Auto electrician required

I've run in a little complication with my intention to fit my race
ZX10R engine in my road bike.

The race motor really needs the race ECU. The race ECU only works
with the race loom (it plugs into the road one, but just doesn't
work). The race loom doesn't have any connectors for lights,
indicators, horn, etc.

The only solution I can think of is to splice the road stuff into the
race loom. Modern bike wiring looms are fearsome things, and it's a
job that is definitely way beyond me. So, can anyone recommend an
auto electrician who'd be up for such a job?

 

Surely that's not beyond the capabilities of a certain ex-racer who
might be near your house at the weekend?

My weekend off has been a bit like the tide the way it's gone from one
way to the other almost every hour but it now appears that I've
guaranteed the time off by arranging an 'important' site visit half
way home for 1pm. I know it's abuse of power but I honestly don't give
a flying ****.

 

Have you got a schematic diagram of the loom for either ECU type bike? I'll
bet you'll find they are very similar indeed with only minor mods, or maybe
pins etc. I can help you easily if you have a diagram.

Lights & things like indicators usually use relay logic to operate & dont
have much to do with the engine ECU.

As i say, if you have some diagrams i can probably sort the loom, but it
will be more like sensors or pinouts that are different.

You have my number.

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Range Rover Vogue

 

Yep, I've got diagrams for both looms.

I know it's do-able. Just not by me...

 

heh. Stuff like this is easy. Compare both diagrams to start with, there
will be something very obvious. Or, it could be something as simple as a
sensor not in the loom, or maybe it needs a shunt etc.

feel free to ring to avoid costs

--


Nige,

BMW K1200S
Range Rover Vogue

 

First stop would surely be to ask the people who make the race ECU? It
may be something as simple as the sidestand or clutch cutout switches
need bypassing, or the immobiliser etc.

 

I think the same, there can't be a great deal of difference around the
ECU wiring requirements.

He has both wiring diagrams, so highlighting the differences in in the
ECU wiring on the loom shouldn't be that hard ...

Paul.

 

I don't have a phone number for the Kawasaki race department, and even
if I did my Japanese is limited.

But you've got the nub of it, I suspect. It's not the sidestand, as
the motor spins over (which it wouldn't with the stand down). But the
road bike has an immobiliser - I'll bet it's something to do with
that.

I've been poring over the two wiring diagrams for the last hour trying
to figure it out, and I've gone goggle-eyed. Time for bed.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

Didn't the Team UKRM 750 need a resistor appropriately inserted before
it would play ball?

A similar thing, perhaps?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

I have already made the greatest contribution to the fight against climate
change that I can make: I have decided not to breed. Now quit bugging me and
go and talk to the Catholics.

 

Ah right, it's a proper posh one.

Do they have that horrible system where the ECU has to match the coded
ignition key? If so, I'll bet that's the problem. If the race bike's
got an ignition, you probably just need to swap that over. If not, the
ignition feeds to/from the ECU are probably the bits to concentrate on.

Feel free to bung them over if they're emailable. I did some fairly
major loom chopping on RatTig & the Corvette so have a bit of
experience in such nightmares.

 

'cept, if they still do it. It'll be arse about face this time around.
Instead of trying to graft a road ECU into a race loom. It's grafting
a race ECU onto a road loom. Which probably means the fake 12V feed
will need grafting to a real 12V feed.

 

You mean putting a Ferrier in the saddle didn't provide enough impedance?

 

A little light bulb went on above my heard when I recalled that, about
an hour ago.

Similar, but much, *much* more complicated.

 

Yes.

There's a thing called the 'immobilizer antenna' by the ignition
switch, which (amongst other things) feeds an 'immobilizer amplifier'.

In short, the key and the ECU are matched. There's a few people tried
to put ZX10R engines in kit cars & sidecars without the original
ignition key, and run into this problem.

Which depressed me, until I realised that I have the opposite problem
- I have an ECI that doesn't care about the ignition key at all. But,
immobilizer will be expecting some sort of 'go' signal out of the ECU
before it allows the fuel pump (and perhaps some other stuff) to run.
The fuel pump not priming when I had the kit ECU plugged in is a big
clue.

So I *think* I just need to figure out how to bypass the immobilizer.

They're big, but I'll try and send you something.

 

Ah, the looms and ECU's i've worked with recently were pre-HISS days,
thank god.

Paul.

 

Why make life so bloody complicated.

You have a race loom and ECU, which includes all of the ignition gubbins.
Fit them and forget about them.

Now you want some lights and a horn.
Grab a roll of wire, some tape and some connectors.
Any light and horn switches that will fit the bars will be good enough.
How difficult can it be ?

 

Ah, the mantra that accompanies any ukrm project or undertaking ))

 

Try thinking about what a *modern* superbike has that a race bike
doesn't[1]. There's a lot more than 'some lights and a horn' involved,
& building a loom from scratch that's both reliable & fits in the very
limited space would not be easy. It wouldn't get around the immobiliser
problem either.

[1] Neutral, fuel, oil, battery, temp & indicator warning lights,
clutch & sidestand switches, fan switch, speedo sensor, possibly
barometric & O2 sensors to name a few - all of which /could/ be
controlled through circuitry in the ECU that isn't present in the race
one.

 

If you put a race bike together with all of the race bike bits and ONLY
race bike bits it should just work. No immobiliser and nothing that
depends on having one.

How many of these extras do you need to make a bike road legal ?.
What is the objective ?. A road legal race bike or a complete road Kwak
with a race engine ?.
A problem simplified is a problem solved.

 

Yes, which is completely irrelevant.

It's not just about making it legal, it's about making it work & usable
reliably as an everyday bike.

Knowing Champ's usage, I'd say almost certainly the latter.