You do awesome work!
2012 KTM 500 EXC Refresh
- Thread starter JWC86
- Start date
I don't think I took any pictures or wrote about it but I made some repairs already to the back end of the wiring harness around the "fuse block" area. I had to order in some contacts to match so I could replace the whole wire rather than splicing. In general it wasnt too bad as that part of the harness isn't as open to the elements and doesnt move.
The front of the harness was a lot worse, I think I will just replace the whole front part. Before I did this I wanted to hook everything up and make sure it worked so if I do have issues after I replace the front part I can rule out what I already have done.
With everything hooked up I went through all the functions and it all worked so I was happy about that.
Before I tackle the front section of the harness I will pull the fuel pump and and replace it and the filter, also going to see if I can get the low fuel light to work.
Thats all for now!
The front of the harness was a lot worse, I think I will just replace the whole front part. Before I did this I wanted to hook everything up and make sure it worked so if I do have issues after I replace the front part I can rule out what I already have done.
With everything hooked up I went through all the functions and it all worked so I was happy about that.
Before I tackle the front section of the harness I will pull the fuel pump and and replace it and the filter, also going to see if I can get the low fuel light to work.
Thats all for now!
Thanks! Some day when I have more space I want to do some restorations on a couple older Jap bikes.
I really love the early Suzuki Katana's, a bike ahead of its time...
I pulled the fuel pump assembly. Changed the fuel filter for a new one and also put in a new pump while I was in there.
I went with the Taco Moto 3000hr pump.
I cut open my old fuel filter out of curiosity. Has about 40hrs on it.
All new viton o-rings where applicable and back into the tank.
Quick function test and pressure check is showing 50psi, right where its suppose to be.
And then I wiped the tank down with cerakote ceramic wipes as a finishing touch:
Next up I set the TPS voltage back to stock spec. Suppose to be 0.60v, I ended up at 0.61v, close enough.
I went with the Taco Moto 3000hr pump.
I cut open my old fuel filter out of curiosity. Has about 40hrs on it.
All new viton o-rings where applicable and back into the tank.
Quick function test and pressure check is showing 50psi, right where its suppose to be.
And then I wiped the tank down with cerakote ceramic wipes as a finishing touch:
Next up I set the TPS voltage back to stock spec. Suppose to be 0.60v, I ended up at 0.61v, close enough.
I haven't been happy with the fitment of the Samco rad hoses where it attaches to the thermostat and where it attaches to the T pipe above the valve cover. Lots of rubbing and its in the way of other things.
I decided I would just get new OEM hoses as by originals are pretty crusty. They only sell these hoses as a assembly that comes made up on the thermostat.
So here is that installed.
Much better fit and no rubbing!
I decided I would just get new OEM hoses as by originals are pretty crusty. They only sell these hoses as a assembly that comes made up on the thermostat.
So here is that installed.
Much better fit and no rubbing!
So in every state in the US and every province in Canada except Alberta license plates are 7" x4" in size. Alberta however in its wisdom decided that isn't big enough and ours are 5" x 8". This means our plates hang over the sides of the plate brackets and get beat to snot when used off road.
I found a company that will print replica plates in 7x4" size, they use a really nice reflective 3M vinyl and it looks pretty realistic.
Also picked up a plate holder from a company called "Enduro Plate". It has a bracket that mounts to the fender and uses a rubber strap to hold another bracket that the plate bolts to which stays in place with high strength magnets. Seems like a good idea.
I'm not a fan of the beaver tail they have below the plate with their logo on it thou, first step was to cut that off.
The plate backing is too rough and has holes in it that won't work to just put the sticker directly onto it so I cut out a sheet exactly the same size as the sticker from a sheet of kydex I had laying around.
Then stuck it on, smoothed the edges and put bolts through the kydex sheet(with sticker plate) and the enduro plate bracket.
Going to get some smaller headed bolts but here is the mock up. Was time consuming but happy with the way it turned out.
Ran out of time and didn't get it bolted on(its just laying on the fender) but again I'm really happy with the result.
Yes I know this is illegal, but so are my signal lights, head lights, etc. I don't really care, I barely ride on the rode and lucky for me the police don't bother people for petty things like this where I live.
I'm starting to run out of things to do(thats a good thing!). I have a major job with replacing the whole front half of the wiring harness but I want wait until I have enough time to finish that job before I start it, or at least get a good ways into it.
I have a set of mousses coming for the tires, also need to true the wheels and regrease/inspect wheel bearings, that will be a pretty big job.
Have to install the new chain.
