What did I do today? Glad you asked. I
made the highest horsepower I ever dyno'ed with a completely assembled,
streetable bike. Aside from the Akrapovič
system the modifications are a modified
air box, a Race ECU, PCV and a UFO Performance Max Air filter. I have some tuning
to do, but I ran out of time today. Since I have a couple days work lined up and
my shop time will be at a minimum, I will share this chart. The top end is
getting close to being correct as far as Air Fuel Ratio. I am working on the 3K
bump and 4.8K bump. That being said, here you go:
Run 13: Akrapovic System, Race ECU, Performance Air Filter and
a Dynojet PCV
Run 6: Race ECU Only
I have shot some video, but I have some new software to install
for the new camera. Maybe a sound clip will follow shortly.
8/29/09 Honest to goodness, I shot the video and
came to the house to post it and,,,, No video!!! Camcorder is shot. Does not
record anymore. Feel like a fool now with all the stuff I did and it was not
recording. I am making a trip to Best Buy.
Pictures
Video is next.
8/28/09 This morning I rode my
bike to breakfast. The wife needed to go shopping so she was behind me in her
truck. She told me she was jamming to Maroon 5 on the radio when we pulled up to
a stop sign. Since it was early morning rush hour in my little town, we had an
extended wait to get out on the main road. My wife said while we waited for a
break in traffic, she felt something rumbling her truck so she turned down the
radio. That's when she discovered it was my bike in front of her shaking her
truck. I like these pipes.
Worked late. Promise to post sound and video of the Akrapovič
system with all the noise reducers tomorrow.
Thinking out loud here. As some of you
have seen in the video I have posted on the EXUP valve and from studying it's
operation, I have the stinking suspicion the first three gears have a different
ECU fuel curve than both 4th and 5th. The two top gears are treated to a
completely open EXUP. The bottom three are not. This could mean there is a
difference that would require gear dependent mapping for maximum performance. I
do my wide open throttle tuning on the dyno in 5th gear. I do my peak horsepower
on the dyno in 4th gear. Most people will do the majority of the WOT high RPM Auto Tuning
in the first three gears (4th or 5th gear would mean some pretty high speeds). An e-mail had
started me leaning toward the EXUP being the difference in the Race ECU and
Stock ECU's but I never actually tested it. My gut tells me it's being picky,
but if people are Auto Tuning a single fuel curve that is mainly tuned in the
first three gears (EXUP'ed) and the long acceleration gears are 4th and 5th (unEXUP'ed),,,..
Something to look at later. Today is a work day. I hope I can post good video of
the Akrapovič
system in action.
8/27/09 The folks on my e-mail
list have been treated to an early view of the Akrapovič
system installation pictures. I sent
a link to this
page to them some time ago. They could check in as I added pictures to it.
There are a few pictures on that page which are ready to post for general
viewing. I am not happy with them and I need to take some better ones when it's
not raining, but these will do for now.
It thundered and rained beyond the hours I can run
the dyno today. It will be the weekend before I can get some good video and
numbers.
Put the bike back together and rolled
it out to take a few pictures and it started to rain! Maybe I can get it
photographed and some good video with sound on Youtube tomorrow.
I hope to get my bike put back
together today and get it up on the dyno. See what kind of numbers this Akrapovič
system will make. I had an e-mail come in that said the Akrapovič
web site has a page that you can search for vendors
around the world. The page for the USA list two importers, LOCKHART
PHILLIPS USA and PARTS UNLIMITED.
Next, I got tired of all the conjecture
concerning the TPS signal being jumpy and how to fix it. This has been discussed
in the forums before, mainly starvmax.com has a specific discussion concerning
the V-Max PCV TPS fix. After some conversations and research, it seems this
problem was initially discovered by the Wide Band Power Commander users wherein
the TPS signal was jumping around while displayed on the screen. The Dynojet
Wideband Commander Tech
Tips list a similar fix for stable TPS readings. I took the time to measure
the signals and found that between two laptops, one registered more noise than
the other. This was the problem I listed much earlier in my Blog that was solved
with an alligator clip jumper. Upon removing the laptop and alligator clip
jumper, there was still some noise in the circuit. After cutting the White
stripped Black wire on Esten's PCV and connecting it to the Brown stripped Black
wire of the TPS, the noise did substantially subside. It did slightly
increase the noise level seen by the ECU on the TPS circuit, but not enough to
be of concern. This being said, having the knowledge of a current warranty issue
not being covered due to alterations, I can not advise you to do this
modification. Although I am still learning the PCV, I am of the opinion the
stock O2 sensor and ECU works fine for all throttle positions from 0 to 20%.
