What did you do to your Yamaha FZ-07 today?

[Devilman]

35 minutes ago, D.A. said:

Every reason you listed makes perfect sense except the line above.

(Please don't take this personally, @Devilman. I just like pontificating about subjects like this and your post has presented me with the opportunity.)

A lot of people have the misconception there is more power in high octane fuel when that is not necessarily the case. In fact, when it comes to the fuel sold at gas stations, the opposite is true: the lower the octane number, the higher the power, or more precisely, the greater the energy. A gallon of Regular Unleaded, for instance, contains MORE energy than a gallon of Premium Unleaded because the additives in the Premium dilute the combustibility of the fuel.

You know how drug dealers in movies are often shown cutting pure cocaine with baking powder? That's similar to what's happening with gasoline: petroleum companies basically take Regular Unleaded and cut it with additives to create Premium Unleaded and since those additives provide little if any combustible energy, the resulting fuel has less potential energy than it originally did.

Because of this, if you take a vehicle designed to use Regular Unleaded and fill it with Premium Unleaded, that vehicle's motor will actually create slightly LESS power and have LESS acceleration. Therefore it is not logical to want to use a higher octane fuel than needed.

Professional race car and motorcycle teams would love to be able to use cheap, readily available, plain old Regular gasoline instead of shelling out the big bucks for specialty fuels. So why don't they?

Simple: because of compression. Engines in cars and motorcycles designed for racing have very higher compression ratios. That's because the most effective way to squeeze more power out an engine at all RPMs is to increase the compression since the higher the ratio, the greater the downward push of the piston.

Unfortunately, when you compress fuel, you also create heat. Compress too much and the heat generated will cause fuel to self-detonate – meaning explode. Unwanted detonations are referred to as knock or pinging. And it's not something you want to happen inside of your motorcycle engine. Knock can cause serious damage if it happens at the wrong time during the combustion cycle. Much better if your ECU is allowed to determine the optimal time to ignite the fuel via the spark plug.

Once you modify an engine to make more compression, you need to switch to a fuel that can withstand the increased heat. To create such a fuel, petroleum companies put additives into their fuel – additives that increase the heat tolerance of the gasoline so it does not burn until ignited by the spark plug.

It's not precisely the same scenario with high end racing fuels because some of them do increase power through use of oxygenation or alcohol-based fluids. But the general idea is consistent.

In regards to 2WDW flashing an ECU, they will advance the spark timing at high RPMs to eliminate power loss in that zone but that adjustment will require you to switch to Premium gasoline. That's not because of the compression-related issues I detailed above. You cannot change compression ratio via ECU flashing. Rather, it's because Regular Unleaded, being a more efficient fuel than Premium, also has a faster flame speed than Premium and that fast flame speed can cause the fuel to finish burning too early, which, coincidentally, also results in knock. Switching to Premium, with it's slow flame speed, avoids that issue.

But unless you increase compression somehow, Premium won't give you any extra power. If anything, it will slightly reduce overall power.

 

I agree with you, but would raising the timing put more power output from the engine? I don't have dyno sheets and I don't trust everything on the internet but the seat of my pants could tell a difference. It could be the high octane fuel or they adjusted the fuel ratio since they come in pretty lean from the factory. Who knows. LOL. No offense taken, I'm new to modifying motorcycles. I like to tinker and learn. I also have supporting mods, removal of the snorkel from the airbox and full Akrapovic TI exhaust (baffle in).

[seven]

Not really what I did to my bike but rather with my bike, I passed my road test so now have my full motorcycle license. Now that the test is out of the way I am going to install my fender eliminator. I held off just in case they would have an issue with the angle of the plate or the missing reflectors.

[D.A.]

4 hours ago, Devilman said:

... would raising the timing put more power output from the engine?

Yes, according to 2WDW, advancing spark timing does allow you to wring a few more horsepower out of an FZ/MT-07 at high RPMs. This did not really occur with my stock bike but I can certainly imagine it happening with your modded bike.