After that just some small things. I'd say we have another full month of winter left here, probably 6 weeks but I have some other stuff I want to do so I'm really going to start pushing to get this wrapped up.
I found a company that will print replica plates in 7x4" size, they use a really nice reflective 3M vinyl and it looks pretty realistic.
Also picked up a plate holder from a company called "Enduro Plate". It has a bracket that mounts to the fender and uses a rubber strap to hold another bracket that the plate bolts to which stays in place with high strength magnets. Seems like a good idea.
I'm not a fan of the beaver tail they have below the plate with their logo on it thou, first step was to cut that off.
The plate backing is too rough and has holes in it that won't work to just put the sticker directly onto it so I cut out a sheet exactly the same size as the sticker from a sheet of kydex I had laying around.
Then stuck it on, smoothed the edges and put bolts through the kydex sheet(with sticker plate) and the enduro plate bracket.
Going to get some smaller headed bolts but here is the mock up. Was time consuming but happy with the way it turned out.
Ran out of time and didn't get it bolted on(its just laying on the fender) but again I'm really happy with the result.
Yes I know this is illegal, but so are my signal lights, head lights, etc. I don't really care, I barely ride on the rode and lucky for me the police don't bother people for petty things like this where I live.
I'm starting to run out of things to do(thats a good thing!). I have a major job with replacing the whole front half of the wiring harness but I want wait until I have enough time to finish that job before I start it, or at least get a good ways into it.
I have a set of mousses coming for the tires, also need to true the wheels and regrease/inspect wheel bearings, that will be a pretty big job.
Have to install the new chain.
After that just some small things. I'd say we have another full month of winter left here, probably 6 weeks but I have some other stuff I want to do so I'm really going to start pushing to get this wrapped up.
Got to be running by now!
Update: Wiring is finally finished. I've been at this for about 2 months now, I didn't keep track but must have 30+ hours into the wiring harness. Feels so good to be done!
I didn't take many pics along the way, just wanted to get it done but I can share a few things.
Here is the factory harness, about 80% of it got replaced.
I basically just started copying the factory harness, then taking the new one on and off the bike a few times along the way to see where the sub harness branches needed to exit the main harness.
Here are the new harness’s finished:
The area behind the headlight mask all finished up:
I had planned it to be a little neater but its not bad. It mostly worked out as planned except I was planning to put this connector for the rear lights between the fuse box and the sub frame rail but it didn’t fit as I though:
So had to add a extension and relocate it.
Then the new headlight mask with Ruby R7 7000 lumen light went on.
At this point I was pretty nervous to be honest. Would it start after building a new wiring harness for it? Did I mess up any one or several of the 100+ connections?
So on when the gas tank:
I gave the start button a bump and was rewarded when the fuel pump came to life. After a couple more bumps to prime the pump I was expecting the pump to change in tone when the system pressurized but it just sounded the same... thought that was odd but tried to start it anyways... no start... well ****.
First I pulled the plug and checked spark, had great spark, OK that's a relief! Then it hit me, the fuel pump never did sound like it primed. So I looked in the tank and the fuel level was only at the bottom of the pump assembly. Felt pretty stupid at this point but also very relieved that this was most likely the problem. I added a couple liters of gas and bumped the starter, the fuel pump noise changed right away so I gave the starter a press and it fired right up!
While it was warming up I when threw all the electrical functions and lights and everything worked as it should.
So what I learned is I'm smart enough to rewire a modern fuel injected bike but not smart enough to make sure it has enough gas...
I didn't take many pics along the way, just wanted to get it done but I can share a few things.
Here is the factory harness, about 80% of it got replaced.
I basically just started copying the factory harness, then taking the new one on and off the bike a few times along the way to see where the sub harness branches needed to exit the main harness.
Here are the new harness’s finished:
The area behind the headlight mask all finished up:
I had planned it to be a little neater but its not bad. It mostly worked out as planned except I was planning to put this connector for the rear lights between the fuse box and the sub frame rail but it didn’t fit as I though:
So had to add a extension and relocate it.
Then the new headlight mask with Ruby R7 7000 lumen light went on.
At this point I was pretty nervous to be honest. Would it start after building a new wiring harness for it? Did I mess up any one or several of the 100+ connections?
So on when the gas tank:
I gave the start button a bump and was rewarded when the fuel pump came to life. After a couple more bumps to prime the pump I was expecting the pump to change in tone when the system pressurized but it just sounded the same... thought that was odd but tried to start it anyways... no start... well ****.
