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Last Update 12/21/2012
kz1300.com/z1300-dfi-kit.html
UPDATE June/2010! KITS ARE NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE!!!
Q: Do you still make these OEM style conversion kits using the older ZN1300 modified parts? Did you ever do the conversion you talked about on this engine using an aftermarket megasquirt or microsquirt computer? B.L.
A: I can get an aftermarket DFI computer easily enough, but the
'Megasquirt' computer I thought was the best option uses a crank trigger off
an automotive type Ford EDIS wheel.
We don't have room on our crank to install a proper trigger without some
major modification. We do have room to run something off the cams and plenty of room in the cam valley to mount it.
But to develop the proper trigger system would probably cost me $6000 or more best I can determine.
No doubt that once developed, the setup would be much cheaper to duplicate.
Issue is, even if I developed the part I don't think I could ever sell enough kits to break even on it.
I'm not sure if there's some other way to make this work unless someone had our original computers reverse engineered, and
sold them as a replacement unit to plug into a ZN or ZG model.
Then I could use these on my conversion kits. I don't really know how to do that or what it would cost.
One option would be to
install the EDIS wheel on a custom made drive assembly where the right
alternator is now. That would mean custom machining a block off
cover, EDIS mount and belt drive hub to replace the right side alternator.
Then relocating the alternator via a belt drive. There were at least
3 different right side alternator designs made depending on the year and
model 1300 you have.
Some 1300 owners have custom made a belt drive
off the right crankshaft and installed various types of alternators up
behind the right side cylinders. If you look through my paid member
DVD's you'll find a few setup like that. After talking with a
machinist about making something that would fit all models and all years
of our motors though, it looks like this project could easily cost upwards
of $6000 to initiate and get the first set of adapters made. Then
there would have to be a 79' & 80' design. An 81' design, and a 82'
and newer design.
Once you sold someone the alternator 'relocation
kit' pieces with a new alternator of whatever type we'd end up using, the
micro or megasquirt kit, a throttle body with new injectors, new fuel
pump, custom wiring harness, etc; to make it worthwhile for me to have
custom brackets made, source all these parts, assemble them, program the
system, and get it out the door; I'd probably need to sell each kit for
$4000 minimum and maybe more.
It might be an awesome setup when I
get done, but who's going to buy it? Most guys don't have more than
$3000 in their bikes. Very very few are going to spend $4000 - $5000
to get a state of the art fuel injection system and a better alternator
setup for that kind of money. The $1500 kit worked pretty good.
I could of sold more of those if more computers had been available.
I still had to source used throttle bodies off ebay as they became
available.
Here's an option from MBE Motorsports -
http://www.mbe-motorsports.com
Click on "EFI Kits" or just try
this link -
http://www.mbe-motorsports.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/22
They
make fuel injection kits for single or 2 cylinder small engines up to
250cc. Our 1300cc engine divided by 6 would = 217cc per cylinder.
Probably 3 of these 2 cylinder kits they show at $450 each plus some extra
parts; add some ingenuity in mounting the throttle bodies to our manifold,
and you could probably come up with a system that could work on our
1300's. I'm not sure how they trigger this system though as I
haven't looked into it.
As an added benefit it would use 6
individual air filter pods which would be easy to source, instead of
having to use the custom made filters as I was doing. And the
throttle bodies and new injectors are included, which means we aren't
stuck with using old used throttle bodies and injectors from a ZN1300 to
make a fuel injection system. The downside is that we'd have to
make some adapters to fit their 6 individual throttle bodies to our
intake. But if you look at their pictures, you can see some they've
already done some out of high grade plastic. All we need is
something similar, but made to fit our bolt pattern. This looks like
it could be the perfect thing for us if you can get it all to fit properly
in the space we have behind our motor, and that shouldn't be a big issue.
The other potential problem would be the throttle cable setup on their
system. These aren't push/pull type throttle bodies, they're spring
return. I saw some nice dual cable 'pull/pull' type throttles on
ebay that would probably work real nice for us though. I think they
were for older Norton or BSA motorcycles that used spring return type
carbs that were probably installed on bikes back in the early 70's.
Motion-Pro could come up with a custom throttle cable for this conversion
no doubt, but it would be a very unusual cable setup for sure. If you have at least $6000
to invest in this project then I'll gladly discuss it with you.
Otherwise you can read the following info and use my pages to make your
own system using the designs I show in my pictures and text.
david@kz1300.com
This conversion kit information was for converting your carbureted Z1300 or KZ1300 to fuel injection, using mostly OEM Kawasaki DFI parts from an 83' to 89' ZN1300 6-cyl Voyager. Specifically from the 1300 Voyager I used the DFI computer, fuel pump, throttle bodies with TPS and fuel rail, DFI wiring harness, air temp sensor, and cylinder head temp sensor. I added some aftermarket parts like an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, remote fuel pressure gauge, fuel line quick disconnects, metal fuel return line bung, various fuel line fittings, and high pressure fuel injection hose.
The stock DFI wiring harness has to be modified somewhat so it will adapt to the various changes over the years in the Z1300/KZ1300 wiring harness, but it's pretty straightforward. There are parts I make from scratch like a mounting bracket to relocate the battery. This also that holds the fuel pump, and adjustable fuel pressure regulator in place. I also make a custom gauge pod to mount a remote 2.5" liquid filled fuel pressure gauge to the bikes frame on the right side.
