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GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:33 am
by socrace
Converted my GL1100 to fuel injection a couple of weeks ago, and thought I would share some info about it. Have done many efi conversions over the last 15 years or so on cars, but this was my first bike conversion. Been using it for errands around town, and have put about 50 miles on it, been running well.
Right now it uses the stock ignition, with the ecu controlling fuel only. Total cash outlay was about $300, not including the ecu.
Here's a quick description and some pictures of what was done:
THROTTLE BODIES/MANIFOLDS
The original carbs and manifolds have been replaced with manifolds and throttle bodies from a 1985 Honda GL1200 LTD. Bought on ebay for $150 incl shipping, which seems to be about average for a complete unit. It basically comes with everything needed except sensors, fuel pump and ecu. The throttle body/manifolds need to be modified to fit the GL1100 in 2 main ways; need to take out about 10mm of overall width (JBWeld), and port match the manifolds to the heads by about 2mm.
IMGA0280x.JPG
IMGA0286x.JPG
SENSORS
The stock Honda tps sensor was used. The map sensor is a standard GM unit connected to the stock manifolds with equal length tubes and t fittings. The stock reed valves and air injection units are gone and the idle air tubes routed to a Ford IAC motor. The stock injectors are low impedance, so need a stock Honda ballast resistor, or use 4, 10 ohm 10watt resistors from Radio Shack ($1 each). The coolant temp sensor is a VDO 323-057 using a m18x1.5 adapter ($25 for both), mounted in place of the fan switch, which is now controlled by the ecu.
IMGA0284x.JPG
IMGA0301x.JPG
FUEL PUMP
The fuel pump needs to put out 40psi at 10 gal/hr (3 bar at 40 litres/hr), which is pretty small compared to the average car so just about anything from the junk yard should work. Mounted a new ebay $35 unit in-tank, which is probably the hardest way to do it, but its very quiet and takes up less space. Pump is a typical car 30 gal/hr at 5 amps, so using a smaller 36w bulb in the headlight to compensate, mainly to allow some battery charging at idle.
IMGA0278x.JPG
ECU
A megasquirt unit should work. I'm using a modified Edelbrock/Weber Pro-Flo, configured to do sequential injection. Have tried batch injection (megasquirt method) and it basically runs the same although idle quality is marginally better with sequential.
TUNING
I'm using my standard tune for a small block Chevy with cam duration 220I/230E(.05), reduced for cylinder size. It's very close according to the O2 sensor. Have not put it on a dyno yet.

That's about it, hopefully didn't forget to mention anything major.
Bob D

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 10:42 am
by alan hawke
Very nicely done Bob.

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:18 am
by Old Fogey
Oh, that is sooooooooooooooo neat ! Well done! Relatively easy conversion too (Says he, not having a total clue about fuel injection! :lol: :lol: )

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:12 pm
by JBz
cool man. Just curious can you tell us some impressions as far as acceleration if your old carbs were good . Do you think it was worth it. Maybe fuel mileage a little later. JB

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:18 pm
by Cookie
Excellent job, I'm very impressed.

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 2:35 pm
by socrace
Thanks to all for the comments.
Yes, it was pretty easy to do, mostly due to the efforts of the Honda engineers back in 1985! I think the 1986 SEI uses the same parts as well.
As for performance, it does have the the typical efi advantages of improved cold startup, throttle response and (probably) gas mileage. In addition, there seems to be much less engine vibration; it had a really noticeable buzz around 2k rpm that is now entirely gone, not sure if thats due to the efi or something else happened during the install.
Here's a couple more pictures showing the wiring changes, one of the more time consuming parts of the job that should have mentioned before:
IMGA0304x.JPG
IMGA0306x.JPG

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 4:55 pm
by dan filipi
I've wondered for a long time if this can be done and you showed it can!

The width had to be shortened, I suppose that would be true for 1200 carbs to mount on also?
I've thought about doing this because I find the 1200 carbs superior to the 1100 carbs especially the cold enrichener circuit.

