PCIII installed in 2000 V11S

[RichMaund]

Folks

I installed the PC III this weekend. Easy job. About 20 minutes. Most of

that was spent finding a good way to place the plug for the wiring so it

didn't hit the pan. Placing it aft of the bikes computer next to the tool

pouch and coiling the extra cable in a circle atop the computer worked

really well and looks neat too. The PCIII itself resides in the tail piece. Plenty of room there. It

rained all weekend though, so today was the first ride.

I got a nice 20 mile ride in this morning with the new PCIII in my V11S.

Here's my seat of the pants impression:

First off I noticed it raised my idle speed when the engine warmed up. It

went up a full 100 rpm. So I lowered it back to 1200 rpm.

Riding around town. Drivability is a notch better. No more occasional cough

at long lights when idling. Ran well and felt good. Heavy traffic though. I

couldn't "play" too much. After I FedEx'd the seat I needed to ship I went

out on the freeway and went to my favorite cloverleaf ramps.

Impression. Noticeably stronger all the way up. No more "rush" as it hits 5K

rpm because it is pulling stronger in the 4's. Throttle response is more

linear. Now it's a nice even ride to yellow line vice the dip & rush that

used to be there. Feels stronger up top. I missed the rush at first, until I

realized that I was accelerating better w/o it due to the bike pulling

stronger across the whole powerband. I tried some roll on passing with the

engine at 4K rpm. It used to feel doggy there before and I would sometimes

have to downshift to pass someone quickly. Now it pulls stronger from 4k as

I roll on the throttle. No downshift needed. I can get really used to this!

The PCIII was set up for my bike running the stock airfilter & box but with

Mistral pipes and stock cross-over. But I have not had it dyno tuned to

personalize it optimally for my bike yet. But my seat of the pants

impression is that the bike runs much better. Right now my feeling is that

even if I don't get it dyno tuned to finish optimizing the mapping, I can be

very happy with the way it is presently!

I plan to do before & after dyno pulls tomorrow at the local Triumph shop.

One with the PCIII plugged in and one w/o it. We'll see if my "pants seat"

is accurate or if I'm full of it. Stay tuned! ;-)

 

Attached is a pic of the way I routed the cable and plug. You have to place the plug where it won't get crushed by the seat pan. On the aft end of the computer by the tool pouch worked well.

[Guest Squashed Nose]

Is that a custom tool pouch you've made yourself? I've only got a nasty cheap red nylon jobbie. I'll have one of those as well please.

[RichMaund]

I have one left. It is made from thick black leather vice red. No more material in the shop to make more. Sorry. Until demand warrants it, I can't just afford another hide. That's a big investment in materials!

[jsciullo]

Rich-

I found the same thing with my bike. Overall, I like the PC3 but have not taken it in to get custom mapped. Im still toying with the idea of getting a new airbox.

Jim

[RichMaund]

I considered that too Jim. But after trying it on my old Guzzi, the noise was overwhelming. So I plan to keep the stock box for now. Besides, I really like the stock side panels. ;-)

[Guest Ragin' Pit Bull]

Rich-

I found the same thing with my bike.  Overall, I like the PC3 but have not taken it in to get custom mapped.  Im still toying with the idea of getting a new airbox.

Jim

Getting it custom mapped by someone competent is the way to go! Fast By Ferracci sells an airbox conversion kit that opens up the airbox but retains the box itself and the side covers. Makes a difference, but you will hear more intake noise.

[jtucker]

And I'll vouch for Ferracci's prowess at tuning the Power Commander. I don't have one on the Guzzi (yet) but I do on the Monster. Had it tuned by Ferracci, which provided a pretty significant improvement.

 

To get the most out of the PC,it really helps to have it set up by someone with the right tools and knowhow to do it right.

[RichMaund]

Here's a HP vs Speed graph from my dyno runs this morning. Unfortunately the equipment there is older. They have no way to kook up to the PCIII. But it gave me a good idea of what's going on. The dip in the 4's is still there , but narrower. Picked up about 2 Hp and 2 ftlbs torque almost everywhere except in the dreaded 4.5K rpm range. The air-fuel ratio readings were really screwed up though. Made me wonder if their sniffer was OK. Off the chart lean in the midrange! The headers should have been cherry red according to their sniffer, but the bike ran great and never overheated at all. We richen'd it, but the bike felt weaker afterwards in the 4's. I'll put that adjustment back to where it was.

