Suzuki Quadracer HQ

LT500R Quadracer => LT500R - Engine => Topic started by: Buckeye513 on February 22, 2013, 07:48:33 pm

Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuckie25 on January 24, 2014, 07:00:08 pm
how could you be broke when you have an army of atvs in your back yard   <1>

BECAUSE I HAVE AN ARMY OF ATV's LOL and they aren't in the backyard anymore. I relocated them to Area 25
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: PCS on January 24, 2014, 06:00:07 pm
how could you be broke when you have an army of atvs in your back yard   <1>
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Iceracer on January 24, 2014, 06:12:29 am
Here ya go. Only been around for @ 10-15 years now. All you gotta do is get Suzuki to start producing a new 2 stroke wheeler.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuckie25 on January 23, 2014, 10:58:02 pm
I am with PCS on this, and I've been saying it for a long time as well. Someone just needs to nut up and actually give it a try. As soon as one person does it and figures it all out, or most of it, then a second person will. Then a third, fourth, so on and so forth. After the first few people, majority of the kinks will be worked out.

If I weren't broke I would give it a try on my 250. Just because it's different, mainly. But I'm broke, and know the building an EFI set up will make me even more broke.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 23, 2014, 09:35:52 pm
There are advantages to a proper EFI system or carb and direct injection over port or throttle body injection.
It will make more usable power, get better fuel consumption, and better drivability.
With EFI, you don't have to worry about air speed to draw fuel, so you can run a bigger TB than you can a carb.
There is a reason everything is going to EFI and stopped using carbs. Carbs are outdated.

Back in the day, an EFI banshee was banned from the pikes peak hill climb because it was so much faster.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on January 23, 2014, 09:29:59 pm
so if one could maintain a consistent temperature across the exhaust system, would that minimize the effects of air flow fluctuation due to the changes in exhaust pipe temperature?
i agree that if you can make more power with a carb system over an fi and keep the reduce complexity of the fuel system that fi would not be so impressive.

side note or way out in "left field"
ive contemplated if you could somehow combine the reed and throttle system in to a single operating unit and use a fuel injector or multiple injectors to directly inject pre mix into the crankcase, similar to the idea of direct injection on automobiles. would this allow a designer more freedom to play with port design rather than to fall into the constraints of using the same combination of carb to reeds to crankcase to cylinder...
 S~
feel free to elaborate motorgeek


Keeping the exhaust temperature inside the pipe from one end of the expansion chamber to the other constant and repeatable throughout the whole length, would help the repeat ability of the air consumption and fuel demands.

I do not think that there would be much of an advantage of injecting fuel into the crank case over a well tuned carb. 

Suzuki has had doing R&D on some variable lift-variable duration cam engines for about 5 to 7 years but has not been released for production.  These engines do not have a throttle on the intake.  All of the air flow into the engine is controlled by the variable lift /duration cams.  At an idle there is very little lift on the valves and very little duration.  At high RPM and max power mode the valve lift and duration of valve opening is more radical than a conventional cam setup.
   
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 23, 2014, 09:28:00 pm
The banshee ones use megasquirts, then there is one running an old school ecu that uses msdos. There is one being built using a new high tech ecu. There is the technology out there now. You don't need to run an o2 sensor either. The banshee ones dont run them expect to do tune then take it off after initial tuning is done. One guy has many hours on his o2 sensor on his banshee from doing changes on his set up.
The only costly thing for EFI is the ECU. A good ECU is going to cost around a grand. If you know how to use the megasquirt, they are only like $400ish. Injector would be much, just need to know the right size.
For a zilla, you can do a TBI style. Use a throttle body from like a yfzr or ltr or an aftermarket bigger one. Just need some sensor, again not too much.
Main issue is getting some juice out of the stator to run everything, need to make it DC and charge a battery. This is the best way to do it.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on January 23, 2014, 09:21:26 pm
Yamahas H.P.D.I. (High Pressure Direct Injection) & Evinrudes E-Tec both utilize the injector in the combustion chamber of the cylinder head. Lubrication is via separate pressure feed oil lines to vital areas. According to an engineer I spoke with, the advantage of this on a 2 stroke is the intake tract can be optimized for dry flow as opposed to a fuel laden wet flow design.The problem is physical size of the injector pumps, they are big & bulky.  If technology were to shrink these, is there any future with this in the powersports industry?

