| Author | Message | ||
     Firedude |
Hello to all, New Bueller here; just bought a 1999 X-1 with 2000 miles for 4K. Felt like I got a great deal, just needs a bunch of elbow grease to bring it up to snuff. Sooo much nicer than the imports I've been riding for 20+ years. Now for my question: It's bone stock, with the exception of a supertrapp slip-on. And, I can't stand the look of the breadbox! Good gawd, is that thing ugly! I want to remove it to show off the engine, but don't want to get into the aftermarket ECM. Will it run well with the stock ECM? And, are there any options for replacements that aren't pushing 200 bucks? I'm still in the doghouse for buying the X-1 before selling my Kaw. Thanks! | ||
| Maddiemsu |
Welcome to the family, That's a pretty smokin deal you got. Congrats! I think it will be spendy if you want to take the air box off. There better people here than me to talk to though. I still have my air box on my 2001 X1, just changed it to the still type box ( took out the snorkel, added the venturi ring) w/ a K&N. | ||
| Bluelightning |
I run a Forcewinder on my 00 X-1. I like it. There are others that run a "ham can" style or Hypercharger style. It all depends on you. As for the price, well everything except for modifying your stock breadbox will be costly. There shouldn't be much of an issue with the ECM, you just need to make sure you have a provision for the IAT sensor that is located inside of your stock breadbox. Good luck and congrats!! | ||
| Denfromphilly |
Hi Matt, Welcome! I have a 99 X1 too. I see you are an aircraft firefighter. I went to the great lakes firefighting school and to another one at the philly ship yard. It was pretty scary stuff and very hard work. And I think we only worked about 10 minutes. I can tell you a lot about the X1. The big air box and scoop do look pretty silly. The problem with getting rid of the air box is the aftermarket ones stick out too far for long leggers. The air temp sensor has no where to go and you will also want to route the breathers out of the box into a catch can. There are some schemes to add the parts from one air cleaner to accommodate the temp sensor and the parts from another for a filter. I never did it. If you remove the scoop and air box the tank does not fit into the lines of the bike. So you need to see Al at American Sport Bike for carbon fiber body panels that make it flow and look nice but they cost maybe $500 for both sides. The aftermarket ECM is probably installed on 80% of X1's. It eliminates a dead spot in the power curve and works best with a gutted (desnorkeled) air box, K&N filter, race muffler and the throttle position sensor needs to be reset. This ensemble is referred to as the "race kit". You will love the increase in throttle response. I read a tech bulletin from Buell that said the race kit was good for 25% more HP and 35% more torque. There are a couple things you may wish to address, the primary chain adjuster breaks in about 99% of bikes. It's usually more or less benign but could jam the primary and break the engine case. The front muffler mount can break and drop the muffler and cause the bike to pogo. Again, only a few have actually been this bad but it has happened. There is a spring plate in your clutch that will break. We remove it and replace it with one more friction and two more steel discs. On a stock bike it lasts a long time, with any performance mods it breaks down faster. My bike has a pretty hot motor and the plate fell apart at 17,000 miles. The symptom is hard shifting and clutch dragging. It didn't do any real damage. The oil drive gear can wear out prematurely but are usually good for at least 20,000 miles. Careful not to overfill your oil tank! We all do it at first, it's a rite of passage. You will check the oil tank some morning and to your alarm the thing will seem almost empty. In your diligence you will lovingly fill it with only the finest lubricants. You will ride triumphantly for about 20 minutes and experience the worst oil leak in history all over your tire, pants, underseat etc. It seems the oil drains into the engine when it's cool, only fill hot and only fill to maybe the middle of the dipstick. Lets see, the bike came with paper gaskets for the primary, cam cover, starter, rockers and more. They all will start to leak sometimes at like 2,000 miles. The factory has issued new metal ones that work better. I know there is a bunch more but I am drawing a blank. There is an excellent website called the X1 Files that you can fine here; http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/Marriott/x1/ I think that will be enough to overwhelm for now. Write with any questions. Den | ||
| Oldog |
On the IAT ( air temp ) I tucked it behind the air filter, under the sock next to the engine its out of site, If you use the force winder for FI machines, a hole in teh aft end of the filter exists and a trim part is included to clean it up [ dont bother with the re-breather stuff it is a mess and can cause problems I used the carbed version of the FW, Get a banjo bolt kit from American Sport Bike ~49$ is the street price and a catch can the only issue I have is gasketing the banjos its a pita.. Oh and welcome to the madness | ||
