hello to all i recently got a 04 600rr and it came with a dynojet power commander i have none of the chords of the software i just have what is hooked up to the bike. i know that this acts like a tune somehow but thats about it. i basically have no idea what i have on my hands or how to use it. can someone point me in the right direction to start and what it actually does?

 

Your bike comes with tuning according to what Honda put on. When you change the muffler, air filter, it changes the way bike run. So you need to have power commander to adjust the tuning to what you have. (this is all I know, in layman's language of course, nothing technical sentences) The shops have the tuning machine.

I am having power commander installed tomorrow. I was told by members here that I probably don't need it. but with strong wind and occasional vog we have, it does run rough time to time. The shop guy said he will set the power commander for Yoshimura which I have, and suggested running like that instead of having dyno tuning done at the same time.

 

welcome to CBRF

 

It depends on the version of the powercommander. I was unlucky and my bike came with a PCII, which is a dinosaur. A PC is basically a piggyback that adjusts your fuel value (if you have a timing module or the PCIIIr you can adjust the timing of your spark as well) based on RPMs and your throttle position. The PCII makes this adjustment by messing with the atmosphere density reading your ECU gets and interferes by making your ECU compensate for the elevation it thinks your bike is at (basically faking the air density). The PCIII and newer directly interface with your injector cycle to make changes to the amount of fuel being sprayed into your engine. I hear the NEW new powercommanders like the PCV will automatically adjust your fuel values on the fly, which is technology I'd trust as it's been used in fuel computers for cars for a while now (Super SAFCII or whatever and the plethora of other piggybacks/engine management systems put out there in recent years).

Why is this important?
Any motor's power output and characteristics are directly related to the fuel mixture and the timing of when your spark plugs "spark". If you look at any dyno sheet you'll see something that is listed as A/R or AFR which is a number indicating your Air to Fuel ratio/mixture. Getting a tune is basically balancing how much fuel your injectors squirt in conjunction with how much air is being let through into the mixture and making sure it's "safe" and doesn't overheat. Of course, the more heat the better, but too much heat and of course bits n' pieces of your motor start melting/warping and you're having a pretty ****ty day.

Any motor coming from a factory equipped with an ECU that controls your fuel/spark will have a "rich" mixture (more fuel than air) because that keeps temperatures at a safer level and also insures the motor from detonation in the case of an unexpected misfire or whatever else happens while running. So if you have a powercommander, you can tune it so the mixture is more "lean" (less fuel compared to the amount of air) which will create more heat and as a result net you more power. Now, as most bikes seem to only get tuned for fuel values, you're not gonna see crazy horsepower gains, but a "pro" tuner can get your bikes to run a lot smoother which will result in healthier spark plugs and a cleaner burn. If you do have spark control, you can advance the timing (make the spark plugs ignite before they cycle top dead center) which generally nets you more power because it creates more heat. This actually is part of the reason for higher octane fuels, alcohol injection, etc.. it helps to control unnintended detonation or "knock" because of out-of-control heat in your motor.

That's about as comprehensive as I wanna get right now and mind you, this is knowledge gained I learned from turbo car tuning so it may not all be exact when it comes to bikes, but I'm pretty sure the principles are the same.

 

Wow ray, that was excellent!!

 

Ray - so what you're saying is we have to Cam2 gas in the bike once we add a PCIII ?

hehe

 

I'm a geek first, everything else comes second. Yeah, that's right, I'm a geek and I'm proud, wanna fight about it?

 

Where your geek vehicle?