Originally I was making my own air filters, but at the bottom you'll see the custom filters I had made for this conversion. There are also some aftermarket parts I provide like a crankcase breather, air induction breather, and adjustable fuel pressure regulator. If you want to know the history of how I developed this idea, the following page has step by step info on each part showing how I made my initial prototype 'kit', and how I made changes in the succeeding kits as I developed alternate ways of mounting the pieces together. All of these pictures were from an 81' KZ1300 I had for sale that I was using as my test mule at the time -
kz1300.com/81-kz1300-kentucky.html
The page you're on now will show the most current designs and parts that will come with the latest kit design. Not everyone likes my idea of relocating the battery, and some of you may prefer to make your own mounting bracket. It's not my intention to make different designs for mounting the parts, and offer different kit layouts. It's much less confusing for me to develop something that I think works well and looks good, and stick with that design. So, if you'd like to buy all the hard parts minus the bracket, I'm all for that idea. Less work for me, so I'll knock a little something off the price to compensate in that case.
However, if you do your own mounting bracket, you'll want to modify the DFI wiring harness yourself, so that the lengths of all your wires come out to the correct length for the placement of the parts where you've chosen to mount them. If I cut the harness to fit my design, some of the wires may be shorter than what will work with your design; so you can't have it both ways. If you do your own bracket, you do your own wiring, but I have very detailed specs posted at the link above on how the wiring connects to everything, and you'll find that it's basically very simple wiring, it just takes some time to sit there and do all the splices, solder everything up, and re-tape the harness.
The very 'first' Custom made Fuel Injection Conversion Kit, aka 'The DFI Kit':
Continue on down the page and you'll see that some things have been changed or improved since I came up with this first design 3/2007, and the newest kit pictures will be near the bottom of the page.
Newer images of the latest design as of 4/2007 -
Here's the difference between the stock fuel rail on the top, and the
modified rail on the bottom. The rail will come powder-coated in
black. The stock fuel rail has to be modified to clear the bike frame,
otherwise the fuel inlet is jammed right up against the frame on the right
side. On the outlet side, I started moving that from the front to the
back side for a few reasons. First, because high pressure hose is like
- $7 a foot, having the nipple come off the back side uses a lot less hose
with my particular bracket and the mounting locations of the parts the way I
have them.
Second, with the hoses coming off the back it makes a better looking install
because you don't even see the fuel lines at all.
Here's how I hold the throttle bodies
when I install the fuel rail. I clamp them lightly in a vise within a
doubled up towel to keep from marring the bodies.
Looks much better with a powder-coated fuel rail. Take note of how I
position the hose clamps on the bottom, instead of the top which is how they
were positioned from the factory. The reason I put them on the bottom
is because they have sharp edges, and when you have your hands in there
trying to plug in the injectors, it's easy to cut your hand if they're on
top. I could
use different clamps, but I retain these particular style clamps because
they're easier on the hose when you tighten them. Regular style
automotive screw clamps tend to bite into the hose, but these smooth style
clamps are made specifically for fuel injection hose.
I put this tie-wrap on the throttle linkage with the unit laying on the
table so I could get a good close up picture for you to see, but you'll use this
'tie-wrap' technique to hold
the throttle wide open when you go to install the throttle cables. Put
the 'throttle off' cable on first, then depress the linkage to the wide open
throttle position and slip this tie-wrap around it like I show here.
You can put the tie-wrap around the fast idle shaft as I show, and pull it
down part way just to get ready. Depress the throttle to the wide open
position, and hook the tie-wrap around like I show and pull it tight.
Now slide the throttle bodies into a better position to install the 'throttle
on' cable, and you won't have to have 3 hands to get it on. Once you
get it on, you just clip the tie-wrap off, and adjust your cable
properly.
As with any throttle off-on cable combination, you should have a little slack in the cables but not too much. It's tough to get in there with a 10mm open end wrench to make cable adjustments once the throttle bodies are installed. I cut one of my 10mm wrenches in half just for this purpose. So it fits in the space where you have to get at the lock nut. The top nut you can get at with a regular wrench, but the lock nut is a different issue. Did I mention that it helps to have double jointed fingers when you work on motorcycles! At any rate, it's best to connect the cables to the throttle bodies, and adjust them for the proper feel before you slip the throttle bodies into place on their rubber mounts.
Here if you look closely you can see that the throttle off cable is
connected, and the tie-wrap is holding the throttle wide open. Also
notice that I have shop towels stuffed in the intake, and I don't pull these
out till I'm ready to stab the throttle bodies on the motor. When the
throttle bodies are off, if you leave your motor open, absolutely anything
can fall down inside, 'crawl' in or fly in. Like bugs! So, you install the throttle off cable first,
then you put the tie-wrap on to hold the throttle wide open, then you
install the throttle on cable. Cut the tie-wrap off, and make your
adjustments. Slip the throttle bodies on, and go to the next step.
Here is our stock throttle position sensor or TPS in case anyone recognizes
this part as being the same part off some old car they use to work on.
If we could find another source (read that cheaper source) for these, that
would be great.
Here's how I made the air filters to begin
with.
This was a very time consuming process I've now replaced with the custom
filters shown below.
I just tie-wrapped the air temp sensor to what was the bottom of the center
air filter.
This shows how I mount the cylinder head temp sensor to the valve cover with
the bracket I make. 3rd image shows the bracket mounted on a ZN1300 head
just above the small boss that the sensor fits into on a ZN motor. The Z1300
and KZ1300 heads don't have that mounting boss, because they never had cylinder head temp sensors mounted originally. That's just one
difference between the ZN and KZ cylinder heads relevant to this install.