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2010 5:48 pm
by CYBORG
i think it is one of the neatest i've seen. i've been trying to deside if i want to do FI on my 1200 project or not. i have most of the FI components. but not having done one before, i'm moving rather slow. you make it look easy. would like to have some component part numbers and wiring diagrams. we all could benefit from them

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:02 pm
by socrace
Thanks again for the comments.
Can something similar be done to adapt the GL1200 carbs? Probably so! Something I forgot to mention before was that a lever arm from the old GL1100 plenum fits perfectly on the narrowed side of the LTD plenum, quite a coincidence.
As for a wiring diagram, I've attached mine below, although another ecu will come with it's own that may be a little different. The cam sync sensor shown is pretty simple. It's just another map sensor connected to the extra cyl 4 vacuum port. This vacuum port was used by the LTD to run the cruise control, but the ecu can use it to identify which cylinder is firing.
WingWiring_generic.PNG
This brings up the issue of a crank position sensor. It's not needed in this case when using the stock ignition system, but did have to build something to get a combined left and right ignitor signal. The attached schematic shows how to take a combined signal off the ballast resistor and condition it so that the ecu (which normally uses a hall effect sensor) can read it.
TriggerCoil2.PNG
Bob D

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:00 pm
by GL Bryan
All I can say is WOW. That is very nice socrace.

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:46 pm
by JBz
can you go into details a little more on the fuel pump and the fuel sending unit. Thanks JB

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:23 am
by socrace
Hi JB,
The pump I used is a Walbro 5CA201, fits 1987-1988 Ford Escort 4 Cyl. 1.9L EFI (VIN J).
Fuel filter is Wix 33310 (5/16 hose barbs), fits Honda Passport EX & LX 3.2L V6 1994-2002.
A good external pump to use instead would be airtex E8312 (5/16 hose barbs), from 1983-1986 Isuzu Impulse.
External pump needs 2 filters, one between the pump and the tank, because any junk that gets into the pump will lock it up and totally strand you (yep, it sure will)..
Bob D

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:48 pm
by mooseheadm5
Great job! This is exactly what I had planned to do but I have not been able to take the bike off the road long enough until now.

If anyone needs, I have a set of throttles/elbows/fuel rails/harness etc. that I was planning to use on my wing. I am taking a different direction with mine so it is up for grabs.
I've wondered for a long time if this can be done and you showed it can!

The width had to be shortened, I suppose that would be true for 1200 carbs to mount on also?
I've thought about doing this because I find the 1200 carbs superior to the 1100 carbs especially the cold enrichener circuit.
I measured something like 12mm difference between the 1000/1100 and the 1200 and that it would be easy to do if one wanted to.

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 12:12 pm
by ericheath
The big question..... Does it improve performance? Economy? I am guessing it starts better and will require less maintenance over the years. That is a neat looking job. Kudos. Wintertime is time to get people thinking about this again. Any feedback on the above,Bob D?

Re: GL1100 with throttle bodies (Fuel Injection)

Posted: Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:24 am
by socrace
Hi Eric, thanks for the comments.

Well, ran it all last season and it was very reliable and fun to ride. Its hard to explain whats better about it except to say the throttle is very linear and predictable. For example, can ride one handed on slow corners with the throttle barely open, no surging, "trailor hitching" or other drama like that. Max power is probably about the same, even though feels stronger was making ignition improvements at the same time such as went to Ford DIS coils and Iridium plugs and cleaned up (eliminated) most of the original 1981 wiring connectors.

This winter will be installing a 36 tooth crank wheel and sensor. Have a '98 Ford Escort EEC-V engine/ignition controller from ebay ($75) that should allow full control of fuel and spark. Will probably be using software from TunerPro to do the re-mapping. Plan is to mount the crank wheel on the front and have the sensor come out through a hole in the timing belt cover, we'll see if there's room to do it that way.

It has been very reliable, except when the ebay $35 "new" fuel pump took a dump about 70 mi from home. It actually was still pumping fuel, but only at about 1/2 pressure so it suddenly started slowing way down and barely ran until the O2 sensor relearned and richened up the mixture about 30% or so then it ran pretty well the reast of the way back. Some of these ebay deals on new parts are sometimes defective in obscure kinds of ways.

Bob D