professional dyno tune - worth it?

Hey All,

Have any of you had your bikes professionally tuned? I recently installed new jetting, a full Kerker 4 to 1 exhaust system and a high-flo filter. My bike is running better than ever, but I'm wondering if there's more power to be had. Factory Pro is close and I've heard they're pretty legendary at getting the most out of a bike. Just wondering if any of you have had your kz's professionally tuned and if it was worth the time/money.

Also, side note, what kind of gas are you using? I've been putting in 91 octane but a guy on the Zephyr Zone pointed out that 91 octane in the US (which uses the AKI measure), is higher than the 91 RON recommended by Kawasaki (91 RON = 87 AKI). Further, he suggested the bike might run worse with the higher octane gas as that would effectively retard the ignition. Wondering if there's anything to the performance angle there. Lower octane gas would be cheaper in any case...

Cheers,
Mark

I've always used premium gas. Currently that is 93 octane, but when I bought my KZ650 in 1977 it was higher octane than now. I've never had any fuel related problems. Ed

I used 93 oct (or higher) since I bought the bike and have read and been told a lower oct might make slightly more power at 9.0 to 10 to 1. ( For the reason you state).

Maybe 8 - 10 years ago I started mixing 89 and 93 oct Approx 60/40%..... straight 89 some too .... (Amco and BP, Shell once in a while) ...... just in case..... betting it so small of a diff a dyno operator would be hard pressed to see the diff...... but if I can gain a 1/4 bike length I'll take it. :silly: ...... There is also pure gas to wonder about instead of the ethanol crap ......producing a little bit of extra energy too.

I always wanted to run the bike on a dyno but never did....... am interested on hearing more from the members. Larry C hoping you might chime in.

I had my 76 750 twin dyno tuned. It definitely helped especially at idle and top end. The guy did 4 runs with different jets and dinking around with ignition. Not cheap and of course if you want to tweak out a last little bit of performance out of a vintage KZ you are probably a moron or have too much money and time. Like me.

I've always wanted to have the use of one. My neighbor can't do it because of the state.
Steve

I don't know if it is worth it, but it does work...my buddy had his V-Rod tuned and it went from 112 to 123 hp with a V & H exhaust and re-mapping the ECU at the Harley dealer.

With a carb bike it is very expensive unless the tuner has a lot of tuning experience with the engine and parts available to try and get the right combination....not likely with your 550.

How did this topic get locked?
Steve

Got no reply so I'm assuming it was a mistake so I unlocked it.
Steve

Bump

As Kray said, an EFI is a piece of piss. But I can't imagine a tuner taking off the carbs every Dyno run to change the jets, needles, what a malarkey.

I do the tuning myself on my Triumph. Downloaded TuneECU, plug it in and away you go. Having said that, you can fuck it up real easy and fry your ECU with not to much trouble. After 8 years of learning, got there in the end.

www.tuneecu.com/

I've had mine on one to look at the a/f ratio across the rpm range.
Looking at a print out of the a/f curve you'll see where it's rich or lean
and will know where to add/remove fue that's the first thing the dyno tuner is gonna do.

I's say take it and have about four pull's with a print out of each for an avarage reading
then go home and look at them and tune it your self.

swest wrote: How did this topic get locked?
Steve

Got no reply so I'm assuming it was a mistake so I unlocked it.
Steve

Steve - sent you a PM on that....

Got it,thanks.
Steve