There is a future if they can find a way to make the cost of EFI and or direct injected systems about the same as conventional carburation and CDI ignitions.  The reason for the direct injection in two strokes was to comply with new emission standards and decrease fuel consumption, not to increase the power.  There is not any power advantage to direct injection.  The boat, jet ski, and snowmobile engines that use direct injection make a lot of power because they are large displacement engines that are not in a real high state of tune. 

The direct injected engines are expensive to manufacture, repair and expensive equipment is needed to diagnose and repair the electrical systems on these engines.  I do not think that the power sports industry is going to move in this direction unless high emission standards are placed on all of the off road vehicles.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: PCS on January 23, 2014, 06:14:50 pm
Ive seen a few fi banshees, so u know its been done. Brian, maybe all it takes is people to start trying to apply these systems to power sports and slowly work the kinks out.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: El Diablo on January 23, 2014, 05:49:20 pm
Yamahas H.P.D.I. (High Pressure Direct Injection) & Evinrudes E-Tec both utilize the injector in the combustion chamber of the cylinder head. Lubrication is via separate pressure feed oil lines to vital areas. According to an engineer I spoke with, the advantage of this on a 2 stroke is the intake tract can be optimized for dry flow as opposed to a fuel laden wet flow design.The problem is physical size of the injector pumps, they are big & bulky.  If technology were to shrink these, is there any future with this in the powersports industry?
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 23, 2014, 03:32:42 pm
Direct injection into the crank has been done.
And EFI has been done on banshees already. It works.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: PCS on January 23, 2014, 02:38:27 pm
so if one could maintain a consistent temperature across the exhaust system, would that minimize the effects of air flow fluctuation due to the changes in exhaust pipe temperature?
i agree that if you can make more power with a carb system over an fi and keep the reduce complexity of the fuel system that fi would not be so impressive.

side note or way out in "left field"
ive contemplated if you could somehow combine the reed and throttle system in to a single operating unit and use a fuel injector or multiple injectors to directly inject pre mix into the crankcase, similar to the idea of direct injection on automobiles. would this allow a designer more freedom to play with port design rather than to fall into the constraints of using the same combination of carb to reeds to crankcase to cylinder...
 S~
feel free to elaborate motogeek
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on January 23, 2014, 09:09:48 am
Why is everyone concern about running fi in closed loop mode? You can tune and use fi in open loop. Many fi atv and dirt bikes don't use an o2 and Many of the sport bike aftermarket fi tuners eliminate the o2 and you just tune the engine on a dyno as would with a carb.

Because the air flow curve in a high performance two stroke will move 200 to 500 RPM depending upon the pipe temperature.  The fuel flow or map values being off 200 to 500 RPM makes for a lousy running engine.  This is one of the main problems that I and all of the engine manufactures have encountered trying to run a two stroke in open loop.

The video of the CR 500 indicates they are having the same problem mentioned above.  If you listen closely to the engine it is close to being in tune on one section of the track and way off on another section of the track.  This is because the pipe temperature is changing and the fuel demand is not the same on one section of the track compared to another section of the track at the same RPM and throttle position.  Did you notice that they had their lap top trying to make adjustments trying to hit this moving fuel flow target that they have not gained enough experience to realize that the fuel target is constantly moving. 

I was not impressed with their EFI efforts.  I have seen and worked on a lot of carburated CR 500s that ran better than their fuel injected bike. 

If you try to run a high performance two stroke in closed loop and know what shape air/fuel curve the engine needs we have just changed the name of the look up table from RPM vs throttle position to RPM vs air/fuel ratio.  My findings indicated that the fuel and spark map for a high performance two stroke needs to have at least a 5 dimensional sensing and mapping capability. 

Most EFI 4 strokes run great with  2 dimension mapping systems.  There is a lot more phenomena occurring during one engine revolution in a two stroke than a 4 stroke. 
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: PCS on January 23, 2014, 01:34:35 am
Why is everyone concern about running fi in closed loop mode? You can tune and use fi in open loop. Many fi atv and dirt bikes don't use an o2 and Many of the sport bike aftermarket fi tuners eliminate the o2 and you just tune the engine on a dyno as would with a carb.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on January 22, 2014, 10:00:16 pm
I know they have been using EFI on 2-strokes for a while.
Even the government is spending money on making their UAV's a 2-stroke with EFI.

