D-Tracker KLX250sf 330SM BB kit CAMS from a bit boring to brutal...a success!!

Aug 29, 2011
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I knew this would be a gamble & a I was making myself into a guinea pig. The worst thing about this project was so few people have succeeded on this or any other forums but these people we're using conventional piggyback controllers like Juice boxes etc etc & I have a programmable ECU from APi.

Two months ago I decided to give my D-Tracker a real kick up the ass!! With a $1500 budget & a very good friend with over 30yrs experience as an old school mechanic to bolt all the heavy shiny stuff into the bike & a Thai friend with close connections to APi tech in Bangkok to tinker with the technical ECU tuning stuff, I thought I had a very good chance of being in a very very small club of people that have got a 30hp EFi D-Tracker, that is actually ride-able in traffic & goes like a scalded cat on the open road!! I love the agile SM handling of the D-Tracker but it is just under powered on the streets for me, a 100+kg guy. In hindsight I should have spent longer searching for a DRz400sm as this bike seems to be the perfect SuperMoto machine for the bigger rider. In three months of looking I found two DRz's both were over 200,000thb with around 20,000km, over five years old with green book issues!!!! So I went for a D-Tracker with fully legal green book etc etc.

Very disappointed with the power before putting a pipe on & de-restricted ECU on the bike, I remember struggling to overtake a Honda Phantom on the mountain roads on the up hill straights but thankfully on the corners a D-Tracker is very quick & left the Phantom behind. So a FMF Q4 exhaust was put on with a Megabomb header, a Boss 175 snorkel & an APi ECU....these additions make the bike very much better but after a few months of this I needed more power!

So the big budget for big power started,

Firstly fitting a Kustom Kraft 331 big bore kit, the biggest expense ($750) & it was delivered to my shop USPS on my postman's motorbike, all I had to do was sign !! NO TAX....wow. Mark at Kustom Kraft put a $95 custom declaration next to the shipping address & they decided not to tax me. It took an afternoon (around 5 hours to fit) & went in great with a Woosner 83mm piston with Cometic gasket kit. I ramped up the fuel injection on the programmable APi ECU box by about 20% throughout the whole rev range very crudely on my laptop, so I could ride the bike away & run in the piston rings without running to lean & damaging the engine. It wasn't running very well but good enough to put 500km on the clock.....engine sounded great & low down torque was very good for the break-in period. A promising sign for the project.

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Next came the 101 grind Webcams (no tax again...wow....very lucky) & fitting the Beet higher volume injector from Webike Japan (1,200thb tax...damn) & while fitting these I decided to take out the secondary throttle butterfly, this was recommended by a guy call Jeffward on another forum as it's completely redundant in operation & can only restrict fuel & air flow in reality. The Cams & injector took about 3 hours to fit...easy....It's a real testament to how good Webcam's are, we we're expecting to have to buy some shims after fitting the Cams but all shims we're within tolerance by 1/1000th & good to go! 3/1000th would have been acceptably loose. My mechanic mainly fits hotcams & Scream'in eagle cams to Harley's & they never drop in like this. So we start her up & the idle is up to about 2400rpm (bigger volume injector at work), the louder noise from the exhaust which we haven't touched! has gone up by a decibel or two & the gases coming from the exhaust are noticeably delivering much more gas flow while standing behind the bike......my mechanic smiles & says "you gotta a bigga engine, you got lumpier Cams & you got more fuel exploding in there, which means bigger bangs = bigger noises....she's gonna fly!!". It took all my self-restraint to keep the bike under 6000rpm for 300kms to break-in the Cams, as the torque & extra power was very noticeable in my right hand! She was itching to be opened up!

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Just finished the 300km run-in for the cams & let her rip.......when the power comes in it really hits hard....so hard that the clutch started to slip when i was feathering in 2nd gear after giving the bike a big handful from the lights!! So with the front wheel lifting & the clutch slipping, I knew the power was GOOD!! just ordered some Barnett HD clutch springs.

I get about 110km to the fuel light coming on when riding average power around town etc & 80-90km when riding like an absolute SM hooligan... Need bigger fuel tank, come on IMS!! Still fun though....

