Bazzaz !!!

[Andrew Shadow]

The starter valves are adjusted when the engine is hot so they definitely affect warm engine idle.

See Dave's comment above.

 

[Catmandu2]

Doing my homework on this project,, I have come across some great explanatory video's and articles. Here is a video on starter valve operation. Although this video was done for the vfr800,, others (Dave D., I think) have noted that they share the same throttle bodies and functionality. It is worth a look,,, CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

Okay,,, so back on the project,,, after a day away,,, my goal was to complete the SVS/TBS,,, and this was the first time I have done one. Something I noticed,,, when when I was cleaning and re-plumbing my 5-way tee, was that the connecting rod between the left side and right side starter valves had a slight bit of wow (bend) in it. So I was watching for any differences in readings from left to right. My economy class vacuum gauge set was calibrated with the economy class brake bleeder pictured,, with a 5-way fitting. This allows me to pull the same test vacuum on all 4 gauges simultaneously. I made small adjustments to each vacuum gauge,, till they read the same. The grey plastic snubbers were a bit leaky,,, so I fixed them by stealing some vitamin-E cream out of the house,,, and applying it to the adjusting threads. Okay,,, good to go,,, for about $50.cdn,,, delivered to my door. I did price out a Motion-pro manometer,,, but that was more like $165.cdn,, and was out of stock everywhere. The photo's show no vacuum,,, with the bike off. Warmed up idle before adjustments. And the final result. There was a noticeable difference between the right and left banks,, which I dialed out using the SVS 7mm adjusters. all this was done at 1000rpm,,, 3 bars,, and the pair valves capped,, as per the FSM. All I can tell you about the outcome,, is that it seems to be idling smoothly,,, and there is no MIL light showing. Testing will have to wait till the snow melts. But now I can procede with the Bazazz kit, next week. cheers,, CAt'

 

[Kevcules]

Good idea to calibrate the vacuum gauges first. I like that adapter also, to do them at the same time. I can't remember if I did that to mine when I did the sync.
Good job!

 

[STumped]

My economy class vacuum gauge set was calibrated with the economy class brake bleeder pictured,, with a 5-way fitting. This allows me to pull the same test vacuum on all 4 gauges simultaneously. I made small adjustments to each vacuum gauge,, till they read the same.

Brilliant!! I'll have to try that next time I do a sync (I have the same vacuum gauges).

 

[Catmandu2]

Well, time to catch up on the Bazzaz project reporting. Progress was halted for a day or so,, while I traced the cause of my fuel pump refusing to come on. With the help of Larry and John, I was able to determine that, while tidying my wire and hoses up after the SVS was completed, I had not fully seated the #3 injector plug. The result of that error was, that the ecm could not see the injector and so refused to cycle the fuel pump. But along the way,,, I learned a lot about the fuel system circuitry,, and all the switches, fuses and relays involved. I even rebuilt my starter button,, which was starting to get sticky. So thanks to Larry and John for their assistance. And speaking of the starter button,,,, can you pick out the new dual fuel map switch,,, now mounted ?? CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

So having solved the fuel pump problem,,, and listened to how smooth the bike seems to be running after the SVS,,, it was time to throw caution to the wind,,, and begin to install the fuel harness,,, the Bazzaz Z-fi controller (which is a piggyback unit for the oem ecm),,, and the Z-afm data logger. Now Bazzaz rates this kit as a 4 out of 5 on the challenging installation scale. I rate it an 8 out of 10 ;-),,, following their instructions (which are pretty good), working slowly,, and redoing anything that did not seem quite as right as it could be. Threading the new harness is difficult in places,,, where clearances are tight,,, and that is even when some components are removed to gain access. Soon the bike began to look more like a pile of snakes,, because I was keeping everything loose and temporary. Check out the battery. How many connections can a chronic farkler add ?? Well,,, there is another ground wire added now, in addition to what you see in the photo. CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

Since I chose to install the Z-afm 4.9 fuel mapper,,, the LH O2 sensor has to come out. I also chose to remove the RH sensor,, as it would be disconnected and just hanging a bit in exhaust gas flow. The purpose of the Z-afm is that it is a data recorder that monitors the A/F ratios being generated by my riding,,, on my roads. So of course, it has it's own wide band O2 sensor that mounts in the LH bung. That data is then used to adjust and improve the fuel map. In a way,,, it allows you to become your own road going dyno. But that is a whole thread of it's own,,, so on with the install. I removed both the oem O2 sensors to preserve them,,, as they are expensive and I may need them in the future. That shot of the throttle bodies,, shows that besides adding 8 additional connectors,,, and elevating the 5-way tee,,, it all still fits together nicely. You can bet that I double/triple checked the injector connections were fully seated !! CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