This shows the appearance of the main mounting bracket before
painting. The bottom strut holds the radiator overflow tank in place
and I just drilled a hole and use a heavy tie-wrap to hold the relay in
place. The other 2 holes are to mount the fuel pressure
regulator.
This shows how the bracket sits in place.
This shows how I mounted the fuel pump.
A heavy tie-wrap works just fine for this because there's a clearance issue with
the battery being right there on the front side. I could make this bracket a little
different, and have metal hose clamps one on each side of the pump holding it
on, and nix the tie-wrap. I'll experiment with that idea on the next
batch of brackets I make.
This is the right angle fitting I use for the fuel pump on the fuel inlet
side. It's a conversion from 5/16" fuel line to the 1/2" the
stock pump uses. I used this same piece on the last kits, but now I've started cutting the
length down on both ends to stop at the second serration. Everything
fits together a little better when I do it this way, so they'll be like this
in the future.
Fuel pressure regulator with electric fuel gauge sending unit installed and stock
straight fittings. I thought using an electric gauge would be nice,
but I've since gone to a liquid filled gauge, and made my own gauge pods as
you'll see below.
Fuel pressure regulator with new right angle
fittings pointing in the proper directions.
Fuel lines all come together real nice and just
the way I envisioned.
This shows the weld-on bung that's included
in the kit, and how the fuel
lines should run off the tank. In reality, the bung could be dropped down in
the tank further than he did with this one (like maybe half way - weld it
about the center of the bung instead of on one end). That might be a little better,
but there was still enough clearance over the valve cover. Make sure you
find a good shop to do the welding, as you don't want gas leaking off of this
thing and dripping down on your spark plugs! You also don't want some
inexperienced welder blowing up your gas tank!
Quick disconnect fuel line fittings from Motion-Pro that I include in each
kit. You just push the
little button on top and they just pull apart. When you separate them they
also shut the fuel off on one side of the fitting. Motion-Pro also makes a
double shut-off style fitting similar to these that shuts off both sides of
the line when you disconnect it, but there's really no need
for those and they are twice the price. These are a minimum $18 each
when I find them on ebay!
I drilled holes in the mounting plate use a tie-wrap to hold the battery in place. My negative battery
cable didn't quite reach, and I didn't have time to pull things back apart a
re-route it. I'm including a new negative battery cable with kits
now. Grabbed a short cable, and made do as I was short on time so I
could make a weekend trip with some
friends from Church on our annual ride to Canyon Lake, Texas.
Rode about 800 miles with this setup that weekend, and no problems. Also, neither the main
wiring harness or any of the other wires got cut and spliced properly as I
was rushed, so that's why some of these pictures look like ratty
wiring. On down the page you'll see the finished harness.
This shows the electric gauge I bought for this
application. The gauge looks real good, but I bought some 2.5" OD
liquid filled, zero - 60psi mechanical gauges that I like better.
This would be OK if it was a weatherproof marine gauge, and it could get
wet. But I was
going to mount it up on the handlebars, and I couldn't figure a good way to mount
it where it can be kept dry.
Newer images of the latest wiring harness design as of 5/2007 -
Here's the injector wires, the loop going to the coils and the TPS plug,
cylinder head temp and green 'Cruise' switch wire all tied together. I
cut the cruise wire at the longest point I could, but I still have to extend
this wire so it will reach the handlebars. Lower left plug you see is
the air temp connector.
Got a little fast with the tape on the fuel pump / ground wires, as the relay
wires will also be taped into one unit. You can see my double heat
shrink slipped over the wires, as I just finished soldering that 4 wire
connection.
OK, so here's how I did it on the next
harness. This 4 prong plug I use for the relay is something you
actually cut off the stock harness when you're trimming the original wires
off. If you're careful where you make your cuts, you can re-use this
connector for the relay. You can see the marks right on the side of
the relay that tell you how to wire it, but I've noticed on these stock ZN
relays that some are marked one way and some are marked just the opposite. For
example, terminal 1 and 2 may be the switch side or it may be the coil
side as I described on the previous page, and visa versa for terminals 3 and
4. That means the relays are not completely interchangeable on
the Voyager as I had originally assumed they were.
You can see that this time I grouped the wires better. Even the color
codes work out better with the orange / black wire from the relay mating
with the orange / black wire from the fuel pump on one side, and on the
other the white / red and blue / yellow. So these power everything up
in the harness, and the power feed coming into the relay is also the white /
red wire. So I don't have wires looped around like I did last time and
it all looks cleaner.
Here's the stock electric fuel shutoff valve
that everyone pulls off their bike when it starts giving them problems, but
guess what, it's the only connector on our KZ or ZN wiring harnesses that
has that particular style plug on it, and that's what I use to pick up
switched power from the ignition switch. I don't need the shutoff
valve, but I need these short wiring harnesses off your old valve. Anybody that buys
parts from me, and has one of these harnesses they can send me I'll discount
your parts accordingly. Just clip the wires up by the valve, throw the
valve away and stuff it in an envelope and mail to:
David Ewing
28485 Tomball Pkwy
PMB 313
Tomball, Texas USA 77375
The brown wire is switched 12 volt positive power I pick up from the stock
electric fuel shutoff connector. Since no one uses their stock
electric fuel shutoff valve these days (I hope), you should have this plug free up under the
tank. We only need the brown wire from it, but I don't know
how many of these stock connectors I'll be able to provide unless members
send me some as I mentioned above. Depending on how many I'm able to acquire, in the future you may have to
splice into this wire yourself and just use a spade connector or
something. You know the drill; crimp, solder, heat shrink 1, heat
shrink 2.