My overall assessment? Worth the money. Driveability is much improved and the bike is stronger to boot. But I need to go somewhere like FBF to get it done properly on up to date equipment. Probably some more to be gained in efficiancy if I do that! So I am very happy with it so far.

My two hours on the dyno there weren't wasted, but I need to go to a better facility to do it right!

[dlaing]

Not bad...I guess Todd Eagan talked to you about the wonders of "tuning link".

Even with the tuning link setup, I would not be suprised if the dreaded 4500rpm hole is not really properly addressed by the PCIII. Our stock crossovers appear to be the cause of the hole. I assume that the crossover is making one of the cylinders work harder at that rpm. The result being that one cylinder probably reads rich and one lean at that point. Solution: get the Stucchi crossover.

I have also considered eliminating the crossover and putting on some nice low mufflers like on more traditional guzzis.

I might loose some top end power doing that, but the cylinders may become better balanced.

This inspires me to post a question about cylinder balancing...

[RichMaund]

Folks

It really bothered me that the bike gave such odd air fuel ratio readings on

the dyno. Off scale lean at midrange and wavy, but acceptable in the low and

hi range. Todd and I figured it was because the tail pipe sniffer only goes

about 12" into the muffler in this dyno. Reading upstream of the cross-over

would be better. But it seemed to read OK hi and low. What gives?

I believe I found it....

The right intake boot has a crack in it on the inboard side. Just a narrow

clean little crack that's almost hidden by the clamp. Where does the engine

vibrate the most? Midrange! What is the likely cause of the crack opening up

enough to lean out the AFR in the midrange? Engine vibration.

Just enough to throw the whole thing off w/o really affecting drivability

yet! Sheesh!

Had I done all this last month I bet the crack wouldn't have been bad enough

to affect it yet!

I removed the clamp and put some black RTV around the boot to seal the

crack. I'll re-clamp it tomorrow after it's cured. OK temporary fix. Left

boot is fine.

Did y'all know that new boots cost $78 each from Guzzi?

&%$#@(*&^~@!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone know of a reasonably priced alternative that last more than 18 months

or 10K miles?

[dlaing]

$78 each! I am tempted to use radiator hose!!!!

[Guest Jeff Kelland]

we used to run radiator hose on our xr 1000 HD twins. gates green stripe hose is impervious to gas, other stuff will swell up and get soft. Jeff K.

[dlaing]

Oh yah, maybe you know already, but a way to check for intake leaks is to run the engine and spray the intakes with something like WD40 or quick start. If the revs change, you have a leak. If the revs don't change, you PROBABLY do NOT have a leak...

Note WD40 is good for the rubber, quick start is not good for the rubber...

But, Quick start will give a more sure indication.

In your case Rich, you would want to try to hold it at the appropriate revs while spraying.

But you are all sealed up now, so no worries.

Also, Wear Eye Protection

[RichMaund]

Good tips Guys! Thanks!

I've been fighting a bad intestinal bug for a couple days now. It destroyed me yesterday afternoon and evening and then I felt better this morning. Worked a normal day today and it hit me again this evening. Thankfully, not as bad! This is really gonna cut into my riding this weekend. Bummer too. This Sunday is the Breakfast in Richmond Va. 200 mile round trip. I'm gonna hate to miss it, but I don't want to give this bug a leg up on me again! I WILL test ride the bike though tomorrow. I get this feeling the performance in the mid range will be better now!

This posting WAS checked for virus's though, so don't worry. You won't catch what I have from it.

[RichMaund]

I just got off the phone with Joe Eish. He has the V11S intake boots in stock for $10 each. Not $78 like the parts guy at Winchester quoted me. He also had the V11S Parts Book in stock for $20. He's mailing me the boots and book Monday.

I'm not sure what's up with the Dealer's parts book that Winchester would quote me $78 on them. But something is wrong here, because Winchester runs an honest shop.

Thank God for Joe Eish!

Feeling a bit better today, but still dragging. A 20 minute ride on the V11S did help some!