 

[Qays]

Installed the TST integrated tail light. Shaved the side metal things on the R&G tail tidy then sanded it down to be smooth and then black spray painted it. Looks really good, one of my favorite mods.

[Devilman]

3 hours ago, Qays said:

Installed the TST integrated tail light. Shaved the side metal things on the R&G tail tidy then sanded it down to be smooth and then black spray painted it. Looks really good, one of my favorite mods.

Looks great, but I would run those wire in the tail farther or zip tie them up. Don't want to accidently snag them while washing and scrubbing the muck off your bike. It doesn't help that I have OCD and noticed that. LOL 

[seven]

Installed my Motodynamics fender eliminator. Looks much better. Would love to get the Euro Yamaha LED signals that have the integrated running light to further clean up the look but those things are crazy money...like most of the lighting options out there.

[Qays]

12 hours ago, Devilman said:

Looks great, but I would run those wire in the tail farther or zip tie them up. Don't want to accidently snag them while washing and scrubbing the muck off your bike. It doesn't help that I have OCD and noticed that. LOL 

Yeah true would look nicer. The tail light itself has 3 programs. 1st one is normal brake light and turn signal, next one is a double pulse turn signal and a flashing brake light for 1 second before going solid red, and the 3rd one is probably for track days strobe brake light and turn signals.

[Qays]

Got the Carpimoto front and rear stands. Beautiful craftsmanship and solid feel.

[Colobraska]

I bought my FZ-07 last Wednesday, then sent the ECU to 2WDW on Saturday. While waiting for that, I re-wired the high-beam flasher button to open my garage door. Turned out really clean! 

[DewMan]

19 hours ago, Colobraska said:

I re-wired the high-beam flasher button to open my garage door. Turned out really clean! 

OK, we need a tutorial for that please.  

[Colobraska]

8 minutes ago, DewMan said:

OK, we need a tutorial for that please.  

I'd be happy to post one! I'm brand new to this forum and don't know if this warrants an entire post or just a comment here, but the basics of it are this:

- Remove left-hand controls assembly (not sure what this is called, but the thing that houses the button itself)

-Un-solder the two wires that connect to the button. I believe they are yellow and red. I wrapped each exposed tip in electrical tape, then taped them together to help keep them out of the way. Doing it this way will also allow you to return the bike to stock later if you want to.

-Solder new wires to each pad. I started with maybe 4' of 24 AWG wire and ended up cutting off about a foot at the end. You might be able to get away with a shorter length to start, just approximate it by running the wire along however you plan to route it.

-Run the wire out of the assembly following the existing wiring harness. I wrapped the lines together in electrical tape, then taped them to the existing harness. Looking at it now, you couldn't tell anything is out of the ordinary.

-Run the wires to under the seat, I followed the existing harness there, basically went from the controls assembly -> headlight -> under the tank -> under the seat. I already had my fairing off since my ECU is at 2WDW right now, but I would remove the side fairing, I think it would make this step much easier. I wrapped the entire length of the wires in electrical tape, and anywhere they could be visible from the outside I taped them to the existing harness. In places where you couldn't see them (like under the tank), I just zip-tied them to the existing harness every so often.

-Terminate the wires into a connector somewhere under the seat, wherever it makes sense to do so (I used this https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/molex/0436450210/7062846 connector + the mating one for the other side). This connector is not waterproof or anything, so after it was connected I placed a large piece of heat shrink over the connectors.

-Buy a universal (or brand specific, whatever works with your garage door opener) garage remote. Program it to your garage.

-Solder two ~6" 24AWG wires onto each side of the button. To test that it works, expose the other ends of each wire and touch them together. Your garage door should open/close.

-Drill a hole/remove the plastic button/allow the wires to leave the enclosure of the remote in some way. Wrap the remote in electrical tape to help waterproof it.