It is possible to run a o2 sensor on a 2-stroke and it work. You just need to learn how to set it up.

The easiest ways to set it up is to not have a two stroke that has a very high specific power (hp/cubic inch) output.  If we use port timings and an exhaust system like what is used on a leaf blower, weed eater or boat engine, it is not real difficult to them run real well in closed loop using an O2 sensor. 

I know a lot about the government 's two stroke engine UAVs.  I have been doing consulting work on some of their two stroke engine projects for about 3 to 4 years.  One of our two stroke projects recently got cancelled.  Now the government wants military equipment to run on diesel even the UAVs.  There are already some diesel powered UAVs being flown. 
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: B_Fuss on January 22, 2014, 09:32:22 pm
Efi 2 stroke may work at a constant rpm, like aircraft. Just not so well on a Zilla
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 22, 2014, 09:21:14 pm
I know they have been using EFI on 2-strokes for a while.
Even the government is spending money on making their UAV's a 2-stroke with EFI.

It is possible to run a o2 sensor on a 2-stroke and it work. You just need to learn how to set it up.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on January 22, 2014, 07:00:30 pm
Just want to say, you don't need to dyno tune it for every mod.
You don't have to retune it for every mod.
It will make more usable power.
O2 sensors can work.

My experience with running two strokes in closed loop and using O2 sensors has not be very rewarding.   The life span of the O2 sensos are very short when you use leaded racing fuel.  Even when using unleaded racing fuel, keeping the O2 sensor hot enough to keep the O2 sensor from fouling is just one of the many problems I encountered running a two stroke in closed loop mode.  Large single cylinder engines seem to give more O2 sensor problems because most riders do not run the engines at wide open throttle as much as the smaller engines.  Keeping the exhaust system real hot and the average exhaust temperature inside the pipe high is helpful in extending the life of the sensor.  Two stroke racing engines need a lot of oil in the fuel to meed the lubrication demands and this also causes premature failure of the sensors.  The LSU heated Wide Band sensors that Bosch makes seem to last the longest but the life span is still not acceptable by my standards. 

I started using EFI on two strokes in 1993.  The controllers we were using were supplied by EFI Technologies.  At the time they were supplying the engine management systems for the Cosworth and Ilmor Chevy Indy car engines.  We had the same systems and software as the Indy Cars were using but we were only using 2 cylinders of its full capability.  The system we were using could control up to 12 cylinders with 2 injectors per cylinder and each injector had its own fuel map.  These systems were sequential, allowing the tuner to start or stop the injector at any desired crankshaft position. 

The above system also had a lot of options as far as the different types of ignition systems that it could control.  We used the system to control our ignition and had a different spark map for each cylinder.

We were most successful running the Alpha-N type system which used RPM and throttle position as the primary variables for fuel and spark mapping.  The optimum air/ fuel curves for high performance two strokes are not nice and flat like the majority of the four strokes.  Four strokes are a natural candidate for using an O2 sensor to control the engine's fuel needs but I have never been happy with the quality of the fuel control that an O2 sensor provides on a high performance two stroke.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 22, 2014, 01:36:48 pm
Just want to say, you don't need to dyno tune it for every mod.
You don't have to retune it for every mod.
It will make more usable power.
O2 sensors can work.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: ZillaFreak on January 22, 2014, 01:30:24 pm
Just want to say, lot of stupid in here.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Buckeye513 on January 22, 2014, 01:21:25 pm
Those videos were the reason I started this thread.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Mitch Keller on January 22, 2014, 01:18:50 pm
Wonder how they keep the O2 Sensor from getting oiled up?
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Glamisrider on January 22, 2014, 01:05:39 pm
I know there was some debate about fuel injecting a 500 single 2 stroke.