On the fuel pump connector I left it full length, and didn't shorten it this time. My thought is that the fuel pump will eventually need to be replaced, and however you do the new install, you'll have plenty of wire to work with so you won't come up short. I did the same thing with the ground wire too. I noted before that I make this bracket specifically to fit a Hawker PC680 battery, and that should be available worldwide even if you have to order it online. The good thing about the Hawker is one, it can be shipped through the mail and two, it can be laid on its side which is how I install it here. However, if you have to use a different battery that could be a minor issue. I do leave a little extra wire, but there's simply not room to stand the battery up, and I'm using the original battery tray for the other parts. Think about this before you buy and if you plan on buying a Hawker, make sure you're country does not restrict that type of shipment. Some countries restrict shipping batteries through the mail, even if they're completely sealed like this one is.
As an alternate, check with an aviation supply house at a small local airport, and see if they have these batteries or something similar in a different brand. Hawker makes an aviation version of this battery that can be used even upside down, and they may have something similar since many small airplanes use a battery like this. A battery of slightly different dimensions will work as long as it's of a type that can be laid on its side.
Here you can see one change I made in how I did the harness this time.
There's a group of wires in this original harness that I could cut into and
eliminate a lot of the bulk, but if I did there's just so many connections
to redo that it doesn't seem wise to go to all the effort to cut all that
extra mess out. All these wires are the factory splices for the wires
to the injectors. In reality, if you look at the factory service
manual and look at the wiring diagram for the DFI system you'll see that the
injectors all run off the same 2 wires from the computer. So each of
the 2 individual wires for the injectors are spliced together to make 6
connections each, or one pair for each injector. However, the way they
did it makes for a lot of bulk. Before, I had all those stuck up under
the gas tank, but now the fuel lines are right where I had those stuffed
originally, so
it gets just a little too tight under there. I thought folding them
back like I did was a better option.
Here's the final design that I think will work for everybody. It's
smaller and more compact. The green wire with no end on it is my
cruise wire. It will come with a spade connector on that end once I get it
back on the bike, and see just how long it really needs to be.
So here's the parts going off to be powder-coated. I've got 3 brackets
to make 3 kits in the box, with 3 radiator overflow tanks, 2 sets or
passenger footpeg brackets, and 2 of the covers that fit over the bikes main
switch. I'll offer these pieces to people that buy DFI kits. I get
extra stuff painted like this, because you get a lot better price when you
bring in multiple items. There's an $85 minimum, so I can't just take
one bracket in. I figure some of this other stuff people might want, so
I'll make some pricing on it when I get the bill, and can figure about what I
paid. All parts will be painted in black gloss.
Here's parts for 3 kits being put together as of 5/14/07. Still need
to finish 2 of these wiring harnesses, install
the fuel rails. I'm still working on the gauge pods and waiting on my
custom filters, but at least I can
see the light at the end of the tunnel. Gauge pods are to mount the
2.5" liquid filled fuel pressure gauges I'm using. I'm making them myself out of some
2.5" ID steel tubing. Problem is, to get the correct ID on
my tube, I have to buy a whole stick of 2.5" schedule 40 tube at about
$100 for a 21 foot piece, which is the only way it comes.
Spent a whole day looking through the salvage steel yards here in Houston only to come up empty handed on this size tube. If it's not on the ground in Houston, Texas I can assure you that you probably won't find it anywhere else. It is available new, though they only had about 20 sticks in stock out of about 10 million dollars worth of steel they had in their warehouse! Pretty rare stuff it seems. Now I have to take the individual pieces I cut to a machine shop, and have the OD cut down to something more reasonable; from .250" thickness down to about .090" or so. If that seems like too much I'll cut the next ones even thinner, but I had to settle on some size to start with. I'll post pictures of the gauge pods when I get them welded up.
Since I get a better price on powder-coating when I take more pieces in, I
decided to take some common small parts that members like to powdercoat on
their bikes anyway. So, right now I've got 2 sets of rear footpeg
brackets @ $75 a set, 3 radiator overflow tank covers @ $50 each, and 2 main
switch covers @ $50 each (all prices quoted exchange, however, because of
the high cost of shipping, no exchange is necessary if you're not in
the USA lower 48 states).
I'm only going to do these parts in black and only as I do the DFI brackets, and I'm offering these parts as an extra to purchase when you buy a DFI kit. The parts themselves will come and go, so this picture is just representative of what pieces I'll have available for purchase. If you have a specific piece in mind that you want powdercoated, and you're buying a kit, let me know in advance and if I have that part, maybe I can throw it into the pile when I powdercoat more parts.
Here's the latest kit images 5/18/07, as one is being readied for shipment
overseas. They bought the armor coat cables as an upgrade.
This image when you click on it is an extra large image so I can make some explanations
on how I put everything together for shipping. When I pull all these
fuel lines apart I drain the gas out as good as possible, and let it dry for
awhile. Most of the hoses I leave connected, but I put a bolt in the
open ends and clamp them in place. I use the hose that will go to the
petcock to jumper the fuel rail so it's closed up, and just pop the leftover
male connector into the female connector for the return line. I screw
the gas tank weld-on bung on to the 90 degree return line fitting.
That way I don't have to leave those parts loose, and I can keep track of
them better when I'm getting everything ready.
I tape the clips for the injector plugs to the top of the computer, so they don't come off in the packaging and get lost. I put the filters in a separate box so they don't get crushed, and I pretty much put everything in separate boxes, or at least wrap everything in cardboard so it doesn't get banged up in transit. Then I put all those boxes in one big box, but I double wrap everything in plastic bags so there's no chance of a leftover gas leak, and very little chance of even a gas smell. I don't want the box setting off an airport detector of some kind, because a few drops of gas got out and leaked through the box. I use heavy garbage bags, so that should work good, and we shouldn't have any problems.