Tuning in this manner (along with an averaging type firmware revision)
may make this modification less important. If you are a purest and want the
adjustment of every increment, this modification may be a must. You may want to
search for some more TPS (posi-tap)
connectors before you cut into the bikes wiring. That's all I'm saying and I
will leave it at that.
8/26/09 It's on!
Wow, my e-mail had rolled down to a
few a day until I started this new adventure. The main question being ask,
"where did you get yours and where can I get one"? I acquired this exhaust
system directly from Akrapovič. They sent it to me free of charge for
testing. I am very grateful. I currently do not know where you can
purchase this system, but I will send an e-mail to Akrapovič to get some
answers.
I was also ask to post the Jay Gleason Videos are now available
to VMOA members from the VMOA
store.
Non members can e-mail Rhonda
Lane to acquire one.
I will be up in the shop with Esten.
8/25/09 I wanted to snap a few pictures
and shoot some video of this Akrapovič system before I started to install
it. So far I can offer you the following: this is the most well thought out,
intricately detailed and complete system I have had so far. The welds are crazy
beautiful. The titanium collectors are so light, I am afraid that if I breathe
too hard I will blow them off the table. The best way to describe the weight of
the titanium tubing used to make the collectors would be an empty soda can that
you can't crush. I am trying to stay objective, but this is nice.
Me goofing off while opening the box:
Click on the photo below for more photos:
It gets installed tomorrow!
I had a few work related issues to tend
to this morning. I hope to get into the shop this afternoon and start videoing
the Akrapovič
system. This is the most excited I have been in a while to open a box!
On another note, I have had some e-mail
correspondence with Dusty at Dynojet concerning the PCV. I sent him an e-mail
asking if the firmware could be downloaded and the PCV unit updated via the PCV
software, this was his verbatim response:
"It
is something we need to do manually as this does not apply to all models.
The unit would have to come back for us to update it. Also keep in mind
this does not apply to all PCV units. We caught this after the first run
so only about 50-100 units will have a jumpy TPS signal. All the others
will be fine."
8/24/09 For the Dynojet PCV owners, Dynojet
has updated the firmware. The latest units are being shipped with the new
firmware. The update resolves the jittery TPS signal during calibration. No more
need for jumpers!
It's here!
I found this video on the internet to enjoy until tomorrow:
8/23/09 Not a lot of numbers to talk about
today. We spent most of the day trying to get the RMP to read correctly on the
LM-2. I had been using the Inj 1 circuit for my bike. I wanted to get a signal
that would not die out above 3k when the throttle was released and the injectors
cut out. I tried Coil 1 signal today and built a small circuit to get it working.
It works but we now we have a lagging reading problem. The RPM data is the right scale but lagging too far behind.
More to study on that one. Maybe a phone call in the morning. Anyway, we continued to dial in the
map for the UFO Battle Star with the baffle in and the fxTuner Big Air. The
"baffle in" map will be for switch position 1. It started life as the
"WFO" map before we started hacking away at it. There is a bad bump at
2k and another at 7k. Lots of adjustment needed from the baffle. Didn't get to
do anymore. Tomorrow is a work day.
In the shop today with Esten, working on
the Esten Experiment.
I will be working on another project
today. Esten and I will continue the experiment tomorrow morning.
8/21/09 Worked at the real job today, but I made
a few phone calls and sent a few e-mails. After speaking with a few
potential sponsors yesterday, I may be getting closer to closing the deal on
"Jay Day". I am trying to get this put together soon so people can
make plans. I can't say to do that just yet. I hope to know more next week.
8/20/09 I will leave this in the Blog for now, but
I am going to merge it into it's own page before long. Continuing on from 8/19/09,
Esten installed a toggle switch on the handle bar and we installed two maps in the
PCV. Esten downloaded one map from the web he call the "WFO" map. It
was not created for this pipe, but he wanted to try it. He had another one
e-mailed to him from fxTuner created for the Battle Star and Big Air kit. Esten told me
the e-mail instructions sent with the fxTuner map stated the map did not have any
tuning from 40% down. We pulled a couple of quick dyno runs and switched the maps.