Well it looks like it's been done and it sounds an seems to run real good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y91Jms6MyCY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BskSxMoQrwA
There is some nice dirt track, ice racing, fields, & desert riding on this vid
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 25, 2013, 08:14:17 pm
That's one of the ways they're using to extend the life of an O2 sensor.
They don't even install the sensor on the exhaust pipe, but rather a remote location with an air pump that sucks some of the exhaust out to sample.
Once you pull that exhaust sample out, you can run it through an air/oil separator and over a heated O2 sensor.
It's a continuous flow system, meaning the pump is flowing exhaust over the O2 sensor at all times and nearly as fast as if it were inside the pipe.
Another benefit is that you can hook the line up to the stinger if you wanted to avoid that bit of fresh charge that gets pushed into the exhaust, preventing erroneous O2 readings.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Hotbutta on February 25, 2013, 07:13:51 pm
Can a heated o2 sensor be used in a two stroke to extend its life?
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: STARPUSS on February 25, 2013, 05:45:49 pm
if i ever get my Tig Welding Toolz back i Want to make a Set of Killer Pipes for it lol!
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 25, 2013, 02:24:27 am
Oh sweet, that'll make things easier.
Rotax aircraft engines are highly neglected in the pipe and porting dept., a guy could make a killing selling top notch pipes for them.
It would also be pretty simple, since an aircraft engine has a certain target RPM range for flight...or hovering, in some cases.
Tune the pipe for a specific engine RPM and don't even worry about low and mid range that'll never be utilized.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: STARPUSS on February 24, 2013, 09:05:10 pm
It's a Hovercraft LOL,
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 24, 2013, 07:09:00 pm
It'll be a lot easier to tune an EFI on an aircraft, since you don't need a dyno for it to produce 100% power, or anywhere in between.
All you have to do is tie it down or hold the brakes and give it throttle.
The hard part is tuning for altitude...I'm not sure how comfortable you'd feel hooking up to the ECU and making changes to it while you're 8,000ft up.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: STARPUSS on February 24, 2013, 06:35:29 pm
Whatz going to Suck is that there is no where to Dyno Run Close to my place ..
Ill have to Stick to the Drag Track.. and See where i get the best time Then one day Dyno Run her..

I am going to be setting up a system on a rotax ultralight engine B4 i do it on the Zilla.  Hope that go's well..
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on February 24, 2013, 03:57:55 pm
Would love to see a efi lt500 on a dyno and what kind of hp can you see out of it 2c

EFI or mechanical fuel injection will not make any more power than a carburetor that has identical air flow characteristics when the carburetor has the correct main jet.


 EFI should provide better fuel mileage and be self-correcting for temperature and altitude if the programmer has done his homework. 

Automobile manufactures spend more time than one afternoon in the dyno room building fuel and spark maps. 

Some of the theoretical corrections can be done by math.  The real home work has to be done in the field by testing the engine at all of the extremes; extreme cold, high altitude, high humidity, etc and everything in between and then use the real world corrections if they are not in agreement with the theoretical generated corrections. Unfortunately engines do not always operate according to theory.

Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuck D on February 24, 2013, 03:36:09 pm
Yea my bad I guess I didn't read your post well. I think we are talking about the same thing. I call it a bung extension but all it does is takes the sensor out of flowing exhuast. It makes for in accurate readings and doubles the longevity of the sensor. Here it is http://www.exhaustgas.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=1570&DepartmentID=14&CategoryID=75&RepID=&BasketID=

open loop systems, yea they work great on 2 strokes and 4 strokes. I have hundreds of hours tuning modded twin cylinder 2 strokes and 4 stroke singles with this setup. Just makes it very finicky changing alltitude when you start getting more horspower with porting, pipes, and head mods. Always adjusting fuel with controller.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 24, 2013, 03:08:43 am
Perhaps you need to read my post again, I never said anything about running an open loop with an O2 sensor.
If an open loop system has an O2 sensor then it's not open loop anymore.
Like I said before, longevity with an O2 sensor is being extended in 2-stroke environments by using an air oil separator.
Unless your bung extender had an air oil separator, I wouldn't expect it to last very long either.
You can't just weld a bung on your exhaust and expect the O2 sensor to last forever...but advancements in O2 tech are going to change that in the near future.

The point I was trying to make that you seemed to have missed was that most EFI quads are open loop and have never used an O2 sensor during their entire existence.
So the fact that an O2 sensor won't work well in a 2-stroke environment is overshadowed by the fact that EFI quads are being run without them on a daily basis.
I've got an open loop EFI setup on my LTR right now, and I can promise you there is no O2 sensor on it.

