Yep, already priced out replacements for whenever the EFI harness gets final and permanent. I had to cut half of another connector off today, this time it was the harness-half of the oxygen sensor connector. The aliexpress harness had the same... I'm guessing 20 gauge wire for the o2 sensor heater. Not enough for me to feel comfortable. I wired the wideband controller directly to the relay that shares the same input as the fuel pump, so whenever the fuel pump is running (only when the engine is running, or for 2 seconds on initial startup), the o2 sensor heater will be able to turn on. You can kind of see the two black/white wire pairs connected together in one of the pictures, that's the fuel pump power from the ECU wired to trigger both relays.
Here is a quote from the wideband sensor user manual:
"Do not install the Lambda Sensor in such a manner that the unit is powered before your engine is running. An engine start can move condensation in your exhaust system to the sensor, if the sensor is already heated this can cause thermal shock and cause the ceramic internals inside the sensor to crack and deform."
Also;
"While the Lambda Sensor is in an active exhaust stream, it must be controlled by Spartan Lambda Controller. Carbon from an active exhaust can easily build up on an unpowered sensor and ruin it."
So I can either not have any o2 sensor, or I have to have a powered o2 sensor. Kinda sucks, but I get it. The wideband controller has separate grounds for the electronic signals and for the heater. Since I can't (yet) directly access the connections directly on the ECU board, I had to settle for the ground wire that was for the original o2 sensor connector.
I placed the wideband controller on the right side of the frame, opposite the voltage regulator/rectifier. There aren't any mounting points on the controller, its just a PCB with wires coming out of one end and a connector on the other, covered with thick heat shrink tubing. At the moment, it is temporarily zip-tied in place. I want to either secure it with at least one more zip tie or move it somewhere else on the bike (there aren't many more places) where it can be more securely attached to the frame.
The big yellow cable with red tape on it is an old ethernet cable all but two wires taken out of it. The wideband controller has an output for an LED that will tell you through the speed of light blinks or by steady operation if the sensor is too hot, too cold, or goldilocks. The amount of heat contained in the exhaust is going to change based mostly on throttle position, so it may be too cold at idle and good at the top end, or good at idle, but bad at the top end. Being able to monitor whether or not the sensor is "happy" is a good thing to me, especially since I am going to basically be making an educated guess as to the distance from the exhaust port the sensor is going to be. I have heard plain vehicles should have them placed around 2 feet from the port, some say closer, some say further away. I have read ONE anecdote from
here that says,
"The more cylinders that feed the exhaust pipe, the more heat goes to the sensor. It’s possible to locate a sensor 300 mm (12”) from a single cylinder runner pipe (such as on an air-cooled motorbike), although we would suggest a little further back (500-600 mm = 20-24”) if the sensor is under bonnet."
I think I'll try right around 12 inches from the port, maybe 18; the exhaust header and the o2 sensor are going to be exposed to fast moving cool air 99% of the time. If that doesn't work, I'll just have to get another bung welded on elsewhere. I do have one small concern about the exhaust and wideband - from the document I linked to earlier:
"If you have any kind of exhaust leak out of the exhaust pipe then it’s also possible there is a leak into the exhaust pipe too. Eliminate all exhaust leaks without resorting to sealing compounds as these can often damage the sensor through silicon contamination. Even small leaks may result in meaningless lambda readings..."
The exhaust system I bought is connected together with slip joints. I don't see a way those joints
won't leak if I don't use some sort of sealant.
In the picture of the right side of the bike, you can get a better idea of the location of the fuel pump and the wideband controller. I left myself plenty of extra wire connected to the controller in case I have to move it to a different location. Not pictured is another 6 FEET of cable that I cut off of the controller. I'll be saving that wire for when (if) this project nears completion and I'm wiring up everything for the final time.
You might not be able to tell, but in the second picture it shows the area between the reg/rec and the relays is just filled with wires. I am going to try my best to keep most of the wiring running along or just below the frame, and the small area between the ECU and relays is going to be for all of the fuel lines, filters, connections, gauges, etc.
I'm really trying to think ahead as far as I can, and doing this project during the winter has been a blessing in disguise - normally on any project I'm working on something I really love (no exception here) so the whole time I'm working/building/modding/fixing/fixing previous fixes, I'm not able to USE the thing I'm working on. Right now, If I even tried to start the bike, I'd freeze my nuts off outside before it warmed up. Knowing that I'm not wasting any valuable riding time trying to get everything as good as I can get it is great.
The intake manifold rotator should arrive tomorrow, and once that is installed, there isn't really much to do except plumb fuel lines, tidy up the rat's nest wiring, test what can be tested without go juice, and maybe sit on it for a few hours making vroom vroom noises. Oh, and I want to add some reflective tape/stickers/reflectors so that from 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock, there are at least 3 reflective items that can be seen with a rider on the bike.
I will probably slow down the posting once I've done all I can do indoors. I'll probably continue to check daily for questions and what-not.