Here are the results (fxTuner = Run 3 and WFO = Run 4):
Here is the LM-2 Log Works screen shot with the fxTuner map
imposed on the WFO map:
The LM-2 Data Logs are here
and the software is here.
The fxTuner was very close to being correct at the top,
but performed horrible in the low and mid range. The "WFO" map did
better in the mid rage but was too lean up top. After studying the LM-2 data and
the maps, we determined the controlled opening rate of the Yamaha Chip
Controlled Throttle (YCC-T) keeps the PCV
from seeing 40% TPS until approx 3k. I wish I could be more accurate about
the specific RPM. We worked at getting Esten's bike to read RMP for some time but
I will have to get my oscope out and make a voltage divider for the ignition
circuit. Pushing ahead, we made a few adjustments to the bottom of the fxTuner map and
produced the following Run 7:
My concern started to be this Velocity stack and exhaust pipe combo.
I looked back in my files and I had made more SAE horsepower with the Battle
Star pipe and no air box. Since I know very little about the construction of
velocity stacks, I started surfing the internet for things such as trumpet and
taper. I found a web site called Velocity
of Sound. I clicked on the Velocity Stack link and lookie here:
Seems they are already V-Max friendly! I have sent an e-mail to
them requesting more information and I hope to hear from them soon. For the time
being, they have an online
velocity stack calculator you can use to calculate the optimal length
stack. If you need to do some imperial to metric conversion, here is an online
conversion. The 2009 V-Max specs can be found here.
Remember this is just my Blog. I may find something we did
wrong. I am testing and thinking. I am not of any opinion yet. This weekend we
will be looking at different stacks and measuring the performance on the Battle
Star. Not to short change the fxTuner Big Air, if Esten does not mind I will try
it on the Cat Sass bike as I feel I have topped out the SAE HP of that current
setup at 189.9. Currently, it appears that at an AFR of around 12.5 at 9k RPM
(peak HP), this setup is close to making all the power it can. One thing is for
sure, this setup has the most aggressive sounding of anything I have dyno'ed.
More to come on this one.
8/19/09 Yesterday proved to be a very interesting
day. First off, my suspicion about the speed and TPS signals being affected by
the un-powered PCV rang true. I confirmed that if you install the Power
Commander V on the TPS and Speed Signal wires as instructed, the respective
diagnostic test will fail. Diagnostic Test D:07 of the speed signal as described
on page 8-39 of the manual will fail
as well as the two Throttle Position test described in Diagnostic Test D:01 on
page 8-38 and Diagnostic Test D:13 on page 8-39. This initially confused me as I
remember using diagnostics to set-up the TPS during calibration. Esten and I
went ahead and started the set-up on his bike and it worked. After a little
thinking, it dawned on me that during the calibration routine the PCV is being
powered by the USB port.
Next, I found the TPS signal calibration is slightly more
accurate when an alligator clip is used to jumper between the laptop (such as a serial
port nut) and the bike's ground.
Next, we found the LM-2 and PCV TPS signals can not be paralleled
from the same white wire. They must be split. The TPS sends two identical
signals. They are present on a Black and White wire at the ECU. Since there are
two sets of these Black and White wires (One for the TPS and One for the APS)
find the black wire with a matching signal when the throttle is moved with the
key ON and the bike not running. The TPS signal only swings a little above 1
volt where the APS will go above 4 volts.
This is all the time I have for tonight. I had to work today. I
will be working on another project for part of the day tomorrow but I have some
specific data to go over. Currently the bike is only making 182 SAE corrected
horsepower with both the Big Air and Battlestar. I need to get my data together,
but it isn't looking like I will have any good news. More tomorrow.
Wendy sent me this proof of the poster she is
re-producing for Jay Gleason. She hopes to have them available soon.
Yesterday proved to be very informative day of testing. I will
do the write-up tonight.
8/18/09 Back on the Esten Experiment. Hope to
start dyno'ing the bike today.
8/17/09 Work.