What people don't understand about open and closed loop systems is that they think an open loop is no better than a carb is at metering fuel for varying atmospheric conditions.
An open loop system can go from sea level at 70deg or 9,000ft at 20deg and KNOW the difference between them.
A carb isn't able to discern the difference, which is why everyone has slightly different jets in their carbs depending on all sorts of factors.
Open loop systems can determine air density from their sensors just as well as closed loop systems can.
Both systems have to be told what to do at those conditions with the fuel map, so they're only as accurate as the tune they receive.
The difference being that a closed loop system can double check to be sure the tune is in keeping with how you expect the A/F ratio to react to that portion of the fuel map.
There's a certain amount of adjustment leeway that you can give a closed loop system to correct on its own, but give it too much leeway with a poor fuel map and it'll hunt the A/F ratio without ever getting it nailed down.
Basically, the closed loop system is only there to accommodate the variables that can't be accounted for with standard sensors.
Things like an injector that's performing a little sloppy, or an ignition coil that's getting weak, running it in densely forested areas (slightly higher O2 saturation) vs. a desert, weak reeds, weak piston rings that lower compression, etc.
Those are things that you can't program into a fuel map, but the O2 sensor will catch.
We're not talking about a whole lot of change here though, it's just not running at an optimal level at all times without the O2 sensor giving it some feedback.

Tuning an open loop EFI is just like tuning a carb, only with a different medium.
If you run a certain set of jets and needle position for winter riding, then run a different set of jets during the summer, then another set for riding in a different area, you still have to tune for each of them.
If you were to take all of your tuning notes (writing down main jet, idle jet, needle position, etc. etc.) in a notebook, you could simply refer to that notebook to rejet for winter, or wherever.
With an EFI, you tune the fuel map with the conditions you're presently seeing and it remembers your tuning.
Come back to it a few months later when the temps have changed and tune it again (just like you would with a carb) and it remembers that tune as well as your previous tune.
Go to your favorite riding spot which has a 2,00ft elevation change and do some tuning there (just like you would with a carb) and it remembers that tune as well as the other two.
Pretty soon, you're going to have a lot of tuning info that the EFI can choose from depending on what the sensors are telling it.
If you're at home, and the density altitude changes drastically enough to mimic the riding spot that's 2,000ft above you, the sensors will detect the density change and adjust tuning as needed.
You may not have every tune for every situation, but you'll be able to see a trend in how the fuel map changes as pressure and temp changes, and smooth the map out.
It may not run great when you get between the points that you've mapped, but it'll be close enough that you won't spend very much time mapping from scratch, only some small adjustments here and there to detail the map even further.
So what you're basically doing with the EFI fuel map is jotting down all of your tuning notes into one computer that doesn't wait for you to say "Hey it's winter, maybe we should up the main jet a size" it just automatically does it for you as soon as those conditions are met.

Here's one reason why I want to see someone install an EFI on an LT....a fuel map is downloadable.
If someone went through all the trouble of tuning their LT and getting it down perfectly, they can email that file to the next guy who wants to try it.
It'll be off, of course, but you'll have a generic base map to start with and fine tune to your bike, lessening some of the time it takes tuning from scratch.
If enough guys get together and start a little database of base maps grouped by different engine mods (like bone stock engine, stock with FMF pipe, stock with Q pipe, etc.), then the tuning time is cut down even more.
People can find a fuel map that was made for a bike with the same mods and have a much better chance at success the first time around.
Fuel mapping for density altitude extremes (like really high altitudes or extreme cold) that most guys normally will never see could be tuned by someone who lives in Colorado or an ice racer in NY to fill in the edges of the fuel map for those of us who will likely never see those conditions to map ourselves.
It's more of a pipe dream than anything, seeing as how there's so few of us LT owners out there, and an even smaller group that might be interested in EFI, and an even smaller group that would be good at tuning an EFI, and an even smaller group that decided to run a particular ECU...you get the idea.
That would be pretty sweet though, a big database of fuel maps that you could pick and choose from, tweak it a bit here and there, and you've got an EFI that's tuned for all sorts of conditions that you'd probably never get a chance to see.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuck D on February 24, 2013, 01:21:21 am
Weasttexasking, well all I can say is what open loop 2 stroke or 4 stroke sytem have you seen with an O2 sensor? The only way that I have personally got longer life out of an O2 sensor with 2 stroke operation is putting the bung extender on with poor, inaccurate readings that just get worse.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: 1989LT500Rzilla on February 23, 2013, 08:16:27 pm
Would love to see a efi lt500 on a dyno and what kind of hp can you see out of it 2c
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 23, 2013, 07:15:04 pm
O2 sensors are right on the cusp of being just as reliable in a 2-stroke environment as they are in 4-strokes.
Some are capable of extended closed loop operation in 2-strokes with the use of a simple air/oil separator.
Most EFI setups on quads and dirtbikes are open loop anyway, so not having an O2 sensor isn't a deal breaker.