-Install the mating connector to the exposed ends of the wires. Connect the connectors together and hide the remote somewhere. I was going to use velcro, but found the remote fit perfectly on top of the battery under the strap that holds the battery down.

-Done!

 

Wow, that got lengthy, apologies for that. I also did not take any pictures while putting this together, but could go back and take some if anybody wants to see.

 

 

[D.A.]

18 minutes ago, Colobraska said:

... I also did not take any pictures while putting this together, but could go back and take some if anybody wants to see.

Yes, please!

Great idea BTW!

[DewMan]

40 minutes ago, Colobraska said:

I'd be happy to post one! I'm brand new to this forum and don't know if this warrants an entire post or just a comment here, but the basics of it are this:

<snip>

Wow, that got lengthy, apologies for that. I also did not take any pictures while putting this together, but could go back and take some if anybody wants to see.

 

 

NIce!. When you have pictures, start a dedicated thread for it please. That'll make it easier to find in the future. 

[mjh937]

@Colobraska, if you make a tutorial with photos please post it in the Tech Tips section and when I see it I will make it sticky so it stays on the first page for people to find easily.  Thanks for the great post. 

[208MT07]

Pulled my Hord airbox off and cleaned/oiled my filter yesterday, then went for a spirited back road ride today. 

[D.A.]

2 hours ago, 208MT07 said:

Pulled my Hord airbox off and cleaned/oiled my filter yesterday, then went for a spirited back road ride today.

What’s with the ratchet strap on your front fork?

[208MT07]

4 minutes ago, D.A. said:

What’s with the ratchet strap on your front fork?

It's to compress my forks when I drag race to eliminate the slide hammer action of the forks on launch and keep the front end down. 

[Joaoduarte]

3 hours ago, 208MT07 said:

It's to compress my forks when I drag race to eliminate the slide hammer action of the forks on launch and keep the front end down. 

Whats your 1/4 mile time and speed? 

Also your windscreen wich model is it? Do you have more photos?

[208MT07]

17 hours ago, Joaoduarte said:

Whats your 1/4 mile time and speed? 

Also your windscreen wich model is it? Do you have more photos?

Fastest so far is a 12.1 at 110, with a not great 60' and a DA of over 4000'. 

 

The screen is an Ermax sport model

[Two-rocks]

Sadly, it's now close to stock (selling). Thinking it's going to be one of the "why did I ever sell that" type of things.

From the Corbin, to the suspension, and everything else - I guess I needed another project.

[timjh]

2 hours ago, Two-rocks said:

 Thinking it's going to be one of the "why did I ever sell that" type of things.

Still not to late!

[nwrolla]

On 4/9/2021 at 5:39 PM, Dash said:

installed a vstream windshield. with a MRA-X-Creen. works great to cut back the cold. this time of year in Alberta riding in 40 degree weather.

How do you like it so far? Did you use the Clamp on Mount or the Drilled mount?   I have been looking at picking one of these up. I have the National Cycle Spot / Tour and it is great around the city but doesn't provide enough wind coverage on the freeways at 85+ for a sustained period of time. 

[Qays]

Cleaned my chain with chain cleaner and a brush, wiped off with a rag, then applied chain lube. Rode to work for my daily commute. 

[7fold]

Finally got around to installing my Luimoto gel and seat covers over the weekend. Haven't gotten a chance to actually ride yet, but just sitting on the bike feels a bit better. Hopefully I'll get some time this week to go for an actual ride to see if the gel really does make a difference.

Either way, it definitely looks much better than the OEM vinyl.

[slade1023]

New the forum here..  I have a 2018  that I got for Father's day  3 years ago.  

Finally I put new grips on, removed the clunky large mirrors and added bar end mirrors with rhinomoto bar ends . I installed a fender eliminator and installed some cheap led blinkers from eBay.  

Did order a corbin so I can be more comfortable. Not getting any younger. 

Contemplating  new exhaust and either a tune kit or sending it in.  Not sure yet.