This weekend was quite productive, started with loading the bike up and making a trip out to see Billywhizz. (Words cant express how much of a damn great guy Billywhizz is, top notch welder too, thanks mate)The trip was to get the turbo header modified to fit the bigger turbo, The header is for a slightly smaller turbo which meant that the turbo was about 15mm away from bolting straight up. we had to cut the Header flange off and resposition it slightly so we could get the turbo bolted up. I look at this as quite a large stepping stone in the project as before this the bike was really just a rebuilt motor with a bit of gofast goodies, it’s now that one step closer to getting fired up.

After I returned, work continued with the wiring and hope to get it finished this week. all the Electrics are just mocked in place with cable ties untill the new tail arrives and a new aluminium undertail can be measured up and sent off to the laser cutters to get cut. (in other words, ignore the cable ties)

Some brackets were made up to mount the two MSD coils, bit of an issue finding the right place to mount them while keeping it a short enough distance from the spark plugs and trying to keep it looking tidy, in the end i put them in front of the old ram air holes in the frame. I haven’t tried to fit the fairing but they look like they will be alright.

Anyway, here’s some progress pics.

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Just another quick update,

Order was put through for some bodywork today. Fibreglass tail extended 6inches

a) The bike will not have the look i hate with extended swingarms, you know, where the wheel is 6+ inches past the body work.

b) will allow it to be lowered more without the tyre rubbing when on the power.

Had two, options, one with the hump and a one piece solo tail, went with the hump so i can still take passengers on this beast

Well the MSD arrived today, just couldnt help myself and had to fit up the billet housing and rotor.

Very simple to install and only took about 5 minutes. Still have to dial it in but will do that when we dial in the cams next week.

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Boy did we have some fun today..

We had two bikes on the go today, with baldy’s stunter getting some finishing touches before going for rego.

And we got real deep into the rewire of the busa. I started with good intentions to just get the ecu going with minimal damage to the harness but what fun is that.

Managed to get 90% of the wires removed from the harness that are not needed, you know like indicators, brake lights, kill switch oh wait scratch that i screwed up and snipped that out before realising and then had to wire it back in.

Basically we are now left with a base harness that contains the charging system, ignition switch, fuse box and a hand full of wires that I’m yet to figure out what they do

BTW, a mass produced wiring harness is a product of the devil, the amount of dodgy connection, wires that pretty much loop around and do nothing amazes me, mind you i say this now.. I’ll revisit when we actually try and work out the electrical gremlins…

Thought i’d snap a pic of the harness as it stands right now, and then one mid week once we have the vitals wired up.

Keep in mind, we have only just started to wire up the main ECU, The MSD MC-4 is due to arrive tomorrow or Tuesday but the wiring harness on that one doesn’t look too difficult. Then we have the boost controller, the data logger… and whatever else i can find. Anyway, typing that out has reminded me to see where they mount the second battery on the busa..

I’m starting to realise that i may now have a problem. and that is being able to refuse a good deal when i cant afford it. Yes i know i have an ecu that can handle ignition, but i did manage to justify it to myself.

The spark in this is alot stronger than the stock coils and the brain behind it provides alot more control over the ignition than the box i currently have.

Basically, for my ignition i would still have to spend about 500usd to get the goodies need to drag race this much power consitantly. This rig does it all and then some…

Sooo, last night this little kit was ordered new:

MPS HAYABUSA MC-4 IGNITION KIT

The kit comes complete with Billet Ignition Housing, Billet Rotor, Dyna Pro Trigger, MSD MC-4 Ignition, MSD Coils, MSD 8.5mm Plug Wire, and Wire Harness. You’ll be able to program the MC-4 at the track, on the dyno, wherever - with or without a computer! It’s what you’ve been waiting for - the ability to program ignition timing curves to suit your engine’s needs with the supplied Pro-Data Plus software. This ignition has every imaginable feature. You can configure the MC-4 for a 4, 5 or 6 speed transmission with a kill in all gears, a 1-2 auto, a 1-2-3 auto, or a full automatic no kill transmission. The kill time itself is adjustable from 20 to 99 milliseconds in 1 millisecond increments. The MC-4 can be programmed to either automatically shift or control a shift light for manual shifting. Shift points can be programmed separate for each gear. The MC-4 has three rev limiters. One engine protection over rev limiter, one launch rev limiter and one burnout rev limiter. You turbo guys will love the boost curve features of the MC-4. Retard features are many, like a launch retard ramp by time. Start out retarded from 1-15 degrees with the launch rev limiter on progressing to normal timing after 0-2.5 seconds. Three separate externally controlled retards, one is progressive to retard the timing on a ramp to coincide with a progressive nitrous controller. The MC-4 also features individual gear retards starting in 3rd gear from 0-15 degrees. An RPM window switch is also included to turn on and off any 12 VDC device at pre set rpms. The MC-4 is easy to wire and program with either a laptop or the optional hand held programmer. An optional shift light with remote launch rpm set module and gear indicator is also available.For use with single or dual spark plugs per cylinder
1,2, or 4 cylinder selectable
Computer interface for easy programming
Optional hand held programmer for quick changes
Optional handle bar mounted launch RPM Selector
Optional tester will test all options
0-25 degree start retard
Mappable run timing curve
Launch Ramp Delay by time 0 - 2.5 seconds
Three step retards by RPM or switch
0 - 2.50 Second step retard off delay for precise nitrous control
Progressive timing retard by time for progressive NOS
Launch Timing Curve to prevent tire slippage
Individual cylinder timing withl cam sync sensor
Gear Retard - Retard a different amount for each gear
Shift Kill feature with programmable delays 20-99 milliseconds
Shift Kill Modes for Manual, Auto 1, 2 and Auto 1, 2, 3
Optional Boost Retard curve when used with an external MAP sensor for turbo applications (2 - 45 PSI)
Built in RPM Activated Window Switch - Turn any device up to 3 amps on at any rpm then back off at a different RPM
Sequential Shift Light - Turn on an optional shift light at a different rpm for each gear
Sequential Shifter - turns any air shifter into a fully automatic shifter (3 amps max)
Tach Output wire for tachometers or data recorders
Monitor Mode for easy set up of three step switchesMC4 Digital Ignition Specifications
Voltage input - 11 - 18 Volts
Current draw - 8 amps @ 10,000 RPM
Trigger - Points or Hall effect
Maximum RPM - 15,000
Spark duration - 20 Degrees (Multi-Spark to 3,300 rpm)
Single Spark output - 190 Millijoules
Multi Spark output - 2280 Millijoules
Primary voltage to coils 490-505 volts
Reverse polarity protection - Yes
Over-voltage protection - Yes
Shift light/shifter output - 3 amps continuous
RPM window switch - 3 amps continuous
Cylinder Select - 1,2 & 4

Supplied with the MC4 Digital Ignition will be the Pro-Data Plus Software. Once you’ve installed the software on your computer you’ll be able to program the MC4. The software allows you to map all the ignition’s features like you’ve never been able to do before! Some of the features you’ll have control over include: the timing curve, start retard, launch ramp delay, step retard off delay for nitrous applications, gear retard, shift kill delay, boost retard curve, and RPM activated window switch. As improvements and new features are made to the MC4, you’ll be able to download the software from Factory Direct Performance over the internet. Below are four of the screens showing the adjustability of the Pro-Data Plus Software.

It’s starting to look like a bike again, seeing as i have to wait another couple of weeks for some bits to be made and arrive (swingarm/turbine housing and whatever else i manage to buy in the meantime.) i thought i’d put the motor in, to make sure everything fits and to work out how much the crossbrace needs to be “relieved” for the Charge Tube. The motor will then get pulled out one more time and the adjustment made and then it goes back in for the final time…. well i hope so.

While it’s in, i’ll take the time to start wiring up the ecu and getting it all calibrated to the sensors etc…

Had another parcel arrive from the USPS man today, it contained all the fuel fittings that has been holding back progress on that side of things.

