Greg's Bandit 400 Fuel Injection Project...

[greg737]

And here are the results of my paint spraying so far...
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The color is Suzuki Metallic Sonic Silver.  After the silver was applied everything got a good coating of catalyzed urethane clear-coat (very tough and fuel proof).

[andrewsw]

 

Looking good!

I'm anxious to see the hugger applied with that line on it.

A

[TJS]

Silver!
I'm thinking about painting some for the first time. Where can I find the best "How to"?

[greg737]

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[greg737]

Finally got around to fitting the new chain.  Got rid of the OEM 525 sized sprockets and chain.  I installed an EK 520SRX chain with 520 sized sprockets, 15 tooth front and 47 tooth rear.  I had no prior experience with chain replacement so I did a little research on the interwebs to learn how to do the rivet link properly (there are always videos of things like this, many thanks to the guys who take the time to make them).  The whole operation went off without a hitch.
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Also got some work done placing a few more of the fuel injection system components inside the bike... working in the tail end of the bike: in this next picture I've mounted the Microsquirt ECU and the Innovate wideband O2 sensor controller behind the new battery tray.
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In the previous picture you can also see the light gray colored protective sheathing on the wiring bundle coming out of the Microsquirt ECU.  This next picture is of the open end of that wiring bundle.  This represents about half of the wiring I'll have to do.  There's a lot of cutting, splicing, soldering and heat-shrink wrapping work in my future.
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Another thing I got done today was painting the inset areas on the footrest plates black.
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[Squishy]

Why'd you go for 520 and not 525?
Are you thinking about raising the rear with different dogbones or rearshock? Stock 400 is so low on the rear.. both aesthetics and handling wise.

That 400 will be as new once you're done  (and perhaps even better with fuel injections ;) )

[greg737]

That 400 will be as new once you're done  (and perhaps even better with fuel injections ;) )

Yeah, that's probably true.  The whole thing is a bit over-the-top, I'm aware of that.  I'm sure there are deep-seated psychological reasons/factors that cause me do it this way.

But I'm enjoying myself.  Can't imagine doing it any other way.
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The 520 vs. 530 chain thing is an old debate/issue for motorcycles of moderate horsepower, like the Bandit 400. 

A quality 520 sized chain is more than adequate for the Bandit 400's 53hp and with modern O-ring or X-ring technology they last quite a long time on the bike.

I personally suspect that bikes like the Bandit 400 originally came equipped 530 sized chains simply because of economic issues.  The 530 size chain was a compromise: it was the perfect chain for big bikes like the 600s, 750s, 1000s, big cruisers and etc., and it was an okay chain on small displacement bikes (even if it looked a little oversized and heavy on the smaller bikes).  This allowed the manufacturers to achieve "economies of scale" with really large OEM parts orders from their suppliers (which makes the bean-counting, bottom-line obsessed accountant types happy).

I think it just looks better on the bike, less "agricultural".  Some people like to point out that the racing community always uses 520 (or even smaller) chains on bikes of this size.  Less mass equals more speed, better handling.

[Squishy]

Hehe, the building process is a big part of the whole deal..and will make riding it even more enjoyable! Not over the top at all .. it's just a hobby IMO :).

Anyway, You're talkinga bout 530 and 520 but for my 400 the stock is 525, so in-between. (DID 525VX)

[greg737]

Yes, you're absolutely right... 525 is the OEM for the Bandit 400.  I don't know where I got 530 on the brain.

Now I'm bothered by all the mentions of 530 in my previous post.  In every case I meant to say 525 but somehow I had 530 stuck in my mind.  Oh well...

[bigbadmad]

Wow! Loving your work 

[greg737]

I'm back.  Hope everybody's doing well.

I spent the last couple of months working too hard at my job, but October is going to be almost all "me-time" so I'm back in the garage and working hard on the project.

The last couple of days I've been working on the Bandit's wiring. 

The first phase of my wiring task was removing the parts of the OEM wiring harness that I don't need, streamlining it and incorporating it into the basic structure of my new fuel injection wiring harness.  I had to insure that all of the old items are wired properly and operable: headlight, warning lights, turn signals, horn, starter button, clutch switch, neutral switch, side-stand switch, oil pressure sensor, signal generator, etc.

I finished that part of the job up this afternoon.

So tomorrow I'll begin adding the wiring for the fuel injection components: Coil-on-plug sticks plus their ignitor box, injector wiring, fuel pump, air temperature sensor, water temperature sensor, radiator fan control relay, manifold absolute pressure sensor array, throttle position sensor, fast-idle cold start system, wideband oxygen sensor plus its controller, and etc.

And I'll have some pictures of this work in a day or so.

It's so good to be back in the garage...

[greg737]

When I disassembled the Bandit last November I put the brakes into a box and put it at the back of the garage.  Then I kinda forgot about them or subconsciously decided to ignore them, I don't know which is the truth...

So they ended up being the very last item that I had to clean and refurbish.  This fact made them very unattractive to me.  At this point I'm totally fed up with cleaning dirty motorcycle parts.  Also, I've always disliked rebuilding brakes, I can't stand brake fluid.

But at this point in the project it just wasn't possible to continue ignoring them so I had to spend a Saturday up to my elbows in dirt and brake fluid.

So I completely disassembled them, cleaned every part, painted the calipers, reassembled everything (replaced the piston seals and wipers, the front brake pads, and all of the banjo bolt crush-washers), re-installed it all on the Bandit and then refilled and bled the lines.
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Here's what the calipers look like after cleaning and painting...
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The rear brake parts.  Such a weird, old-school design with those opposing pistons and two bleed nipples.
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The front brake parts.  One of the prior owners replaced the original front brake line with a Galfer braided steel hose.

[greg737]

I've been working pretty hard on the wiring.  Integrating the remains of the original wiring harness into my new fuel injection wiring harness as I continue to add the fuel injection components.

Here's a couple pictures of the wiring.  It's not quite finished yet, there are a couple more components to add and wire into the harness.
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[greg737]

It's quite a challenge to cram all of the fuel injection system components into the very limited space available on the Bandit 400. 

The Bandit's minimal fairing and mostly-exposed framework is a large part of its attractiveness to me so I didn't want to ugly it up, but I still needed to put in a bunch of stuff.

At the middle of the Bandit's frame in the piece of space that used to be taken up mostly by the battery I've located the following components:  Fuel Pump, Fuel Filter, Coolant Overflow, Rectifier/Regulator and Starter Solenoid.  (and the rear brake reservoir had to stay where it originally was so I had to work around that)

Also, as you can see, the wiring harness has to pass through this area without interfering or being visible and ugly.
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I'm pretty pleased with the results, I got a lot of stuff arranged and securely mounted into a relatively small piece of space.  The components are accessible and each one can be removed without having to remove any of the others, which is good.
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[Squishy]

ETA first start up?