On the right side of the image you see a two foot battery cable, and an extra white/red wire with a connector. Since I relocate the battery with this setup, your stock positive battery cable will be too short to reach to the battery. The negative cable is plenty long, but you'll have to pull it out from under the battery tray and reroute it to the other side. The extra white/red wire is to lengthen the power wire that feeds your fuse box, because it won't quite reach the positive side of the battery either. This is the one main thing that you'll do in this conversion where you'll need to solder a wire. The other big issue is getting the bung welded to your gas tank.
You can see there's a small fuel pressure gauge mounted on the fuel pressure regulator, but soon this will come with a remote liquid filled gauge and gauge pod that will mount to the bike frame down low on the right side. I'm in the process of making those now so I'll post pictures later. I also throw in some tie wraps, since you'll need a few to complete the install. You'll need to supply 2 bolts to hold the mounting bracket down, but I think you can use the same 2 bolts that you removed from the airbox when you took it off. The 'cruise' switch has been deleted from the kit starting in 2008.
Once you install the kit and start the motor, the first thing you want to look at is how much fuel pressure you have, and set it if needed. I set it at about 40 - 45 psi when I ran your kit on my test engine, but if you need to adjust it some, 45 psi cold is about what you should want. You loosen the locknut, and use an allen wrench to turn the adjustment screw. You can do that with the engine running and watch the gauge. I've noticed that the pressure seems to vary a little when the gas is cold, versus when you've been riding and the motor is hot. So check it when it's hot, and reset it to at least 40 psi hot if you need to. 40 - 43 psi hot is perfect.
The second thing you need to do right away is set the TPS. I describe how to do that on the previous page, but if it's too rich, you don't want to run it too rich for very long as it might blue your exhaust pipes. If it's too lean, that's a problem too, as it probably won't idle without setting the idle speed way too high. By the way, the idle adjustment screw is the little thumb knob you see sticking out the bottom of the throttle bodies on the right side - center. Make your adjustments, and go ride and enjoy your new fuel injection system!
Update 5/18/07! Just talked to this company I've been trying to have make us some custom air filter pods, and they say they're trying to make the molds now. I should have some prototype filters within a couple of months I hope!
Update 6/18/07! Finally got my steel back from the machine shop. America's economy might be slow so I've been told, but all the machine shops I've contacted are running weeks behind because they have so much work. First shop I took them to sat on them for 3 weeks, and only turned the OD down one pod in all that time. Second shop was a little faster, but I still lost a month just waiting for a few pieces of steel to be trimmed down. This is why I state a 30 day build time for a kit. If I run out of a part, you never know how long it will take to get it made, welded, and painted.
I'm using 1.25" ID tube for the frame bracket, and 2.5" ID for the
pod that holds the gauge. To get steel with the correct ID dimensions,
I had to buy very thick wall tube that was about .200" thick.
Since that was way overkill on the thickness, I had it turned down to a
thickness of about .90" instead. Next time I'll probably go down
to about .60" and see how I like that. I cut a piece of
1.25" tube off at about 2" in length and then cut it in
half. The spacers are .5" flat bar at about 1.25" in length.
I'll drop the gauge in through the top with a piece of high pressure fuel
line running out the bottom, and then run it over to the fuel pressure regulator.
So I weld it at an angle that gives me a good
view when I glance down at the gauge. I just use some hose clamps to
hold it on, but underneath I split a 1" heater hose, and wrapped it part
way around the frame to use as protection from scratching the paint on your
frame. Can't go all the way around with the rubber, because there's a
real tight clearance issue between the side cover and the bike frame right
there.
Here's the cruise switch mount I made (deleted from kit in 2008). Green wire comes from the
computer, through the switch and back to ground. I used a marine grade
weather proof switch, but even after it's painted black I still won't like
the way it looks. I've been looking at our set of idiot lights mounted
there and thinking how nice it would look if I pulled one of those out and
replaced it with a rocker switch instead. You can buy nice looking
slim-line switches they sell for custom choppers that mount right over the
handlebar, but when you price one you'll be going the cheap route pretty
much like what I did here unless you've got lots of money you don't need for
something else. I'm going to quit making this mount and look for
something better.
Used a set of those black rear footpeg brackets I had powdercoated earlier.
I'm using the miniature version of my pod filters temporarily. They seem to flow
enough air like this.
So here's all the pieces going
to the powdercoater. After all the time I wasted on the gauge pods,
let's hope they don't take a month to paint everything.
Update 6/23/07! My prototype custom air filters arrived today! I've only been waiting like 6 months for these to show up! The problem with making such filters is that our bike, and I think there was an old Suzuki 550cc bike, were the only bikes out there with an oval shaped carb. Our throttle bodies like I'm using off the Voyager 1300, are the same oval shape, but a little smaller in diameter than the carbs were. So as far as I know, there just aren't filters readily available that are made with small oval flanges like this.
Here's a stripped down set of throttle bodies, where you can see that there's
a difference in the distance between the left and the center bodies, versus
the right and the center bodies. Even the old three two-barrel
carburetor sets have this same spacing difference between the 3 carbs.
