newbie motorcycle question

triton builder · Post by **triton builder** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 5:04 pm

hi group-

i'm building a triton motorcycle (norton featherbed frame w/ triumph pre-unit engine) that i'd like to inject. i've settled on the microsquirt unit, but i have two major questions. the first is that because the engine is air cooled, i won't have a coolant temp. sensor, i'd imagine that i'd somehow sense the head temp. i know from my piloting experience that there are plenty of sensors out there for measuring the cylinder head temp. is this what i wanna do? what are the vw, porsche and corvair guys doin'? the next question has to do with the map sensor. i'm probably gonna run snowmobile throttle bodies w/ a built in tps, but because these are individual runners, how will i accommodate the map sensor. will one be sufficient? any other thoughts or input?

thanks,

-robert

alan_3301 · Post by **alan_3301** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:00 pm

I'm in the process of installing microsquirt on a ducati monster, I'm using the recommended GM coolant temp sensor, which I will tee into one of the oil cooler lines. Another option is to drill and tap into the fins on the head if there is enough room. You can use any sensor as long as it's
"Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) thermistors. This means that they are resistors whose resistance decreases as their temperature goes up."
(from the manual)

For the map sensor, I have nipples on both intake runners that are tee'd together and to the map sensor. I don't think it will make much difference if you only have a reading from 1 sensor, as long as both cylinders have similar compression and camshafts, and the throttle butterflies are adjusted to match each other.

I'm still learning about all this, but I'm pretty sure all of the above is true.

Also, spend a lot of time with the manuals, they explain *most* everything. The only part that is not self-explanatory to me is how to get the tach inputs working.

triton builder · Post by **triton builder** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:39 am

thanks. that all makes sense.

-robert

Dr.Hess · Post by **Dr.Hess** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:38 pm

I made a CHT sensor from a thermistor I got from Digikey. It's less than 5mm in size. I epoxied it into a large ring connector, added some shrink wrap and bolted it to the head at the engine mount. The resistance/temp chart was on Digikey in the specs PDF. Just plug the values into EasyTherm. No drilling on the head and it works great.

Thanks to newtyres1 for the idea.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 7:36 pm

On my 4 cylinder bike, I'm planning to run a vacuum connection from each cylinder into a reservoir, along with the map sensor.
I tried with one cylinder only and did not get a reading.
That was on a 2 stroke though.