The fact that there's several 2-strokes already retrofitted with EFI systems, like the dirtbike video in Starpuss' thread, just proves that EFI can be successful on a 2-stroke (a 500cc single to boot).
I just want to see an LT fuel injected, for better or worse.
I think it would be a great learning experience, and an alternative to the same old crap that we have to choose from right now.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuck D on February 23, 2013, 04:49:10 pm
That kit is a close loop system. o2 sensor do not work with two strokes, unless you plan on replacing the sensor every 15 hours.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Buckeye513 on February 23, 2013, 03:51:04 pm
Electomotive makes 2 stroke EFI kits.

http://www.ecotrons.com/400cc_to_800cc_Engine_EFI_kit.html
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on February 23, 2013, 12:52:40 pm
Motor geek - on the ecu's you were involved with, what manufactures were they?

Where they mapped on throttle position vs rpm or boost/vacuum vs rpm?

Chuck D - I agree with your comments but if you made and changes to a carb'd bike engine it would still need rejetting

The engine already has a crank sensor fitted to work the electronic ignition, all I can see that would be needed to work the ecu would be throttle position sensor, air temp, water temp and possibly map sensor and a battery with charging system.


Injection Research Specialist, Echlin Engine Systems, Pacer Industries, EFI Technologies, and Electomotive Industries, were some of the companies that I was involved with. 

IRS, Echlin and Pacer were primarily aiming to supply the two-stroke snowmobile and jet ski industry.  EFI Technologies was one of the pioneers in EFI for Cosworth and Ilmore Chevrolet Indy Car engines as well as Buick GTP engines.  EFI Technologies wanted to get into the two-stroke engines market.  EFI technologies teamed up with Wescoast Performance. Products. Westcoast worked on the project for about a year and then came to me for help.  Electomotive was a company that supplied controllers for the automotive hot rod industry and also wanted to get into the two-stroke market.

We tried the Alpha N (throttle position vs RPM) and the Speed Density (Manifold pressure vs RPM) as well as a combination of both systems.  Alpha N systems were the best systems on most two strokes with one throttle body per cylinder.  Speed Density did not work very well on the one throttle body per cylinder because of the weak vacuum signal.  On multi-cylinder engines that had all of their intakes connected to one common plenum with one throttle body, Speed Density systems showed a flicker of hope.

The airflow into the engine follows the tuned length of the pipe on a two-stroke.  The tuned length of a two-stroke pipe is not fixed.  The tuned length depends primarily on exhaust temp and the density of the exhaust. The density of the exhaust depends upon the ACTUAL air/fuel ratio of the by products of combustion and not what an O2 sensor “sees” and the trapping efficiency.  An O2 sensor only "sees" oxygen and does not see raw fuel or any other gas that may be present.  A O2 sensor will see a rich miss-fire as the most lean condition possible!!!!!!!!!

Many versions of mass flow sensors running in closed loop with different plenums sizes between the engine and the mass flow sensor were also developed.  It required huge volume plenums to damp the extreme amplitudes and the reverse flow from the two-stroke intake process.  The optimum plenum sizes were not practical for the vehicles the engines were to be used on.