First I pulled the plug and checked spark, had great spark, OK that's a relief! Then it hit me, the fuel pump never did sound like it primed. So I looked in the tank and the fuel level was only at the bottom of the pump assembly. Felt pretty stupid at this point but also very relieved that this was most likely the problem. I added a couple liters of gas and bumped the starter, the fuel pump noise changed right away so I gave the starter a press and it fired right up!
While it was warming up I when threw all the electrical functions and lights and everything worked as it should.
So what I learned is I'm smart enough to rewire a modern fuel injected bike but not smart enough to make sure it has enough gas...
Moving on now I put the rest of the plastic on and installed the new chain. I needed to have the rear wheel on to cut the chain to length so I put on both wheels since it wants to fall over off the back of the stand with just the rear wheel.
Chain tension not adjusted yet in this picture:
Still lots of snow here in the woods but melting more everyday. My plan was to just leave the wheels as is for now and then later go through the spoke tension, wheel bearings, install mousse's and a fresh gummy tire. However the front wheel has play and the bearings sound like trash so that will have to get addressed before I ride it.
What's left to do?
-Bleed clutch and breaks
-Install handguards
-Fix mirror mount
-Fix tear in seat
-Check suspension sag
-Other little things...
Chain tension not adjusted yet in this picture:
Still lots of snow here in the woods but melting more everyday. My plan was to just leave the wheels as is for now and then later go through the spoke tension, wheel bearings, install mousse's and a fresh gummy tire. However the front wheel has play and the bearings sound like trash so that will have to get addressed before I ride it.
What's left to do?
-Bleed clutch and breaks
-Install handguards
-Fix mirror mount
-Fix tear in seat
-Check suspension sag
-Other little things...
I'll be over to "test" it when ready 
Just kidding of course, I don't know how to ride a 4 stroke....
Just kidding of course, I don't know how to ride a 4 stroke....
Picked up these frame guards from ebay. They were cheap but seem alright, great for the price.
As you can see here they need some heat shield where the touch the exhaust pipe.
So time for some arts and crafts...
And installed:
Next up was bolting on the skid plate:
Next hand guards went on:
After that a bunch of little stuff its ready to go for a shake down run. Still have to replace the tubes with mousse bibs and the front wheel has quite a bit of run out but I'm going to save that for a little bit. Still cold here with lots of snow in the woods(everywhere really) so I'm going to go through all my gear next and get that squared away. The forecast has a few days around 12-14C next week so wont be long!
As you can see here they need some heat shield where the touch the exhaust pipe.
So time for some arts and crafts...
And installed:
Next up was bolting on the skid plate:
Next hand guards went on:
After that a bunch of little stuff its ready to go for a shake down run. Still have to replace the tubes with mousse bibs and the front wheel has quite a bit of run out but I'm going to save that for a little bit. Still cold here with lots of snow in the woods(everywhere really) so I'm going to go through all my gear next and get that squared away. The forecast has a few days around 12-14C next week so wont be long!
It's a great hill climb and mud tire for sure.
Still snow in the trails here but melting fast, I got out last week for some riding. Felt amazing to be on it again!
Have some things to sort out:
Flame outs, having lots of flame outs now, about 15 in two hours of trail riding. With my old setup before the GET ECU I would only have one every 2hrs or so, sometimes less.
I checked my TPS settings in the get and it was at 0.62v, they recommend it be at the stock setting with the GET so I adjusted it back to 0.60v(stock).
Also replaced the fuel injector as I wanted a spare, I'll send the old one in to be flow tested and cleaned.
Then on the way home I have about 6 miles of paved road to ride, about halfway through it the bike starts cutting out and running terrible, did this for about 1 mile and then died and wouldn't restart. Noticed right away I was missing the air filter cover, don't think its related but sure is lame. I removed the seat and checked that the fuel pump was running and couldn't here it, so I hooked up power direct to the pump and still couldn't hear it, then I realized it was indeed running and I just couldn't hear it over the road traffic.
All this time I was trying to restart it often, then it just started about 10min in. I really hadn't done anything so that is weird. It then ran perfect the rest of the way home...
Since then I have replaced the injector and currently a bunch of the wiring is loose that I had to move for the injector swap so my plan is to start it and move around the wiring to see if causes any reaction from the bike while running. Would be nice to find a "smoking gun".
In the mean time I'll be bring the stock ECU with me and if I can't get the flame out thing sorted I'll go back to the stock ECU with piggyback fuel programmer and see if it goes away. If so I'll just return the GET.
Have some things to sort out:
Flame outs, having lots of flame outs now, about 15 in two hours of trail riding. With my old setup before the GET ECU I would only have one every 2hrs or so, sometimes less.
