Introduce your Bandit

[TJS]

wildwhl,
looks good! You in the USA or across the pond?

[wildwhl]

wildwhl,
looks good! You in the USA or across the pond?

reno, nv

[greg737]

Hello all, my name's Greg,

I just bought a 1993 Bandit 400.  No pictures yet but I will definitely have plenty of pix and video in the future.

I chose the Bandit 400 as a project candidate for a rebuild & upgrade project.  Here's how I view ownership of this bike: I really like small displacement motorcycles, my current ride is a 2005 Kawasaki EX-250.  I still love the EX-250 but have felt more and more attracted to the inline-4 cylinder engined bikes for years.  But I don't want a 600cc or larger engine.  So the Bandit 400 is perfect.

Five years ago I did a fuel injection conversion on my EX-250.  After a lot of trial and error and learning it turned out to be a complete success.  I enjoyed the planning/problem solving/building process and I've also enjoyed riding it.

So, my new (to me) Bandit 400 is going to get the fuel injection treatment.  I'm in the process of gathering up the necessary parts and supplies.  I'll be using a Microsquirt ECU to control both fueling and ignition.

Glad to be here,

Greg

[tubular]

Welcome Greg,

Enjoy your bike and the EFI conversion project!

Are you - by any chance - "EWflyer" back at the MS forum?

 

[B4ndit]

Welcome aboard... I'm relativity new here myself but these guys have a ton of information to help clean up and tune your 400.

Craig 

[greg737]

Welcome Greg,

Enjoy your bike and the EFI conversion project!

Are you - by any chance - "EWflyer" back at the MS forum?

 

Yes, I am.

I was wondering if you were still working on your Bandit, haven't seen you posting over there (at least no updates on the MSruns page).  How's your bike doing?  Good to hear from you.

Greg

[tubular]

I knew it was you. Microsquirted KAWA EX250, 737, sounds familiar... 

Nice to find you over here as well!

My EFIed B4 is running great so the EFI conversion project is considered finished (allthough a project never does come to an end...). From time to time I do find something to fiddle with (like: components rearrangement and fuel map tuning) but nothing really important on the actual project setup so that's why you don't see me very active at the MSRuns board.

Anyway, enjoy your little bandit. It is a great bike and really fun to ride. I would suggest that you consider running the bike on carbs -if possible  - for a while, before you switch to EFI. Just to get to know the engine behaviour and how it is supposed to run on stock carb configuration. It will be very helpful on building and tuning the fuel map later.

The conversion will be a breeze for you but feel free to contact me anytime, here or the back at the MS forum, for any questions. I'm always around.

 

[wario]

So, is the thinking that a MegaSquirt Bandit 400 would run better than one with carbs, or is it more a "science experiment"? Can the MegaSquirt provide accelerator pump functionality? Mine runs like an absolute top - hard to believe that it could run much better without a dyno to tune on. Just a curious mind here - 

[tubular]

Hi wario,

Eventhough the B4 EFI conversion project started as a "science experiment" it ended up in a perfectly running bike used for pretty much any kind of use. From daily commuting to track day riding.  The important thing is to define the "run better" condition. As far as I am concerned if "run better" refers to fuel economy then EFI is hard to beat. I've seen fuel consumption that with carb setup I wouldn't even dream of. If ultimate top end performance is your goal then it is better if you invested on some carb tuning kit or even better some aftermarket carb setup like KEIHIN CR or the awesome MIKUNI TMR.

For every in between situation I would say that a well executed EFI conversion project will be a really good upgrade, not cheap though...

And to answer your specific accelerator pump functionality. Yes the MS provides an "accelerator pump" functionality. It is the accelerator enrichment configuration and a really important thing to tune properly...


 

[wario]

Hi wario,

Eventhough the B4 EFI conversion project started as a "science experiment" it ended up in a perfectly running bike used for pretty much any kind of use. From daily commuting to track day riding.  The important thing is to define the "run better" condition. As far as I am concerned if "run better" refers to fuel economy then EFI is hard to beat. I've seen fuel consumption that with carb setup I wouldn't even dream of. If ultimate top end performance is your goal then it is better if you invested on some carb tuning kit or even better some aftermarket carb setup like KEIHIN CR or the awesome MIKUNI TMR.

For every in between situation I would say that a well executed EFI conversion project will be a really good upgrade, not cheap though...

And to answer your specific accelerator pump functionality. Yes the MS provides an "accelerator pump" functionality. It is the accelerator enrichment configuration and a really important thing to tune properly...


 

Cool, I really appreciate the input - my feelings were the same. I just wanted to make sure I was not missing anything. 

[bdouvill]

Any link where we could follow these B400 EFI conversions? That sounds like really interesting readings ;-)

[greg737]

I'm planning to post links to youtube videos of my project as I work through it this winter and spring. 

Probably won't have much to show for a while, like a couple of months from now because I'm just getting things organized right now.

[tubular]

Any link where we could follow these B400 EFI conversions? That sounds like really interesting readings ;-)

Here is a link to the MSruns forum where I describe my project:

http://www.msruns.com/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=23094&sid=654a83ce9b7f669fe92d0fb7abf1cd7b

Have a look to the rest of the conversion projects as well. You'll find it quite interesting!

Looking forward to Greg's bike. Judging from his KAWA project, he is going to do a very nice job. And - unlike me- he does take the time to upload very interesting videos and photos of his progress. 

[bdouvill]

Thanks for the link, I'll read that with high interest!!!
Any idea of the parts cost for the whole conversion (with used parts like injectors)? That would be interesting to know.
Also, what fuel consumption are you able to achieve? I usually do 5.2L/100km which is equivalent to 45.2MPG for town, suburbs and a 2.3km twisty moutain road which is used for one of the rally of the french montain rally championship, that I take every day to go to work ;-) Best I could achieve was around 4.7L/100km so 50MPG (twisty roads only, no town).
Thanks.

[tubular]

Hi there,

The total cost of such a project can vary greatly depending on many different factors. I could say however that for a fuel control only (no ignition control) utilizing the MICROSQUIRT ECU the cost could go as high as 1000EUR or even higher depending on your appetite for experimentation as well as various back and forths due to "trial and error" during project execution. That's a lot of money, taking under consideration that nowdays a well maintained B4 costs about the same. If you do however find the idea interesting and plan to go ahead, make sure that bike's engine and electric system are in a very good condition. Otherwise it will be a waste of money...

Regarding fuel consumption. I have seen mileage as low as 3.5lt/100Km while setting the fuel map for economy. But that took its toll on the top end performance and driveabilty of the bike. After a long -and very interesting- session of experimenting and trying different settings for the fuel map, I have settled for one that is adapted to my preferred riding style. I've been getting around 4.0lt/100Km on countryside riding and about 4.5lt/100Km for daily urban commuting. And that's with a fuel map that is quite a bit on the rich side.

I see that you get a very decent mileage with your current carb setup and to be honest I am not sure if it worth spending all that time and money only just to gain 0.5lt/100Km. On the other hand if you want to do something special on your bike and you are willing to deal seriously (meaning spending time and money) with the DIY EFI convertion project then I'm sure you'll find it very interesting. You will be amazed to find out how many different characters the B4 little powertrain is hiding.

Feel free to ask any questions.