Mid & top end power was good BUT idle - 2500rpm was erratic/poor!! ...........A phone call to APi promised me an online tuning session.After waiting nearly 2 weeks for Mr Pattapong (head tech guy) at APi Tech to sort my bike out! Today I let my laptop get taken over remotely by online software called TEAMVIEWER! Very weird watching my mouse moving around & starting the Kawasaki API software & opening n closing folders etc.......so I plugged the USB into my bikes ECU, switched over control via TEAMVIEWER & sat back & let Mr Pattapong do some fine tuning my bike really needed. This is the future of tuning gentlemen, the 21st century is happening in my driveway in a 3rd world country.....very strange.

I was having problems with my idle speed which was high & erratic, as had a flat spot between 2000-3000rpm which caused the bike to cut out when hot at traffic light on occasions & loss of power between 5000-7000rpm & a few flat spots here & there. Top end power seems to be pretty good, as front wheel is lifting quite easily with standard gearing & the clutch is not happy in 1st or 2nd above 8000rpm if any feathering is going on....without the big bore or cams, this was never an issue!! HD clutch springs are on order!

The Pattapong session was about an hour with 2 test rides in between tuning. I got 4 mins on video with Pattapong doing his stuff......quite boring if your into CARBS etc. This was my second session with Mr Pattapong & with what I have seen & what I have on seen on my video clips i've shot, i'm quite happy to do some minor tuning on the APi software now. But without the 2 hour masterclass i got, this software is out of most peoples skill levels.....so be careful when you start playing with it!!

Now the bike runs really smooth in the lower rev range & idles at 1800rpm with no dramas or cutting out & very easy to ride in traffic now. The 330 kit with 101 webcams on an EFi is now at 99% perfect level. This has been a lot easier than i thought it was going to be BUT it ain't 100% yet


This link to the Kawasaki forum gives a fuller story of how this came to be, with Jeffward getting his 300 with Power Commander 5 bike running great & grahamgower still struggling to get his 300 working with the EJK controller
http://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum/klx-250s-71/stand-alone-tuning-ecu-klx250-36083/

Next thing to do really is take the bike to Bangkok & let APi loose with the software with a Dyno machine to really fine tune the old girl. they think they can get another couple of horses out of her with smoother throttle response

The power from the bike is night & day compared to the standard D-tracker, i'm happy. Just need one more PONG online tuning session & the bike should be perfect. until I get a chance to go to Bangkok that is...........D-trackers, 250 ninjas, 250cbrs are left scratching their heads in disbelief when the power comes in....lol around town even DRz400's & er6's are not happy with their bikes performance when the stealthy 330SM D-tracker delivers her 30hp punch! Yeehaa ;)
 
Dec 27, 2007
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Wow, that is simply fantastic!

I don't know much about big bore kits and was under the impression that most ditch the FI in favor of carbs, but it's great to see that it can be done!

Thanks so much for all the detail and congrats on a ripping D-Tracker!
 

FrankT

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Sep 10, 2010
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Great info and jopb well done, can you plse tell me where the API workshop is in Bkk as I want to pay them a visit, I have the 'fixed' API ECU but it is not always running smooth.
I especially had problems in Laos during the cold mornings in the mountains, once the sun came through and the atmosphere heated up things got better.
Pleased to hear.
Rgds
 
Aug 29, 2011
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These are the little heavy diuty springy things from Barnett. $20 on ebay (10 days to deliver from US with no tax) Part number for klx250sf: 501-25-06043. Now to stop this slipping clutch nonsense!!

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Aug 29, 2011
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FrankT;277033 wrote: Great info and jopb well done, can you plse tell me where the API workshop is in Bkk as I want to pay them a visit, I have the 'fixed' API ECU but it is not always running smooth.
I especially had problems in Laos during the cold mornings in the mountains, once the sun came through and the atmosphere heated up things got better.
Pleased to hear.
Rgds
Location:.
API Tech Shop.
91/1346-7 44 Moo 11, Soi Ram Nuanchan Road, Klong Kum Kum district, Bangkok 10230.
www.apitechonline.com.

Tel:.
02-9488680.

They don't speak much English at APi, best to get a Thai speaker to call.
 
Aug 29, 2011
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A big thank you to Dobeck (EJK controllers) for re-programming an old 250 Juice box to a 331 MAP that I had in my possession! All for free, just post it to them in the US & they do the rest.
Me & a fellow D-Tracker have also got a Power Commander 5 to play with as well. Will be good to do some back to back testing on these controllers.

I'm hoping to ditch the APi unlimited ecu box & use something easier, with more user friendly features & better after sales technical help.