I checked my TPS settings in the get and it was at 0.62v, they recommend it be at the stock setting with the GET so I adjusted it back to 0.60v(stock).
Also replaced the fuel injector as I wanted a spare, I'll send the old one in to be flow tested and cleaned.
Then on the way home I have about 6 miles of paved road to ride, about halfway through it the bike starts cutting out and running terrible, did this for about 1 mile and then died and wouldn't restart. Noticed right away I was missing the air filter cover, don't think its related but sure is lame. I removed the seat and checked that the fuel pump was running and couldn't here it, so I hooked up power direct to the pump and still couldn't hear it, then I realized it was indeed running and I just couldn't hear it over the road traffic.
All this time I was trying to restart it often, then it just started about 10min in. I really hadn't done anything so that is weird. It then ran perfect the rest of the way home...
Since then I have replaced the injector and currently a bunch of the wiring is loose that I had to move for the injector swap so my plan is to start it and move around the wiring to see if causes any reaction from the bike while running. Would be nice to find a "smoking gun".
In the mean time I'll be bring the stock ECU with me and if I can't get the flame out thing sorted I'll go back to the stock ECU with piggyback fuel programmer and see if it goes away. If so I'll just return the GET.
Ok, found out the reason the bike was cutting out and died on me.
I turned the key on and started moving around wiring while listening. When I started poking around the fuel pump relay I got this result:
More poking told me the problem was in the connector itself. At this point I was thinking poor contact fitment onto the relay post:
Sure enough, one of this contacts on the control side had a very loose fit:
I was really glad to get this figured out. Last thing I needed was ongoing electrical gremlin.
I turned the key on and started moving around wiring while listening. When I started poking around the fuel pump relay I got this result:
More poking told me the problem was in the connector itself. At this point I was thinking poor contact fitment onto the relay post:
Sure enough, one of this contacts on the control side had a very loose fit:
I was really glad to get this figured out. Last thing I needed was ongoing electrical gremlin.
Pulled the front wheel and put it on the truing stand to see how bad it was...
Was my first attempt at truing wheels. Was actually pretty easy, after about 30min I was able to get it like this:
Cleaned the wheel and next will be installing a mousse insert.
Was my first attempt at truing wheels. Was actually pretty easy, after about 30min I was able to get it like this:
Cleaned the wheel and next will be installing a mousse insert.
what Get ecu did you get, the Blue one?
Dont waste time with stock ecu and fuel tuner, it wont fix that.
I went vortex no flame outs in years. But I know another guy, who has the Blue HP/Taco GET and he has not complained about flame outs.
Im just confirming what Get ecu that you have,, you might try putting tps back at .61/.62 and see if helps. Beyond that its generally too much move , for aftermarket ecu.
The Blue Gets for that era, are one off models created by HP racing
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Yes the Blue one
The bike had a Stock ECU that was flashed with a Euro map and a JD jetting fuel tuner and it fan great, best running bike I've ever had. One flame out ever 4-6hrs of operating time in tight conditions. This was done by the PO, he also bumped up the TPS voltage but I'm not sure how much. I wish I would have checked it before I took the throttle body apart for cleaning.
This is a Taco GET
Get and Taco Moto recommend setting the TPS back to stock value(0.60v) when installing the GET ECU. I did this but I used a janky TPS tuning tool the PO gave me with the bike. I recently seen that it displays TPS voltage in the APP and it was at 0.63v so I set it to show 0.60v.
I haven't had a chance to test it yet but it starts better so their is hope. With the Euro map ECU and JD tuner it would start instantly without using the cold start knob but with the GET it needed the cold start knob or it would be fussy to start. With the new fuel injector and the TPS brought down a bit it started instantly without the cold start knob so maybe that's a good sign.
Yes, starting with out cold start button is a sign its richer on the bottom. Im not big on software tps adjustments. Prefer the mechanical approach, as Ive seen the mechanical set up work better, when the software adjustment wasnt fixing it.
worse comes to worse, set it mechanically at .60v , then zero your tps from there , but if still dont like, it, dont zero the software any more, just mechanically move it. .60 - .62 is the range using tpstool wiring loom.
Yes all adjustments have been made mechanically, I was just saying that I used the data from the ECU to read the voltage rather than reading it direct from the TPS sensor. If I have more issues with it I will back probe my fluke meter on it and confirm they are reading correctly. When I made the adjustments the first time I was using a janky TPS tool that came with the bike from the PO and I suspect it is out 0.03-0.04v.