8/16/09 Today was an interesting day. I finished
the Battle Star install this morning. I did the "Double
D" clutch spring modification also. By the way, I thought I would
mention the Gen 1 clutch spring part number is 1FK-16334-00-00. We also figured
out another issue with the Power Commander 5. When you go into diagnostics to
check the APS sensors feedback, initially you will find a low reading for one of
the APS readings. When the throttle grip is moved rapidly, the throttle servo
then stops moving and goes "offline". This issue goes away when the
PCV is not installed on the APS sensor. The reason this happens, the PCV gets
its power from the injector circuit. When the bike is in diagnostics, the fuel
pump relay is only energized for certain codes. Coincidentally, this relay also
powers the fuel injectors with positive battery voltage. The PCV gets it's power
from the injector circuit. Under normal running, this injector and pump relay is
always energized and the ECU grounds each injector to turn it on (fire the
injector). In diagnostics, this relay turns off in various diagnostic codes and
in turn kills power to the PCV. The dead PCV seems to cause an alteration of the
signals the PCV is hooked to. The ECU sees the alteration of one of the two
signals and sends the servo off line. I have also found the speed signal will be
compromised by the PCV earlier. I had unhooked the PCV at the injectors to run
without it. I left the speed signal wire attached and I had no speed signal. I
unhooked the PCV speed signal wire and it came back. Didn't see if diagnostics
for the speed signal worked or not today. Didn't think about it until now.
Something to remember. We are getting closer to being ready to dyno the bike.
Tomorrow is a work day.
I will be in the shop today working with
Esten. I hope to get the "Double D" clutch springs installed,
finish the Battle Star and LM-2 install. Maybe some dyno'ing if all goes
well.
8/14/09 Work.
8/13/09 I have spent the V-Max part of my day
modeling "cool things" in CAD. Tomorrow is a work day.
8/12/09 They installed the permanent line today
and found (or made) two water leaks. That's what I had to deal with today.
8/11/09 Internet was down again. Temporary line
they installed went bad. I worked on something very, very cool for the V-Max.
Maybe the coolest thing I have built yet. I will show it when I am done with
it.
8/10/09 I am back online!!!! But today is a work day for me. Esten is ordering an
extra clutch spring plate to perform what is referred to as the "Double
D" wherein you order a second clutch (diaphragm) spring and double stack
two springs on the clutch basket to eliminate clutch slippage.
The part number
for the clutch spring is 5YU-16334-00-00. List price at K&N
is $36.90 Although I have re-used mine
before but
if you are a purest, you may want to order a gasket for the cover. The
gasket part number is: 2S3-15453-00-00 and has a list of $8.34. I use the K&N
website to find most of my parts and they offer a nice discount to VMOA
members.
8/9/09 Still no internet, this sucks! I spent the day working on the
"Esten Experiment". Today I ask him if he wanted to name his bike, and
he offered up Matilda. I think he's just goofing on me for naming my bike.
Anyway, it's catchy so Matilda it is. I suppose I should give you the laundry
list of what he has purchased for Matilda:
Innovate Technologies LM-2 Wide Band O2 sensor &
Datalogger
UFO Battle Star 4 into 1
Evoluzione Quick Shifter and turn signals
fxTuner Monster air and EXUP eliminator
Dynojet Power Commander 5
My prototype speed fix
Today we started putting this together. One thing is for sure,
it is a necessity to pull the rear swing arm to remove the stock rear header
assembly. If you are planning to install a Battle Star, you may want to think
thru any suspension components you may be entertaining as now would be the time
to do it. I have a few tricks
developed from the few times I have installed a Battle Star pipe:
Using the rear wheel stand proved to be instrumental today.
I unbolted the brake caliper, ABS sensor and the shock related components
and let them hang (or tape them back). I then removed the rear wheel and
swing arm as an assembly. I
sat it up on the rear wheel stand
while I worked on the bike. Using the stand allowed Esten to pick the rear wheel
off the ground and move it into the pivot point while I aligned the index on the drive shaft splines.
When I finally got everything set up, the swing arm went together in one
smooth move. The rear wheel stand kept the assembly level to the bike
and the wheel did not spin the drive shaft to the wrong location.
Once the swing arm is removed, it makes it easier to remove the stock rear header assembly
if you remove the additional heat shield secured by the 4 small Allen bolts.