Fuel system specs are at the moment sitting as this:
- Bosch Motorsport “044″ Fuel pump (off the top of my head it flows 200gph @ 75psi)
- Sard Fuel Pressure Regulator
- 850cc @ 43psi injectors. Probably a little undersized for my application, but easy to change out. Standard is 270cc
- Jegs Fuel Plumbing and Distribution block, Push-Loc hose fittings eliminates clamps and are good for around 250psi.
- SAE Billet Fuel Rail.

Big thumbs up to Bart for helping over the last couple of weeks as quite often 4 hands are better than two.

Anyway, got the multistage clutch fitted tonight in a basic “tune” which should be tight enough to provide no slip on the dyno when i get it there.

Think i explained before but the multistage clutch has 3 area’s which enable it to be tuned.

1) Is the Clutch Springs, these are weaker than stock to provide slip when the clutch is dropped at high revs.

2) Finger weights, these are nothing more than different thickness weight matched washers

3) Inner Springs for the fingers, these used in different combinations with #2 allow the slip to be stopped further down the track and to lockup the clutch allowing full power to be applied.

Sadly the engine build itself is missing alot of photo’s, something about assembly lube and digital camera’s didnt go together and Bart only managed to grab a couple of quick snaps during the assembly. Both Main Bearing and Cylinder head are fully studded to help control the extra flex this motor could see.

All thats left to do is to fit the new larger Output shaft and shim the valves, These are the only thing that prevented the engine from being fully assembled and sealed up last weekend. The output shaft is 5 mm larger than the factory unit and requires a larger spacer that was accidently left out of my shipment. No biggie, the standard spacer is going down to hamish engineering this week to get machine to suit the larger shaft.

At the moment i’d like to give a quick thanks to Coventry’s for helping out with this. They rarely do any form of motorsport sponsorship so for them to slip some cash my way was a big ask. They also gave me a killer deal on a new 295pc tool chest that contains just about everything needed to do the bike and are happy to extend that to PSB members which i will post details of later.

As it was a long weekend and i was waiting the output shaft to finalise the motor, i thought i would mock everything up and complete the plumbing for the fuel system.Figured it would be easier now than when the motor was in the bike.

Well I know it’s been a bloody long time since ive been able to do an update, quite frankly it’s because i hadnt done much. Well that has changed over the last 3 weeks and I have managed to progress a fair way along.

3 Weeks ago the bike was a bare frame/swingarm and was actually quite depressing. I was waiting on the final shipment of engine parts (don’t know how many times ive said final, something else always comes up). The shipment was to contain all my bearing, fuel fittings, gauges and a new turbine housing to suit the turbo manifold that Richard at RCCTurbos.com hooked me up with. Only problem is that the turbine housing got stolen in transit, even though the tracking info says delivered…

The manifold, like the Billet intercooled Plenum is the same as supplied with Richard’s “Ultra” kit as seen here, If any of you guys with suzuki’s are looking at going turbo, Richard is the man.

Another downfall that was discovered when cleaning the swingarm was a crack around one of the chain guard mounts. A new swingarm was ordered from OS, ended up going with a 3-9in extended arm with underbracing. These are made by a guy in Canada who does some very nice work. In about 4 weeks the replacement housing and the swingarm will arrive and we will be one step closer to a running and rolling bike.

So… The bike, as you can see below, pretty depressing huh?

Since then i’ve rebuilt the forks and lowered them 2 inches internally so that i can piss off the straps that i have previously used to lower the front. I’ll be honest and say that i didnt go over the top with forks, the bike isn’t a corner carver so i couldnt see the need to go with all the good internals, just a quick rebuild with new seals will do for now, also a future mod on the cards is the GSXR 1000 front end.

This time last week, the majority of the new parts were laid out for a quick stocktake to ensure we had everything available as USPS tracking said the latest shipment had just cleared customs. Happy times ahead.