You notice that the filters fit so tight that they actually touch, but they
do fit OK and without them being made with an offset flange. We
discussed making the filter flanges slightly offset to one side because the
difference in the distance between the 3 throttle bodies as I show just
above. Trying to make the filters with an offset flange is probably
more complicated than it appears, at least from a manufacturing standpoint I
suppose. They didn't want to do it that way assuming it will work with
a normal centered filter flange, so this is how my prototypes were made.
Looking at how they fit, I'd say these are a success as far as fitting to
the throttle bodies with no clearance issues! I can tell you though,
that when you put these on, it's much easier to put the center filter on
first, then the 2 outside filters last. You'll see what I mean when
you actually get around to installing a set. From now on, all my kits
will come with 3 of these custom filters at no additional charge. Hey,
I'm just glad I don't have to make filters anymore!
Update 6/28/07! Only 10 days and I've got my pieces back from the powdercoater.
The little bracket was what I made to hold the cruise switch on the
handlebar. I definitely need something better.
Bike with the new air filters and everything else mounted. As of
6/30/07, the bike was auctioned
on ebay! Brought $4500 from a member in Norway.
Update 3/7/08! New brackets are being laser cut, I'm testing some new fuel injectors I bought, and my new custom cables came in!
The slots in the bottom piece take the place of the holes I drilled in the
old brackets. They allow you to tie wrap the battery in place and give
more adjustment range which allows you to use different size
batteries. The original bracket was made to fit a PC680 battery
specifically, and this design will allow batteries of slightly different
dimensions to be used.
I also switched to 3/16" steel versus the 1/4" steel I was using. The bracket is a little lighter and the 2 half moon pieces I added hold the fuel pump in place better.
Drawings for making
your own bracket. Between these 2 drawing and the pictures just
above, you should be able to figure it out.
New fuel injectors being installed
These new cables will fit the bike better than the standard length ZN cables I was using before which were way too long. They'll also have more adjustment range than the others. You can see I added an inline adjuster on the throttle off cable, but the overall length on both was shortened by 4 & 5/8" while I made the wire lengths slightly longer.
Update 4/7/08! The latest kit pictures. Shows my new 'kit specific' armor braided throttle cables, the pod filters, and the new laser cut bracket. This new design bracket accepts batteries of slightly different shapes and sizes. You won't be stuck with using specifically a PC680 Hawker battery as I discuss above. I secure the battery with 2 large black wire ties left to right and front to back. The little slot in the back of the bracket next to the upright lines up with the channel in all Z1300 engines next to the output shaft. So the tie wrap can be looped through that slot, through the channel and up and around the battery front to back.
This will hold the battery in place firmly as the other tie wrap holds it side to side as well. In both directions there is some adjustability for a slightly wider, taller, or thicker battery than the PC680. So you're not stuck to installing a battery with a specific dimension. there are some limits to how big of a battery you can fit in there no doubt. For example, if it's too tall it will interfere with the crankcase filter. If it's too wide it will make it too hard to get your filters back on. It's hard for me to give exact dimensions of what exactly would be too big of a battery, but once you get the bracket fitted and see how much room you have you can make a decision based on what size battery is locally available.
Extra large image
Here's a basic list what you'll get for
your $1500, and for the purposes of calculating shipping cost, this last
couple I boxed up came to about 29 - 31 lbs total. Shipping would normally be
'USPS' Priority insured mail if you're in the USA, or if you're overseas -
International Priority insured
mail is cheapest, or I can quote UPS, FEDX or DHL - AFTER I have your 'ship to' address.
A few countries like Norway for instance, don't offer
insurance through our USPS
Postal system unless I ship Express
mail, which will drive the price up some.
For ALL your shipping or payment questions go here - kz1300.com/contact.html
Paypal is best and you can pay with a credit card through PayPal without signing up for a PayPal account. Optionally I can ship most items UPS, FEDX or DHL for more money depending on weight and size and whether it's US or overseas. Overseas shipping with these carriers can be as little as twice as much as USPS Air Parcel Post insured mail, or up to 10 times as much as shipping through our Postal service. You just never know, but historically I can tell you that few people want to pay their extra shipping cost. It may or may not get there faster with one of these carriers though it usually will, but you'll have a tracking number with them to track your package where you won't with our Postal service, but the item will be insured regardless of how you decide to ship it.
All parts will be good used stock ZN1300 parts unless noted and there are a few options as I indicate:
1) Powder-coated custom DFI mounting bracket (per whatever my current design is)
2) Modified ZN1300 wiring harness with relay
3) Stock ZN1300 DFI computer
4) Stock Fuel pump (may be able to offer new ones at an added cost - inquire)
5) Throttle bodies (with modified and powder-coated fuel rail and injectors installed)
6) New fuel injectors
7) New adjustable fuel pressure regulator
8) New fuel pressure gauge and custom mounting bracket (powdercoated)
9) Pair of New custom length Armor Coat throttle cables
10) 3 New custom pod style air filters
11) Stock Air temp sensor
12) Stock Cylinder head temp sensor with custom mounting bracket (powdercoated)
13) New fuel line hoses (high pressure Fuel Injection style, and standard fuel line as needed)
14) New weld-on steel fuel bung for the fuel return line
15) Various new 5/16" fuel line fittings and clamps as needed
16) New Motion-Pro 5/16" fuel line quick connectors
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Without the quick connectors in the fuel line, when you need to pull the fuel tank off, and you pull the fuel return line off the tank, the gas will just run out because there's no check valve in that fitting. So you'd have to pull the line off, and jam a bolt up in it, or something along that idea to keep the gas from running all over everything. With quick connectors, when you pull the hoses off you only spill a few small drops of gas. They have a shutoff valve made into the connector, so when you break the connection, it cuts off the flow of gas. Makes a tank R&R real easy even if it does add $40 in parts to the kit my cost! Separating the connectors is as simple as pushing the 'button' you see in the pictures, and you just slip them apart. That's it, no tools needed! They have O-Rings inside that seal the connection when you clip them back together.
