Coming from the bike world, I feel i know the motors pretty well. I know there is a bit of head scratching and profanity when you think of putting a motorcycle motor is a car. I hope this helps people before they encounter the problems and also clears up some of the electrical lingo. Nothing is like turning a key and having the motor fire right up for the first time. Just thought it would be nice to have one thread to tackle the problems and inform about products sold that might help us.
1. Kickstand switch: Really a simple fix here. Most bikes have a simple open close switch that is controlled by the kickstand. When the kickstand is down there switch is open, therefore it blocks current flow (100% resistance). When the kickstand is up the switch is closed and current is free to flow (0% resistance). Because you obviously don’t need a kickstand with 4 wheels (or 3 for the trike guys) you can simply fix this. What I did was cut the wires past the connector on the kickstand half. I stripped, soldered, and sealed them closed... by making the bridged connection on this side of the connector you can always reverse it easily. Another option is the replace the kickstand with a toggle switch. Keep it out in the open or hide it as a kill switch. I plan to convert to a push button start so this would serve as just one of a few kill switches.
2. Clutch switch: Like most automatic cars, motorcycles have a clutch switch. Remember that on a motorcycle the clutch is controlled by your left hand and because of this the wires will be located in that area of the harness. I wouldn’t recommend that you bridge this one. Most bikes just have a pressure sensitive switch that can easily be remounted onto your clutch setup you make for the car.
3. Exup valve (if equipped): Most of the fuel Injected (and some carbureted) bikes have an exup valve. While some hate it, it does serve a purpose. Most motorcycle exhausts are pretty much free flowing which in turn results in very low back pressure. The exup valve builds back pressure at low RPMs (~less then 6k rpm) and opens completely above this. The back pressure is used to aid in more low end torque. This is really a preferential type deal. Most are controlled by a motor with two cables (open and close). Most people will keep the exup motor connected to the harness to avoid throwing a SES light/code. Although the motor is connected, just remove the throttle type wires from it. The ECU will think its working correctly, when in reality it’s doing nothing at all. Obviously most people will fab their own exhausts and not include the butterfly feature. The alternative is to buy/build a chip to simulate the exup motor. These are not really common as most people just disconnect the cables instead of dropping the money on a chip.
4. Tilt sensor: Again this is more of a preference type deal. For a car that races this could be a good safety feature. Most bikes have this sensor in the nose area of the bike by the headlight. If you end up retaining it, make sure you mount it correctly... if you don’t mount it correctly the engine will just turn and turn and turn until your battery is dead but will not fire up. If you want to get rid of it, there are write-ups all over the internet to do it. Most of them are just three wires... bridge two and seal off the other.
5. Power Commander First off there are currently two main ones... one for the street (PCIII EX) and race (PCIII V). They are units the adjust the fuel maps of the ECU. They simply for the most part just plug right into the stock harness. They really are a mandatory modification if everything isn’t stock. With simple bike mods you will not have a smooth throttle band, instead it will be a bit choppy. This unit will give you the smoothness by providing the correct fuel ratio that the motor requires
Other piggy backs off the PCIII:
-Ignition module
-Quick shifter
More info:
http://www.powercommander.com/eng_default.aspx6. Speedo healer: Obviously your car will not have the same gearing and tire size as the stock bike. This is a plug and play unit that will correct your speedo for you.
More info:
http://www.healtech-electronics.com/7. Gear Indicator With a sequential transmission, sometimes remembering what gear you are in take shifting all the way to 6th or back down to 1st to find out. A simple fix is a digital gear indicator. Again this is pretty popular among the bike crowd and would suit a car very well
More info:
http://www.riderstation.com/DG8.phpIf you feel i have missed anything feel free to add it...
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2007 R1 Powered Mid Engine Street & Track Car
Build Log: viewtopic.php?t=4970
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