The alpha N system requires the engine to always consume the same amount of air at a given RPM and throttle position and corrected by barometric pressure, intake temp. and engine temp.  A four-stroke’s engine volumetric efficiency repeats the above process very well.  A highly tuned two-stroke engine will not consume the same amount of air at a particular RPM and throttle position each time it returns to that same throttle position and RPM. because of the inconsistency of a tuned pipe.  I learned how to test two strokes long before the inertia dynos became popular and anyone with $15,000  to $20, 000 in their pocket can become an instant expert on dyno testing and tuning  This is one of the reasons that I use heavy rollers on my chassis dyno and I my experience  will not allow me to become one of the sheeple that follow the recommendations of the dyno manufactures on what type of dyno should be used to test two stroke engines with highly tuned pipes. 

Most of the EFI development that I was involved with was about 20 years ago.  We now have faster processors and the diesel industry has technology like the ultra high-pressure electronic injectors and pumps that might have some application for two-stroke EFI.  We still have to solve the age-old problem of predicting the airflow into the engine and knowing the exact amount of air that got trapped into the combustion chamber so that we can fuel it properly. 

The direct injected two-strokes are not simple two strokes.  The direct injected two-strokes are very expensive to build and repair.  We still need to figure out how to fuel inject two-stokes to reduce emissions and keep them simple or face extinction. 
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on February 23, 2013, 12:42:49 pm
It's not practical for an efi system to be installed on a 25 year old two stroke engine. The injection systems that are used on two strokes engines today require TBap sensor, exhaust temp sensor, crank position sensor, engine temp sensor and and a control unit with a very intraget fuel/ignition mapping. That requires a stator that can supply sufficient power. Not to mention the only big gains would come from a direct injection that requires injectors to be installed directly in the transfer ports. Cylinder disgn and port setup changes dramatically with a setup that would give you any tipe of big gains. Fuel injection is very temperamental with mods. If you start changing pipe set ups, port timing, even a open airbox. The control unit would need reprograming or a piggy back control unit. Sounds good but not practical.

This is so true.  Change an air filter and it usually requires an expensive dyno tuning session to remap the fuel tables to evaluate whether the air filter change will result in a power increase. 

A carburetor will sense a slight increase or decrease in air flow and continue to supply the appropriate amount of fuel without having to change jets.

Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuck D on February 23, 2013, 11:20:08 am
Yes your right it would need rejetting. My point was the cost to have a piggy back or program equipment. Also with 2 stroke fuel injection engines used today they are not close loop systems. That's what makes them so temperamental to mods. You can't run O2 sensors because of the oil in the fuel. The exhaust gases will kill the O2 sensor in about 15 hours of run time.

Austen, you would need a lot more than what you listed. Injector, throttle body with tps, not just air temp but air density and pressure. You need a fuel pump to supply fuel pressure to the injector and everything else I listed above. Fuel mapping from scratch wouldn't be fun. Again not practical.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: AustenW on February 23, 2013, 02:47:06 am
Motor geek - on the ecu's you were involved with, what manufactures were they?

Where they mapped on throttle position vs rpm or boost/vacuum vs rpm?

Chuck D - I agree with your comments but if you made and changes to a carb'd bike engine it would still need rejetting

The engine already has a crank sensor fitted to work the electronic ignition, all I can see that would be needed to work the ecu would be throttle position sensor, air temp, water temp and possibly map sensor and a battery with charging system.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Chuck D on February 23, 2013, 01:31:59 am
It's not practical for an efi system to be installed on a 25 year old two stroke engine. The injection systems that are used on two strokes engines today require TBap sensor, exhaust temp sensor, crank position sensor, engine temp sensor and and a control unit with a very intraget fuel/ignition mapping. That requires a stator that can supply sufficient power. Not to mention the only big gains would come from a direct injection that requires injectors to be installed directly in the transfer ports. Cylinder disgn and port setup changes dramatically with a setup that would give you any tipe of big gains. Fuel injection is very temperamental with mods. If you start changing pipe set ups, port timing, even a open airbox. The control unit would need reprograming or a piggy back control unit. Sounds good but not practical.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: MotorGeek - Jerry Hall on February 22, 2013, 11:32:12 pm
Saw that starpuss is planning on attempting efi on his Zilla build. Looked at some efi 2 stroke conversion kits on the web starting at $599 for 42mm throttle body for 400-800cc 2 stroke single cylinder engines. Is this really something that is doable? I mean the benefits f efi are far greater performance and reliability wise to that of carborated engines. Is this something I should consider with my Zilla build? If its as simple as it seems why hasn't more people been doing it? Excuse me if I'm way wrong I'm not the most knowledgeable regarding engine building and such and I'm the first to admit that. Just thought this topic should maybe be breached in depth so I can learn all the options I have for my build. Thanks
If you have a ton of expensive testing equipment as well as unlimited access to a dyno it would be an experience that would be very educational.  The theory of how to apply conventional EFI to a two-stroke sounds very simple until you have been down this road.  I do not think that any of the members on the forums have the financial resources to perfect EFI for two-strokes.   