Remove the rear exhaust flange nuts and let the rear pipe assembly drop down a little. At this time,
remove the afore mentioned additional heat shield. Then
pick up the remaining assembly and tilt the bottom out while observing the
top to make sure nothing gets scratched.
It is best to leave all the piping of the Battle Star off
until the swingarm is re-assembled. This allows for easy access to the shock,
connecting arm and relay arm bolts where the rear header tubes normally would be. The
Battle Star header pipes can easily be installed afterwards.
I strongly advise you wrap the Battle Star rear header tubes with heat
wrap. This is especially important if you are going to do any dyno'ing.
Otherwise the foam on the lines that run near the tank will melt and stink
up the place.
Today we also installed the Aux
power relay for power to the LM-2 and started wiring the wide band O2
sensor. Esten removed the Air Induction System solenoid assembly and plugged the
tubes.
8/6/09 - 8/8/09 Lightning struck again. I live 10
miles from the lightning capitol of the world. I hope to have the home PC and
internet connection fixed soon.
8/5/09 I think this just looks and sounds,,, mean!
Esten was here and he worked on mounting the LM-2.
I worked on a prototype speed fix to put on his bike for testing.
No shop time yesterday. Wound up mowing
the yard. Esten is coming over today and we are starting on his bike. I am
reading over two ECU manuals for the blower project. I am looking at the MoTec
and Haltec.
8/4/09 I hope to get into the shop a little this
afternoon. I have a few errands to run. If possible, I will video the second
version of the speed fix.
Looks like a few other sites are gearing up for the 2010 lineup.
Nothing posted yet, but these are the 2010 year model hits on the search
engines.
8/3/09 This may be done well before the 2010
model is delivered:
Analog speed fix prototype video is uploading.
This in from the e-mail:
I am told it's a preview of the 2010 Yamaha V-Max
I had a little time to look at the speed
fix yesterday. I have the base module switch sorted out, next will be the
divide by half flip flop and output driver (which is easy). I think you're gonna
love where I am going with this! More later.
8/2/09 I have been working on putting together a
V-Max event I have labeled as "Jay Day". My concept is the following:
Rent the Orlando Dragway on Saturday October 17th. This track is the closest 1/4
mile track I could find to the Daytona Biketoberfest event. It would be nice to
have the VMOA BBQ at the track. Maybe have the VMOA store and a few V-Max
related vendors setup there. Jay would be there to autograph things like the
faux tank cover or your frames badge desk display. I am willing to bring my dyno
there. I am working on the next street legal bike for Jay to try making it into
the 8's on all motor. I would like to get as many V-Maxes as possible to show up
for a photo shoot with Jay on the starting line of the track. Anyone that wishes
could make a pass at the track or a dyno run. The holdup has become the
high price of renting the track. To do this, I will need to keep the VMOA's cost
exposure as low and close to normal for this event as possible. I have spoken
with Kelvin about this and he feels the directors would be interested but the
VMOA will need to do something to offset the track rental cost. I have purposed
having some corporate type sponsors. I have called Yamaha in California and
inquired with them. I was advised to type a letter up and mail it to them. Jon
from UFO has offered to sponsor a gracious portion and bring down a fleet of
V-Max's including his turbo bike. At this point, we may have the ear of two
major cycle magazines to be on hand. Still in the planning stages but I am
cooking on this, so we will see what happens.
I hope to be back in the shop today. Work on the speed fix some
more and start laying out my plan for attacking what I will call the "Esten
Experiment". I thought about it some last night. I have a race pipe to
install and tune! Aside from that, Esten has a plethora of parts to install.
I'll take a picture of it today. I have to start with installing the LM-2 and getting
some stock measurements on the bike next week.
8/1/09 Well, I've been given some "Hunny
Do's" again. So I hope to get those done and this afternoon return to the
Speed Fix.
Gary from Munford,
Tennessee tells me his first night at the track did not go so well. With all the
modifications, he has a lot of bugs to work out. He got 5 passes in last night.
A electric shifter problem plagued the first 4 runs. He took it off and speed
shifted the bike for the 5th and final run, but ran out of gas at 400'. The bike
still crossed the 1/8th mile finish line 7.23 seconds at 109mph.