At some point in the future if these kits sell well, I'll finish developing an aftermarket "MegaSquirt' or more likely the 'MicroSquirt' DFI computer that will also use an oxygen sensor in the system. This will be a big plus as the original Kawasaki DFI boxes are getting harder to come by these days. Also, it will have some better programming in it, and some adjustability via a laptop and software. The oxygen sensor will help it maintain more precise fuel delivery, and give us better mileage. Granted, we'll have to weld a bung in the exhaust somewhere to mount the sensor, and that will be an added complication to installing the system.
Even using the stock ZN parts I'm using now, this kit should up your mileage right out of the box by 5-10 mpg over your original carbs, even if the carbs seemed to be working well. The aftermarket MicroSquirt computer may increase it more like 10-15 mpg, and it should be very suitable for those with modified 'stroker' engines, or the few guys out there still running 1300 turbos. If you have knowledge with the MicroSquirt controller that would help me design this new system, please let me know.
One thing you should keep in mind if you want to order one of these kits is that I probably don't just have this kit sitting on the shelf ready to ship! If someone pays me for a kit I will make a kit basically as you see above, and with any improvements I might decide to add on the next one I do. That will take me a usually 4 - 6 weeks to accomplish, but you'll get a good product, I'll powder-coat the brackets and fuel rail, and I'll test run it on my bike to make sure it works as intended. Then I'll pull it off, drain the fuel, double wrap it and ship it.
My stated Parts Guarantee still applies in case the computer shows up in non-working condition or whatever. You'll just install it and go, with the only adjustments being that you might want to synchronize the throttle bodies as you would on your Voyager, or your KZ1300 if you were doing a normal tune up, and play with the setting on the throttle position sensor till you get it just right for your engine at your altitude.
They'll be very minimal work to do to get it installed, as all the hard work is already done. I've added a resettable circuit breaker to the kit, as everything runs off the one relay; the computer, the injectors and the fuel pump.
As of 4/18/07 I've put over 3000 miles on my test mule with the first 2 kits I made, and I can say for sure that it added about 10 mpg over what this bike was getting with carbs installed. When I ran it with carbs I was getting about 28 - 32 mpg. With the DFI kit I got a high of 40 mpg on a couple of different tanks of gas at slower speeds, and quite a few tanks at 35 - 36 mph when we were going faster. Still, there's a substantial difference in gas mileage when you're running pretty steady around 60 - 65 mph, versus running 75+ mph for most of the time.
In one place were were doing 75 - 85 mph or so almost constant for about 90 miles non-stop and my mileage dropped to about 28 mpg on that one run. Other times it was pretty much a steady 65 - 70 mph and my mileage was more like 33 - 35 mpg. So your speed makes a big difference in mileage as you would expect, but small changes in the TPS setting can up your mileage also. I've fiddled with these TPS settings for over 6 months now, and basically this is the way I adjust it. I loosen the 2 screws in the TPS slightly, and keep in mind that turning it clockwise leans the mixture, counter clockwise richens the mixture over the whole range.
I bring the RPM's up to a steady 2000 rpm, and just to get a feel for where I'm at, I turn it some and richen the mixture first, then I lean it and listen to how it runs. I turn it leaner to where you can tell it starts to stumble some, and then richen just enough that it runs ok again. There's a fine line where it runs ok at low rpm and richening the mixture more doesn't improve how it runs. From experience I'd say that if you get it set right at idle, it will be too rich once you're on the road. I think they did that to build in a little safety factor, considering they weren't using an oxygen sensor in the system, and couldn't afford to have it run lean at higher rpm's, and burn up the motor.
It's a poor man's DFI, and I guess they made it that way to save money, so they just added a cruise switch which you were supposed to manually engage once you're in 5th gear, with the idea that pushing the cruise button would lean the mixture I hear by about 10%. What other kind of logic pertaining to the mixture leaning system that may be programmed into the stock DFI computer I don't know. Only the people that designed it know exactly how it works in all situations, but basically what I've done is duplicate the cruise switch by adding a simple on/off switch that functions the same way the original switch does. And all it really does is ground one specific green/yellow stripe wire coming off the DFI harness. I bought some waterproof switches for my kits and maybe I'll come up with a handlebar mount of some kind to try to make it look a little better than the tie wrapped switch I did initially (deleted cruise switch in 2008).
I'm making a metal bracket for the liquid filled gauge with a position on the frame such that you can glance down and see what your fuel pressure is. If you have any driveability issues with this system, it's nice to be able to just look down, and know if your fuel pressure is where it's supposed to be. You didn't even get that option with the stock ZN1300 Voyager. I can purchase and include the correct Pingel petcock at additional cost if you want to change your stock one out while you're doing the conversion. This is not a hard part to source in the USA, but overseas it can be much more difficult, and this is a part I use a lot of as I put these on every bike I repair.
Also as you can see I'm getting a few other brackets or pieces on these bikes powder-coated at the same time I do the kits, so if you want any of these items just let me know ahead of time.
If you're interested in buying a DFI conversion kit for your Z1300 or KZ1300, please contact:
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Some relevant questions I've been asked pertaining to this kit:
Q: I've been reading through the information on the web site about the fuel injection kit and had a couple of questions.
