[Kawasaki Brad]

With TONS of nitrous parts as spares for the drag bike plus leftovers from previous projects, it was just a matter of time. I've been wanting to do this for a while. Now that I have the time there really isn't an excuse anymore. A good excuse might be that this is a bad idea but bad decisions make good stories right?

Starting with the hardest part (to me). Jet placement and mounting.
I was 95% sure I'd have to fab up a nitrous plate (spacer between throttle body and jug) and have the jet in there. As it turns out, there is a factory "bung" that just needs to be drilled and tapped. Seriously, if I had to design one of these from scratch with a nitrous jet bung that is exactly where I would put it. It's almost as if Kawasaki WANTED me to put nitrous on it.

Anyways. Step 1 complete. Next is fuel supply and solenoid mounting.

 

[Zaph]

Looks fun. Wow, that is peculiar that there is a casting built in right where you want to put the jet. Is that jet suitable for this size intake? I mean if it's too big will it restrict flow when not in use or be hard to tune at lower flow rates? I've never done a nitrous install. I'm following along. Almost seems like just what this bike needs. Just a little boost on the front straight, or to get around a car on the street.

I have to wonder what your average nitrous usage will be. I lot of people complain about heavy NOS usage on various installs but I bet that this little bike just sips it and it lasts a long time.

Last year I thought I saw a Grom with a nitrous install while I was in my truck. I got close and then realized it was an NOS energy drink screwed to the bike in a bicycle bottle holder. I got a good laugh out of that.

 

[Azlar49]

Someone here had nos on their grom and had said it was perfect.

Can't wait to see how this turns out

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Looks fun. Wow, that is peculiar that there is a casting built in right where you want to put the jet. Is that jet suitable for this size intake? I mean if it's too big will it restrict flow when not in use or be hard to tune at lower flow rates? I've never done a nitrous install. I'm following along. Almost seems like just what this bike needs. Just a little boost on the front straight, or to get around a car on the street.

I have to wonder what your average nitrous usage will be. I lot of people complain about heavy NOS usage on various installs but I bet that this little bike just sips it and it lasts a long time.

I should probably clarify some terminology. Even though I called that a jet I should have called it a nozzle. Nozzles are fairly standardized for sizing so I don't really have a choice. The jets fit inside the nozzle and come in various sizes to tune how much nitrous you are actually injecting. It does look pretty big in that tiny throttle body. I have some baseline dyno runs from a few years back so I'll know right away if the flow difference is positive or negative. I'm not concerned at the moment since intakes have this mysterious way of gaining flow by adding turbulence. The big question is am I adding turbulence or restricting flow?

Nitrous usage is dependant on the jet. Bigger jet = more usage. I'll be using the smallest jet available at 0.009 for the fuel and ratioed properly that puts me at .015 for the nitrous. With that teeny tiny little orifice I'm expecting about 80 to 100 seconds of actual "button" time with a 10oz bottle. That .015 jet unfortunately equates to about +10hp at the crank so I will be ramping and fluttering the solenoids by pulse width modulation. Thinking about starting with the theoretical +5hp and see how that goes.

I got a nitrous pump and fill station this summer because the ZX10 eats up about 4 pounds of nos per track day. At $14/lb CAD retail and a one hour round trip drive to get bottles refilled it's easy to see why. With the tiny bit of nitrous this little guy is getting and a refill station at home I'm not even slightly concerned about consumption.

 

[MotorbikeFlea]

Are you going to set up a purge valve haha?

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Are you going to set up a purge valve haha?

No. I thought about it, but there is only 10 inches of line to purge. Would pretty much be a waste of a solenoid.

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Found an awesome little pocket under the seat. Didn't have to relocate any factory stuff, just used the void. Made a small aluminum plate to mount the solenoids to. It shares bolts with the rectifier so I didn't even need to make any new holes or mount brackets. Only difference is the bolts needed to be a lot longer and they now thread from the inside out through the mounting plate, through the tabs, through the rectifier, with some acorn nuts to finish it off.

Tee'd off the fuel line and played lego with fittings and mock ups for a few hours.

Ta da. Solenoid mounting and fuel supply complete.

Next is either wiring (my favorite) or a bottle mount (not really looking forward to that). Haven't decided yet.

 

[Greg_E]

Not to get off topic, but do you think the battery could be moved down to that space you found? It would lower center of gravity a little.

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Hmmmm, that is an awesome idea. I wonder if that's what that compartment started out it's design life as but was abandoned later?

Yes, I'm fairly certain it would fit in there without having to ditch or move existing electrical.

 

[Greg_E]

I smaller lithium would certainly fit then, incase you need an option, not that lithium will weigh anything. But for my stocker I may think about moving it lower.

Heat might be the only issue with putting it lower, going to get more engine heat down there.

Are you going to put a manual NOS switch on the bars, or have it trip at WOT? If the smallest you can get is 10hp, that poor little motor is going to have a hard time. That's a BIG percentage increase, even if you have a big bore/stroker kit installed it is still going to be almost double. And more than double a stock engine.

How much power can the stock drive chain take?

 

[Kaw'ee]

I wonder if that's what that compartment started out it's design life as but was abandoned later?

Calif, Model Fuel Evaporative System

The stock canister mount is set up for a 2 1/4" Dia. or maybe a 2 1/2" would fit and
I put a 2 1/4" X 8" bottle in there for a visual.
So maybe a place for your bottle ?
I can send you my bracket and mounts being de-smog now

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

I smaller lithium would certainly fit then, incase you need an option, not that lithium will weigh anything. But for my stocker I may think about moving it lower.