There are 4 or 5 other electrical connections on the various sensors,,, which were fairly easily done, using the high end scotch lock style connectors that came in the kit. Once I had everything loosely assembled and correctly connected,,, I wanted to hear the engine run. And run it did,,, using one of the 2 supplied dyno generated Bazzaz fuel maps. Dang,,, it sounded good,,, and I was very glad to hear it. Bonus,,, the Z-fi glows a cool blue color !! Too bad no one will see it, as it is buried deep in the back. However the usb cable will exit the rear side panel somewhere convenient. The usb connects to my shop laptop which runs the Z-mapper tuning software. And that is where the performance improvement opportunities are created. So far,, so good. Tomorrow,, I tighten and tidy everything up,,, then move on to less glamorous tasks,,, like degreasing the engine block. No worries,,, lots to do in the next 7 days until our ski hills reopen !! CAt'

 

[ST Gui]

can you pick out the new dual fuel map switch

Is it just below and to the left of the right switch pod? Maybe get some daylight on the bike after you tidy up? Congratulations on your progress though. It's a lot more work than I'd be willing to do.

 

[Whooshka]

Nice progress! I know it's a ways down the road but really looking forward to your ride report and how you like tweaking fuel maps.

 

[Catmandu2]

Is it just below and to the left of the right switch pod?

You are correct, Sir !!!

Actually,,, it would have been on the left bar,, next to the windscreen buttons,,, but the mounting screw was seized over there. So over to the right it went. This dual map switch,, allows the rider to switch,, (on the fly if desired), between two maps loaded into the Bazzaz Z-fi controller. My understanding is that if only one map is loaded it becomes "Map 1". And then if you select "Map 2",,, you effectively get an un-modified fuel map, same as is signaled from the oem ecm. This is because the Z-fi would add a correction factor of zero to every injector pulse. That would allow some interesting comparisons,,, however, ultimately one would want to implement the refinements suggested by the Z-mapper software,, to find the best fuel/air ratios. Also,, one must remember,, that the bike is now running totally open loop.

My bike is all back together now,,, except the tupperware. But there is still 3 feet of snow,,, and it is -12c outside,,, dang it,,,, CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

"Call me a rebel,,,, call me what you will"
How dare I replace that sacred Honda snap clamp with a common #10 ss hose clamp !! Must like livin' on the edge or something ? Does it look like it will be hard to tighten, or check frequently ?? I will let you know. And yes,,, this is part of my Bazzaz thread,, because I had to put the tank back on in preparation for a little test ride tomorrow. It won't be far,, as our roads are still pretty dirty. And I will have to ride without most of the tupperware. But, with +6c and sunshine expected, I am anxious to feel what the 2 provided Bazzaz maps feel like. They won't be optimum,,, but they should be a reasonable starting point. Cheers,, CAt'

 

[Larry Fine]

Check out the battery. How many connections can a chronic farkler add ?? Well,,, there is another ground wire added now, in addition to what you see in the photo. CAt'

You could neaten that up a bit if you wanted to:

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[Buckeye Rich]

"Call me a rebel,,,, call me what you will"
How dare I replace that sacred Honda snap clamp with a common #10 ss hose clamp !! Must like livin' on the edge or something ? Does it look like it will be hard to tighten, or check frequently ?? I will let you know. And yes,,, this is part of my Bazzaz thread,, because I had to put the tank back on in preparation for a little test ride tomorrow. It won't be far,, as our roads are still pretty dirty. And I will have to ride without most of the tupperware. But, with +6c and sunshine expected, I am anxious to feel what the 2 provided Bazzaz maps feel like. They won't be optimum,,, but they should be a reasonable starting point. Cheers,, CAt'

Looking forward to the "ride report!"

