New grips and grip heaters...
... Well, those of you who bought Grip Puppies because of me, uh, well, uh....
I accidentally ran across a new grip while ordering stuff for my grip heaters. They are the Sunline Grand Touring grips from California Sport Touring. I used these over the heating elements and I love them. Not too hard, not too soft... shaped just right! $11. (I had previously lost one of the stock grip end-caps... I didn't need to replace it due to these closed-end grips)
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/p...&pictureid=277
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/pict...pictureid=2525
Heat-Troller:
http://www.st-owners.com/forums/pict...pictureid=3502
This will be the third install of the Symtec Grip Heaters, also from CA Sport Touring. They're about $30. Look closely at the above pic and you can see the wiring exiting from under the grip and tied to the existing cables/wires.
I prefer an infinitely-variable control to an on-off switch. So... as with the past installations, I chose Heat-Troller - a solid state device. It controls the voltage to the grips by pulsing it - not by "burning off" the excess in a resistor. The Heat-Troller is about $55 from the same place.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/p...&pictureid=287
Use caution concerning other cheaper, non-solid-state controllers... they're variable resistors which get really hot!
BTW, I've never liked the low/off/high switches... the grips, when in use, were always too cool or too hot.
I've never had problems with either part of this set up. However, I suggest you use HIGH TEMP RTV to put the grips back on over the heating elements.
http://www.casporttouring.com/store/...02/symtecl.jpghttp://www.casporttouring.com/store/...r_handgrip.jpg
<< Disclaimer: I'm not associated with CST but wish I was on commission. >> :D
Did you notice that the Spyder is yellow this week? :spyder:
.
Evoluzion Oxygen Sensor Eliminator...
If you don't want to possibly affect your emissions, skip this post! :joke:
My Spyder as had an annoying lean idle surge of about 200 RPM since new... BUDS said nothing was wrong... everything in spec. Well, that wasn't the right answer.
I installed the Evoluzion O2 Eliminator this afternoon to see what it would do. The theory is that the "black box" tricks the Spyder's fuel injection processor into making the fuel mixture a little richer.
It apparently works... and works well. As soon as I fired the Spyder up, the idle was consistently at 1400 RPM with no more than a 50 RPM variation... all the way up through five bars on the temperature gauge. No more wild swings... it's not even noticeable now.
It's a relatively painless install if you read the instructions. I did not.... again. :opps: You'd think I'd learn... finally. I made it more work than necessary. This should be about a 30-45 minute job at worst.
The kit contains a plug for the O2 sensor in the header pipe. It is in the center of the bike just ahead of where the 90* muffler pipe connects to the header... and points toward the front of the bike. Remove the O2 sensor and insert the plug with the provided gasket/washer. No big deal. And yes, you do want to use the plug as Evoluzione has stated that the stock O2 sensor can be damaged by just using it as a plug. Package it up and store it in case you ever want to go back to stock configuration!
The electrical connection is accessible by removing the flat black plastic fender panel under the seat... the one that the two glossy side panels connect to... the one just above the tire... the one with the three Torx-head bolts on each side. You don't have to remove the side panels!
Once that single panel is removed, you'll find two stock plug connections behind the battery... one two-wire and one four-wire. The four-wire connection is the target. Unplug, plug in the eliminator, attach the eliminator to the frame with the provided 3M dual lock fastener, and button the bike back up. You're good to go.
Update 8/16/2008: Logged about 300 miles today in all driving conditions... slow, fast, city, country. The 200 rpm surge is back. :( However, the seat-of-pants dyno thinks the bike runs stronger.
Update 12/2008: The surge was caused by a faulty Gear Position Sensor. See this thread for what else was affected... and cured. http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=7831
Update 8/20/2008: I uninstalled the eliminator today during a throttle-body sync. No difference. Using a TwinMax synchronizer, I found the TBs right on in terms of adjustment.
Project difficulty: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being most difficult), this is a "2" assuming you read the directions.
Happier motoring! :thumbup:
Click here for http://evoluzione.net/evo-cycle.htm
Thanks for sharing all your great mods and ideas
We all appreciate new ideas and new ways of doing things. It encourages me to tackle things I wouldn't otherwise do. Thanks again.
Thanks for sharing all your great mods and ideas
Thanks for sharing all your ideas and mods. It helps me to do other things that I wouldn't normally do. It's very encouraging. Thanks again.