| Xldevil |
Forcewinder is the best AC,IMO. Frees your right knee and gives all air your iron pig needs. Ralph | ||
| Chasespeed |
Well, i will advocate for the carbon ham can that American Sport Bike sells, as it was developed inconjunction wiht another company...both opf them sell it.. I bought it because A, I have a carbon fiber bike(249 of 250), AND it flows MUHC better that the force winder(as I was planning on some internal mods).... Its about the same cost as the forcewinder, maybe even a little cheaper(havent looked at prices fro such in over a year)... But, as soon as I can, i will getting some pics, adn having them posted... Anyway, cool on teh fly firefighting... worked on a flight deck fro a while, as an LSE, but we all had to do teh firefighting corse(went trough the Farrier school in Norfolk)... Anyway...no moatter which you choose, it will look better than the huge breadbox... Chase | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Do NOT gut the stock X1 airbox! It will allow dirt in. I know this from experience. You can get away with gutting the S3 and M2 boxes but the X1 is incapable of making a seal along the bottom of the outer cover. DIRT WILL GET IN!! Forcewinders work OK but they are costly for a chunk of aluminum elbow. I have been running the forcewinder for about 60,000 miles and it works, has good legroom, and makes maintainance more easy. | ||
| Firedude |
Thanks for all of the input guys! Seems like to the way to go is to just bite the bullet and go with the forcewinder...gotta get out of the doghouse with the wife for buying it first, though. Do these ever show up used? Also, will she run well without upgrading the ECM? Also noticed a couple of the power commander 2's on ebay for around 150 bucks (which about the same as the buell race ecm) any recommendations? Denfromphilly & Chasespeed, Seems like there's a few squids here eh? (spent 13 years in the Coast Guard before joining the fire service. Please keep the comments down! I did 2 Med patrols while in the CG) Thanks! Matt | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Avoid the power commander. (at least at first) A "race ECU" with loud pipes and nice intake will make you happy. Mine has been like that for 60000 miles. The cool thing about fuel injection is that I can swap the loud pipe for the quiet pipe and it adjusts with no rejetting. Remember if you do change the ECU, you will have to reset the TPS (throttle position sensor) | ||
| Oldog |
What Nate said about the air box in spades, Race ecm is a few bux more than a PC set up and no bodging the wiring | ||
| Chasespeed |
And with the 99s fuel infection, you will notice a SERIOUS difference in teh way it runs with the Race ECM.. Intake, pipe, and Race ECM.... You wanna make it run even better, a race header, with a good matching can... Chase | ||
| Xldevil |
@ Chasespeed: AND it flows MUHC better that the force winder How do you know that? Ralph | ||
| Chasespeed |
gotta get out of the doghouse with the wife for buying it first, though. It is easier to beg for forgiveness, than to ask for permission... ANYWAY} Well, it was desinged by Al @ asb, and Nallin.... I had the numbers from NRHS, but, i think they are on my work email... When I was looking for a new filter, I was thinking ahead, KNOWING I was gonna end up in the motor(whihc will be happening soon).. So, i wanted the best flwo out there.. Oh, and I had a Forcewinder.. I dont know if back to back on a race kit motor will show any difference in HP...you would have to talk to the experts on that.. BUT, i also dont worry about the filter saturation with water and what not anymore.. I have nothing against te h forcewinder...I just dont like it... Chase (Message edited by chasespeed on June 10, 2006) | ||
| Xldevil |
I dont know if back to back on a race kit motor will show any difference in HP...you would have to talk to the experts on that.. So,what else should be better?More torque? BUT, i also dont worry about the filter saturation with water and what not anymore.. Even in the hardest rain,or/and during hard autobahn rides I never had any water inside the forcewinder filter. O.k., I'm using the sock. Ralph (Message edited by xldevil on June 10, 2006) | ||
| Djkaplan |
"AND it flows MUHC better that the force winder" I agree with this. I can't say how much better it flows than a Forcewinder, but when I replaced mine with the CF race filter, it flowed enough more to alter the fuel mixture, causing more popping during deceleration and occasional backfires throught the carb. I hated the CF race filter, btw. It interfered with my knee so badly, I fractured the cover within an hour on installing it. I'm glad I kept the Forcewinder because I had to put it back on. It may not flow as much, but I need it for the knee clearance. | ||
| Chasespeed |
well, i am a tad under 5'8, so, knee clearance isnt an issue for me... Chase | ||