 

[Kevcules]

"Call me a rebel,,,, call me what you will"
preparation for a little test ride tomorrow. It won't be far,, as our roads are still pretty dirty. And I will have to ride without most of the tupperware. But, with +6c and sunshine expected, I am anxious to feel what the 2 provided Bazzaz maps feel like. They won't be optimum,,, but they should be a reasonable starting point. Cheers,, CAt'

Hey Cat......we have very similar weather patterns, I'm in NB.

I saw the forecast also for nice warm weather up to 10 degrees celcius with some sun finally the next few days. This morning I saw the sun and warm temps, so I went outside to start my bike in the garage since it had been sitting since October and within 10 minutes, was met with overcast and light snow! lol

I decided to pass on the short ride around the block and start the ST engine for the first time since storage anyways. Tug Tug Barroom! It started on the 3rd revolution. I rarely have trouble starting after a storage situation, but read that some do. I guess spark plugs in good condition, running seafoam and Marvel Mystery oil in my fuel regularly and keeping the battery topped up, make a difference.

I'll give it another few weeks now since the snow hit again, before I hit the roads.

Hope the weather holds for you and you get your maiden bazazz voyage on your bike! Good luck!

 

[Catmandu2]

Okay,,, thanks for the well wishes, gang. The good news is that I got a short ride in,,, maybe 10 laps up and down my kilometer long street. The bad news is that I experienced an intermittent misfire on my #4 cylinder. How do I know it was the #4 (rh rear) ?? Firstly, because the exhaust gas temps were down at that exhaust header,, as measured right at the top of the header pipe with a digital thermometer. This was done while the bike was warming up. The mis-fire was quite noticeable at times,, and just feeling the exhaust pulses and checking the spark plug confirmed it. As I said,, it was intermittent,,, so when it was hitting on all 4,,, it felt great. But I kept it close to home,, so that is not much of a trial. And when it would start to mis-fire,,, needless to say,, that is really not a good feeling. As I headed for the garage,, the ecm shut the engine down,,, and I coasted right in. As soon as I lowered the sidestand, the MIL flashed a 15 code, and my FSM says that indicates a #4 injector connection fault. Thanks to Honda for creating an onboard diagnostic capability, that tells me where to look. But looking requires that I dig back in and under the airbox, to access the injector plug-in's,,, grrrrrr. Oh well,,, nothing to be done, but get it done. I am off for a 5 day ski course,,, so it won't be till next week that can get to it. And then we are back into the freezer for a spell. I am glad I started this effort mid winter,,, as I should have it sorted out for riding season. Here is a photo of the bike warming up today. What do you think of the new temporary naked look ?? Cheers,,, CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

What do you think of the new temporary naked look ??

My wife say that it looks like it was "assimilated by the Borg !! "

 

[Catmandu2]

So my Bazzaz project was disrupted by our floundering ski season. But I have had some time over the past couple of days to dig back in. And digging is just what is required to get to all the injector connections. As I reported earlier,, the MIL indicated a connection fault at the #4 injector (very handy knowledge). Here are a couple of photo's of what I found at the #4 plugs. Note the uneven pin heights.

So my corrective measure,, was to even those two out as much as possible. Plug the connectors together. And then push each wire and its red sealing ring firmly into the plug as far as it would move,, to encourage engagement. Then repeat the process on the 6 other plugs,,, just in case. Then I reassembled everything (except the tupperware),,, and went back to skiing till the weather warmed up sufficiently.. CAt'

 

[Catmandu2]

So with a day off snow,, and a high of +5c and sunshine,,, it was re-test time. When I pressed the starter,, it roared to life, and actually gave me a bit of a startling. I had increased the idle speed back when it was missing on the #4 cylinder,, and it needed to be backed down now that it was firing on all cylinders. The IR thermometer showed they were all running at a normal exhaust gas temperature. Soon I was rolling down the roads,, and eventually logged 80km's. Blue STar ran smoothly and pulled stronger through mid-range accelerations than pre-Bazzaz. Performance shift points were about 7k. The front end was close to lifting off thru 1st and 2nd, with just a roll of the wrist. The bike was lightly fueled and loaded, and I tried both of the supplied fuel maps. However I know they are not created or optimized for this bike. The next phase,,, after putting the plastic back on,, is to start data logging,, and develop my own local area fuel map. I sensed a reduction in fuel mileage,, of around %10,,, but a proper measure will be forthcoming. It had a bit more ominous growl to it as well,,, but I put that down to not having the tupperware on. The adventure continues,,, cheers,, CAt'