Has anyone put the kit on a 1979 or 1980 model yet? I guess my main thing I was wondering about is if the kit
replaces the ignition module etc, on these bikes, or do you still use the stock
ignition? Also if it uses the pick up to know when number one is firing, do you need to do anything with the advancer?
It's been a little while since I've looked at it, but it looks like something that I would be interested in
getting as I have a 1980 A model. I'm thinking that the control box handles the ignition, in which case I'm thinking that all you would have to do is set the pickups, and possible lock the advances so that it doesn't
mess up the control box. Thanks, Mark F.
A: The DFI kit doesn't interface with the ignition except that it senses when the coils fire off the ground side of the coil.
So the DFI and the igniter on ALL YEARS of 1300's, even the Voyagers that I get the computer off of, are completely separate.
Because of this, it can fit on any year 1300. Most kits have been installed on 79' - 81' bikes so far.
The aftermarket Megasquirt computer I mention I am working on, will also be able to replace the 1300 igniters at some point in time (all years).
But the igniter module they will be offering (not available yet), will only run off their Megasquirt computer, and
their igniter module will add to the cost of the system of course. How much so, I have no idea since it's not available yet, but I'm sure it will be reasonable.
The Megasquirt system I'm developing has an oxygen sensor. This is a big bonus in some respects, but the difficulty is where to mount it so it works properly.
I'm probably still a year away from having this kit ready to sell. I have a bike running on a Megasquirt computer, but there are a LOT of variables that have to be worked out and that costs time and money.
Whoever buys my current kits, will be the first ones I'll offer the upgrade Megasquirt computer to.
Q: Do these filters have to be oiled like your typical K&N style filters do for example?
A: Yes, I would of thought it goes without saying, that you need to oil these filters with the same filter oil you oil any foam filter of this design. K&N filter oil is very common at least in the USA, but overseas, a different brand may be more prevalent in your particular country. However, surely all motorcycle shops worldwide carry some brand of filter oil for filters of this type. K&N sells their filter oil in blue or red colors, and I think K&N filters are sold worldwide. But even another brand of filter oil suitable for foam filters of this type should be fine. They sell a special cleaner to clean and re-oil these filters with, and they should be cleaned at the same intervals other filter manufacturers recommend. After all, you want clean air in your engine.
Q: I read with interest the article on fitting an adjustable fuel pressure regulator to the fuel-injected 1300's on your site & how adjusting the rail pressure to 40 psi or so improves how they run. I'm just about to fit one of these to my ZG1300 & was wondering - is that 40 psi figure set at idle, as when the throttle is opened the pressure will rise? Thanks, Phil S.
A: I set it about 43 - 45 psi cold when I first start
the motor. Actually I don't even start it, I just kick the fuel pump on and set it. On my DFI kits the pump doesn't cut off after 5 seconds, and there's really no reason to except maybe they did that as some type of safety feature I guess.
Once the bike starts, the pump runs all the time anyway, just as as it does in all the cars out there these days. When you open the throttle it demands more fuel, so the pressure drops slightly. Maybe 2 psi. But also, as the bike gets hot you loose some pressure too, because hot gas doesn't pump the same as cold gas.
So 43 - 45 psi cold equals 40 - 42 hot, minus a couple when you open it up, so maybe it drops to 38 psi lets say. That allows a safety margin of 5 psi because I assure you the injectors will not operate below about 31-32 psi. I've tested that thought more than once, and it's very easy to check these findings yourself once you have an adjustable regulator on your bike. Just crank the pressure down till it shuts off and see what
psi that is exactly.
Stock setting is about 33-36 psi assuming your regulator is functioning as designed when new.
When the gas is hot where is your pressure at? I'm guessing within one or two psi of not running at all!
And that's where your fuel system on a stock bike is running at all the time! Right at the limit of not running at all.
Personally, I don't think that's a great thing. Now I understand the thought of the purist that wants a stock look to their bike, but the difference is, do you want to ride it, or do you want to look at it and observe how nice that stock look is? If you want to ride it you could be a little stealth about installing the adjustable regulator and maybe hide it somewhere.
Of course we're talking about a 1300 here which doesn't exactly have a whole lot of hiding spots on it. You can say, well my bike seems to run just fine stock and it may.
Up the pressure and see how it runs. Did the gas mileage go up or down? Does it idle better?
Does it accelerate better? Did you get the stumble or bog out of it that's been there for YEARS? So long that you thought they all run like that!
While it's true I haven't played with the ZG models specifically, I'm sure you guys into the same stuff we do
on the ZN's at some point. You upgrade the ignition coils because you have to.
Maybe you put a Pingel petcock on because it's just better than carrying around a pair of pliers in your pocket! Yeah, we've all done that! Up the pressure and it runs better across the board.
I'm sure the ZG will respond the same. The KZ DFI conversions I'm doing probably run just like your ZG's I bet.
You notice that the stock regulator has a vacuum connection to it. That's to increase the pressure a little as you give it throttle to keep it from dropping as we mentioned earlier.
The adjustable regulator also has a vacuum connection for the same function, however, I don't bother connecting it on
my kits. Once you get the pressure up like we're doing here, I don't think it needs 2 extra
psi. These bikes run a little rich already. I've ridden it connected and disconnected and I couldn't see a bit of difference.
However, there was a lot of difference you can see right off the bat between how it was running with the stock regulator and how it runs with the new one at 40 psi or so! I think you'll see it will be worth the effort of doing it
assuming everything else is in proper working order. david@kz1300.com
UPDATE June/2010! KITS ARE NOT AVAILABLE ANYMORE!!!
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