It was common knowledge in our engineering circles that GM, Chrysler, Toyota, and Mercedes had two stroke R&D projects with conventional EFI going on in the late 1980s.  I am sure all of the other auto companies around the world also had two stroke EFI projects, but I did not know any engineers at those companies.  The insiders in the automotive industry said that the various companies would have high-powered two strokes in some of their sport cars by the mid to late 1990s.  Engineers from GM, Chrysler and Mercedes told me that the engines and fuel management systems would work well in the test cells and under the watchful eye of an army of engineers but did not have the longevity to pass the certification tests.  The bean counters stopped funding the research and most of the big companies pulled the plug on their projects by about 1995. 

Direct injection is found some of the snowmobiles and outboard boat engines.  Direct injection is not a EFI type system that you can add on to an existing engine. 

I have been working with conventional EFI on two strokes since the early 1990s.  I did some consulting work for two of the EFI controllers manufactures.  High performances two-strokes have some problems that do not exist in the four-stroke world.  If someone could figure out a way to accurately monitor the instantaneous airflow rate into the engine and simultaneously monitor the trapping efficiency, it might allow us to go forward with two-stroke EFI.  O2 sensors, mass flow sensors, speed density systems, alpha N systems have not proven too be the proper approach to sensing and controlling the fuel management systems for a two stroke.  We can make one type of EFI system work on a particular model of engine for a specialized application but not for another application of the same model.  The various sensors that work flawlessly in the four-stroke world are not durable or sensitive enough to serve the two-stroke needs.

I wish EFI was as easy and as inexpensive as all of the advertisements and internet forums makes it out to be.  If it was that easy, two strokes would have been using EFI as long as four-strokes!!!!!!!!!!
 



Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: El Diablo on February 22, 2013, 09:23:37 pm
I'm all for progress & such. But to me, it seems like one more thing to break when i'm in the worst possible spot.

A local shop (KD Cycle) has a CR-500 powered ATC-250R that has efi. The problem with this bike is that it's just a one trick pony. The owner said he prefered the carb for dune riding but the efi was the hot ticket for the 300' sand drag track.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 22, 2013, 09:00:59 pm
See, that's exactly why nobody has even bothered trying.
Once a zilla is properly fuel injected, we might be changing our tune.
EFI kits have already been used on all sorts of 2-strokes, so it can't be terribly difficult and the benefits can't be insignificant either.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Gillio on February 22, 2013, 08:33:10 pm
EFI would be bad ass, But I think its going to be alot of work to make it proper. Carbs have been solid for decades, I would stick with em.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: B_Fuss on February 22, 2013, 08:28:33 pm
Properly tuned carb is safe and works well.  Not to mention easy to repair.
Title: Re: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: WestTexasKing on February 22, 2013, 08:24:39 pm
I think once someone actually gets an EFI zilla built you're going to see a lot more of them  2c
Title: Fuel injected lt500
Post by: Buckeye513 on February 22, 2013, 07:48:33 pm
Saw that starpuss is planning on attempting efi on his Zilla build. Looked at some efi 2 stroke conversion kits on the web starting at $599 for 42mm throttle body for 400-800cc 2 stroke single cylinder engines. Is this really something that is doable? I mean the benefits f efi are far greater performance and reliability wise to that of carborated engines. Is this something I should consider with my Zilla build? If its as simple as it seems why hasn't more people been doing it? Excuse me if I'm way wrong I'm not the most knowledgeable regarding engine building and such and I'm the first to admit that. Just thought this topic should maybe be breached in depth so I can learn all the options I have for my build. Thanks