have been insulated with Heatshield Products heatwrap (Builders Kits) or the similar material from McMaster-Carr.
The idea of putting everything back together, only to bolt up the OEM Mikuni 38 CV carbs is perhaps a little much. This may be the easiest opportunity to bolt up a set of Keihin FCR-41s that I'll have, and with my recent carbon fiber fabrication (thanks unofficially to friends at Lockheed), I could also make a new battery box and coil bracket, and go to the more attractive (though debatable/negligibly worse performing) pod filters. The next question that would arise is... K&N Pods or UNI Filters?
The bike has been taken apart for a bit after getting some good miles on fair-weather days in the late-winter/early spring. The weather in DFW is funny and quite unpredictable. It dumped snow recently, without much prediction, and was 70 degrees outside shortly before, and shortly after that weekend.
The bike is having bungs welded to the exhaust headers so a fuel/air ratio monitor can be easily attached to aid in tuning. After the welding is complete, the headers are being shipped off to be coated by Jet Hot, along with the intake flanges. The principle behind ceramic coating is quite simple and something I enjoyed working as an undergraduate in Fluid/Thermal Systems.
To simplify, A biker wants the exhaust to get out of the motor, and out of the pipes quickly, for performance reasons. Similarly, a biker does not like getting burnt by the heat coming off the exhaust pipes. And lastly, if a biker can keep the bike's ambient temperature down, he can extract a little more performance all around (from cooler fuel, to easier engine cooling, etc).
Ceramic coating benefits all of the above. In a standard setup, the expelled exhaust gases are free to lose heat through the walls of the exhaust, evident if you've ever grabbed a hot exhaust pipe or, worse, header pipe. The exhaust gases cool as exhaust gas loses heat to the metal, and then to the ambient air. This cooler gas becomes more dense and moves more slowly. If the pipes were insulated, via exhaust wrap or ceramic coating, the exhaust gas would be less able to release heat before exiting the pipe. Good for performance, good for your extremities which get too close on occasion, and good for keeping radiant heat down.
The ceramic coating process, in its preferred form, adds the coating to both the inside and outside of the pipe. The intake manifolds, those which connect the carburettors to the cylinder intakes, are also being coated. Instead of keeping the heat in those pipes, as the goal is for ceramic coated exhaust, the goal is to keep the heat out of the intake air. A cooler, denser intake air increases performance of the motor as well.
While everything is apart, the carbs have been pulled to be thoroughly cleaned, and since the fuel lines and vacuum hoses all around have been on the bike for well over 5-years each, its time they be replaced. While the lines are being replaced, I took the opportunity to remove the vacuum petcock system and replace with a good old fashioned fuel valve. No more risk of vacuum troubles arising from the petcock's failure, it's related hose failure, and a cleaner look all the way around. The fuel pump needed rebuilt as its the original from 1999 (likely put on the bike in 1998 during assembly and sitting on the shelf for who-knows how long before that). Chris Kelley of CA-Cycleworks sells a convenient, inexpensive vacuum operated Mikuni replacement that is rectangular to replace the vacuum operated Mikuni pentagon shaped pump. The great bonus with the replacement fuel pump is that its cost is the same as the rebuild kit!
The fuel supply line is now run around the left (alternator) side of the bike, rather than in front of the vertical cylinder belt cover. To keep heat away from the fuel line and fuel inside, the lines have been insulated with Heatshield Products heatwrap (Builders Kits) or the similar material from McMaster-Carr.
The idea of putting everything back together, only to bolt up the OEM Mikuni 38 CV carbs is perhaps a little much. This may be the easiest opportunity to bolt up a set of Keihin FCR-41s that I'll have, and with my recent carbon fiber fabrication (thanks unofficially to friends at Lockheed), I could also make a new battery box and coil bracket, and go to the more attractive (though debatable/negligibly worse performing) pod filters. The next question that would arise is... K&N Pods or UNI Filters?
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