Heat might be the only issue with putting it lower, going to get more engine heat down there.

Are you going to put a manual NOS switch on the bars, or have it trip at WOT? If the smallest you can get is 10hp, that poor little motor is going to have a hard time. That's a BIG percentage increase, even if you have a big bore/stroker kit installed it is still going to be almost double. And more than double a stock engine.

How much power can the stock drive chain take?

I think the stock will fit, and if you're doing a heat resistance experiment best to learn on the stocker rather than a lithium.

There will be a master switch that when turned on, the horn will re-map to gogo juice. Master switch off = horn functions normally and no accidental activation. I've tried the WOT and window switches. Not a fan.

Yes, there is a good chance that motor will have issues. I've learned (the hard way) to ramp it in rather than give it a big smack. Plan is to start the PWM at 10:90 (open time to closed ratio at 60hz) through a 2 second ramp and max out at 50:50. That theoretically gets a nice smooth ramp up to a max of +5hp and shouldn't be very exciting. Can move up from there. Being an electronics dork can have it's advantages.

How much power can the stock drivetrain take? I'd be surprised if that's the weakest link but I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Calif, Model Fuel Evaporative System

The stock canister mount is set up for a 2 1/4" Dia. or maybe a 2 1/2" would fit and
I put a 2 1/4" X 8" bottle in there for a visual.
So maybe a place for your bottle ?
I can send you my bracket and mounts being de-smog now

That makes sense now why they have such a nice little pocket in there.

As much as I want to avoid making bottle brackets (and appreciate your kind offer) I am not aware of a bottle that will fit in there. I have a bunch of the "sneaky pete" style bottles that just so happen to fit very discreetly, but will require a fair bit of head scratching and fab work. They're about 15" x 2" including the valve.

Plus, there is no frickin way I'm re-doing that solenoid plate and all the spaghetti! Doesn't look like much but I always feel like I'm trying to cram 10lbs of $#it in a 5lb bag when it comes to these installs.

 

[MotorbikeFlea]

What other mods are done/ plan on doing to the bike? Are you going to install a hd clutch?

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

What other mods are done/ plan on doing to the bike? Are you going to install a hd clutch?

The clutch and gp shift were the first two mod's I did. Then quick turn throttle, intake, and renthalls. Subcage with fender eliminator, integrated stop/turn/tail. That's about it. I have my PCV lent out to a buddy at the moment so he can play with it and decide if he wants one. Not sure if you count winter tires as a mod but I got those too.

Mods I plan on doing? It will likely need a forged piston, stiffer rod, and head studs soon. That's probably going to be it. My drag bike eats up the majority of the budget and the ZX6 is a daily that gets some shinies once in a while but goes through lots of tires. As my kid gets bigger and faster his bike is chewing up more stuff more often too. The Z125 unfortunately is at the back of the bus and doesn't get many goodies.

 

[MotorbikeFlea]

That’s cool, I also have a 09 zx6r for my daily, It’s mostly stock and I go 6.80’s in the 8th with a 6.77 as my Pb. It’s definitely no souped up drag bike lol but I had fun out there.

anyway.. Sweet build so far with your Z, I will be anxiously waiting for the video of you spraying it for the first time

 

[Greg_E]

How many cameras do you have? Would be nice to have a few different angles to watch, especially if it blows the top off.

How much room is around the head studs in the case? Just wondering if bigger diameter studs could be used, or at least helicoil/thread inserts and stronger studs. Back in the day, a popular mod to air cooled VW Beetles was to drill and helicoil the studs to prevent pull out when you increased the power. If you really wanted to go more power, longer studs with the "deep stud" mod were the thing to do.

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

I haven't had the head off one of these for a while. Don't remember exactly how much room there is but definitely something to look in to this winter.

3 hero sessions in the fleet (those little square ones). That's a good idea to have multiple angles of the head. I hope it doesn't blow off, but if it does it will be a pretty cool vid!

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

Time for an update. Been working on the sparky stuff since it's my favorite.

1. Mounted 2x 12v relays adjacent to the seat pin latch. Fit nicely and very discreet (Pic 2)​
2. Standardized the Arduino Nano/Dimension Engineering PSU/Dual Relay Kit form factor and mounting. Sick of reinventing the wheel each time I do these. This is what will show up on the KB site one day. (Pix 3,4,5)​
3. Module location and mounting (Pic 6)​
4. Plug and play harness + finished wiring (Pix 7 & 8)​
5. Front LHS between tank and steering stem with NOS master switch, horn button interface, etc. (Pix 9 & 10)​

It's almost as if someone at Kawasaki wanted me to put nitrous on this. It just fits so well and makes so much sense.
Could those relays fit any better?
Could that black box fit any nicer? (which I have many multiples of including the one in my 250+ whp ZX10) what an awesome fluke!!
Could the master switch be located any better if we tried? The hole was right there in a frame gusset exactly where I wanted one. Didn't even have to resize it.

This is (so far) the least amount of fab on any wet shot NOS set I have ever built.

Left to complete:
Stupid frickin bottle mount.
Coding.
Dyno day.

 

[Kawasaki Brad]

All that's left to do is a second O2 Bung (18mm) for wideband AFR/datalog/autotune. Quite happy with how stealthy it is.

No test pilot yet since roads are still covered in sand/salt and still a fair bit of ice and snow. Probably this weekend though.