| Whodom |
S&S makes a pretty nice looking filter assembly for about ~$130. trouble is, it only fits carb'ed models. Wonder if it could be adapted to an FI bike and how hard it would be? | ||
| Buellistic |
BUELLers: "i" opted to for a "FORCE in a BOX" ... Pictures are avaliable if you want them ??? In BUELLing LaFayette | ||
| Scott_in_nh |
Stay with the race ecm, the power commander does not recurve the ignition (race ecm does), can cause various error codes to come and go and does not come pre-mapped for your engine. | ||
| Chasespeed |
Pretty soon, we should have more information, on more options for us FI tuber owners... Chase | ||
| Essthreetee |
Chase, what does that mean??? Sounds kind of Court-ish...remind me to tell you... Jason | ||
| Chasespeed |
Chase, what does that mean??? Well, I shoudl have said MAY have more options... I dont want to say anything JUST YET, as, right now, its only research..but, its looking optimistic..... Believe me, if it turns out right, it will be posted by one of the individuals doing the research... Until then.....} Chase | ||
| Firedude |
Help me understand something here.... Why is the forcewinder kit so expensive? What is the difference between the FI kit and the one for the ol' carbed engines? Is it just the breather lines, because I can fix that and re-route them into a catch can and save myself a bunch of money. Thanks guys! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
It is expensive for no good reason. The fuel injection kit has an additional hole for the air temp sensor to go. BTW, the breather kit that comes with the forcewinder is garbage. It's only good to condensing out the babysnot from the crank case and drippling it on your foot and leg. My suggestion would be to get the carbed verion, roach out the hole for the breather, put the temp sensor in the breather hole. Then put on a breather setup of you choice. Here is mine: Banjo fittings ($12)  hoses converge at a 90 degree T fitting from home depot ($.70)  One hose to street:  Mine is not the mose elegant but it doesn't paint my right leg black on a long trip. Most other people would put a catch can but I am too lazy. Recently, my fancy banjo fittings have started to leak and I have been thinking of instaling the stock breather bolts P.S. YES I know it's filthy. gimme a break, I got stuck ing the rain. :P | ||
| Oldog |
Nate: I did the Custom Chrome banjos I had to take them out and cut paper washers out for them. they still seep a little and I did a filter that exited high up big mess out back the low exit is better. did you do a yellow or orange paint set? Chase are you thinking about AL at American Sport Bike doing the remaped XB ecms for tubers? that would be too cool a better "Fuel infecton" | ||
| Chasespeed |
Chase are you thinking about AL at American Sport Bike doing the remaped XB ecms for tubers? that would be too cool There is something along that line in the works, as well as something else. I should know pretty soon, as my X1, is getting new gaskets, and under the infamous, "while I have it apart", its getting 1250, 10.5:1 +(gonna bump it a bit with a different head gasket) c/r, total seal rings(i believe gapless), etc....and thats all for now, and I am gonna try to keep the fuel infection..its been good to me...so, why not..if i cant get the FI to work, then, i will find a nice after market intake, a good carb, and a nasty set of cams...the bike is as lite as it will get now, time to make more POWER...wait...do I hear a blow off valve in the future as well?  anyway...tiem to finish my lunch..and get back to work.. Chase} | ||
| Sjh |
If anyone else is wanting to try the direct link software with their tube frame let me know. Just installed the 1474 kit on the X1 and would like to ditch the race ecm and power commander for a stock ecm and a correct map. I am located in Illinois and looking for a location to get the bike dialed in. If any of you are in the mid west and find someone who knows what they are doing with the direct link, let me know. | ||
| Oldog |
Al is looking for a Tuber Dyno mule me thinks, the blip was that the Xb bikes have better programs in the ecm with some improvements Al was talking xb12 and maped to a tuber, wondering about wiring issues. Al if your listening I will raid the bank for one of those when done | ||
| Sjh |
yes, I have discussed that avenue with Al and if I remember correctly there were 1-2 issues that were being looked at. He was working on the solutions so that a Xb ecm would be used on the tuber. I have multiple X1s and ecms to be a guinea pig, but location differences make things difficult. I am pretty sure Al said there had been some success tuning a tuber with a race ecm. Only time will tell, hopefully sooner than later. | ||
| Chasespeed |
Well, Ihaev an older PCII I can use, but, gonna try to do this without it first.. In theory the Race ECM, shoudl compenstae fro the changes I am about to make, as they are linear...but, once I change cams, do head work, etc....thats a whoel other ball game... Chase |
