Quote:
Originally Posted by woodsrat
Fuel injection is indeed wonderful until it doesn't work anymore. Then you're at the mercy of a lab coated technician who doesn't know any more than you do but has the ability to install and remove parts from his parts department until it runs again. Sadly most repairs on these systems is guesswork or, as the shop manuals say, "install known good component and test." With the carbs on my Lifans if there's a problem I get my tool bag out and fix it.
I've really, really tried to get my head around F. I. I even bought a Grom with the idea that I'd use it as a learning tool and carried the shop manual around with me everywhere I went to study and try to understand how it worked. That failed miserably and it went on a truck to a little lady in Arizona. While it started and ran perfectly ultimately it performed no better than my wired together step throughs.
I'll stick to my "controlled leaks" and remain comfortably in the 20th century.
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You sound like my dad. He pretends he likes carbs more than fuel injection because "fuel injection is too
scary to fix". I have worked on fuel injection before, and it is indeed a PITA, even more so than carbs, but it just doesn't break! Carbs go wrong all the time, and every time you want to make an adjustment the carbs need to come out, and then there might be air leaks when you go to put them back in, etc. I deal with 4 carbs each for both of my bikes, it is no fun. And then there is the running issues. My VFR 400 has a massive flat spot between 5000-8000 RPM, and gets right about the same fuel economy or a tiny bit better than my dad's VFR 400 when I am hypermiling it. He consistently gets 53 or so MPG, and I have to try hard to get that, otherwise I am down at 48 or lower.
My VFR 400R:
Taller gearing, stock muffler, 110/112 jets, snorkel missing from stock airbox, completely blocked oil cooler, brand spanking new bias ply tires.
His VFR 400R
stock gearing, race can(loud!), 120/122 jets, damaged radiator fins(less flow=more heat retention!), worn radial tires, hole in collector.
Both models have the SAME ENGINE other than his being a 360 degree crank and mine being a 180.
My dad is now in the process of putting a stock can back on with pipes that aren't rusted out. So he is switching back to the stock 115/118 jets, which may push him up to 57+ mpg without even trying! It isn't my riding style vs his, as I rode his bike for 1/3 of a tank and was able to get 57 mpg, and I'm sure I could push that over 60 if I did the whole tank.
Meanwhile, I tried to solve my 400's flatspot with no success. Swapped in a different set of carbs, added a washer under the needles, put in an airbox cover with the snorkel in place(but slightly different cover?) and the bike hit a fueling induced rev limiter at 7000 RPM. The snorkel had three air channels with a chunk of foam blocking the middle one, my dad's bike didn't have a blocker, so maybe I should remove the foam??? I might try some plug chops, but otherwise I am going to have to spend $80+ on a dyno with A/F readout to figure out what the hell is going on at those RPMs. Definitely going to check float level the next time the carbs are out. More work to do....yay..