superhawk996

I might do that, figured I'd start here in case someone had the desire.

That closeup is looking into the collector through one of the headpipe holes showing the "pairing" separator plate.

The headpipes are the same diameter as stock, bout 1.5" OD, but I see some improvements over stock. The bends are a little better, and the welds holding the part that the flanges push on to hold them to the head are much cleaner than stock. The welds on the stocker are fairly thick beads in the path of airflow. The flanges are much thicker than stock and aren't bent, tho that doesn't seem to be a true problem with the stockers other than looking wrong. That's where the good ends. The collector is stupid. For starters I think it's too short so the merge is pretty abrupt, and the tubes are farther apart than they need to be making it even shittier than it needed to be. There's an attempt to smooth the flow between the exits of the pipes, metal plate kinda filling in the gaps, but poorly done. Then there's a flat plate in the collector that splits it in half emulating a 4-2-1 like a stocker. It might help, might hurt, might do nothing notable. The cylinder paring is carbie style; 1&2 and 3&4; "pairing" used loosly because they're not truly paired, but sorta. Where I think they went wrong again is the single pipe out of the collector, it looks way too small. A larger diameter pipe would probably un-fuck it some, but I doubt it would make it any better than a stocker. A complete re-do of the collector is what it would really need. When Anthony (Cecome) brought me his bike to try to figure out why it was weak the header caught my eye right away as being a problem. He had serious doubts, but putting a stocker on cured it's woes confirming that this thing just doesn't work. CBRbear didn't know he had a cork in his bike's exhaust. Would be interesting to hit him up an see if he remembers what brand it is. Might even be a one-off custom, or maybe someone's prototype and they didn't put it in the trash as they shoulda. Would be real sad if he paid someone good money to make this thing. Some other interesting header observations: It's fairly common knowledge that the cylinder paring between carbed and EFI is different. I'd read that the carb version is steel and EFI is SS which is mostly true. Interestingly, the carb is steel up to the final part where it splits toward the mufflers, that section is SS. Maybe they did that because that part's more visible and a rusty pipe would be ugly. Also, with the EFI paring the #4 pipe is quite a bit shorter than the others. The steel headpipes on the carbie have a seam on the inside that might mess with flow a bit, the EFI are smooth.

They're supposedly from Delkevic but don't look like their current offering so I don't know who made them, but they're fucking incredible! Cecome bought them as part of an engine package he bought from another member who parted out a really spectacular Bird, I think his name is Whitebear or something like that, don't see him around any more. I talked Cecome into a stock header I had, he's a sucker, and I stole this one. He's all in love with his new bike and dreaming about his cross country trip and won't even see this so I ain't worried. I've done back to back rides with full stock, stock header and slip-ons, and full systems and I guarantee you the performance of these are nothing like you could ever imagine!!! My assometer isn't ASE certified, butt it is finely calibrated; drumroll........17.489HP!!!!!! No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. 100% bolt on fitment, installed on a nearly bone stock bike, and they gave a solid and repeatable 18.312 HP loss!!!!!!!! I don't know how they managed to pull that off and haven't seen any BB header that looks anything like it, but here they are available only to the .org!!!! These would be perfect for anyone who's said "I like that bike, but it's just too fast". Or maybe your 10 year old daughter has expressed an interest in riding but you think your Bird is a little too powerful to be used as a training bike. Have no fear, these will calm that angry beast right the fuck down! Now I know what you're thinking, I gotta fuckin have these but can I afford them?!? Well, smart me would put them on ebay with at least a $1000 reserve, but I've had a couple drinks so you're in luck my friend. You pay the shipping and maybe enough for a 6er of PBR or a liter of Black Booster whiskey (a true bother would offer both, just sayin) and they're yours! I'd go fully free, but I gotta rig up a box, and the worst part is I'll have to touch this abomination of steel again. The only use I see for them is someone wanting to use them for parts to make a custom header. From memory, the headpipes are just a hair bigger diameter than stock and should be decent for something custom. The collector is where the magic happens, it's probably pure scrap metal but might be useful for parts. It appears to be SS and has a little bit of shine to it. The head pipes are slip fit to the collector so the shipping box should be smaller and cheaper than a stocker. I was super tempted to put them on ebay without disclosure, anyone would pay decent money for them cuz they look cool, but it would be a total dick move. I also have a stock header that I cut at the collector before getting these, that's also available. I was thinking I'd do something custom but there's always too many other more important things to do so it's time to part ways. I can take pics if anyone's truly interested. They'll probably just sit in a corner for another decade or until I decide it's time to get the fuck out of here and take them to the recycling yard.

You done all you can, that bike is just fucked and you're smart for not trusting it. Even tho you're new here, I'll extend the love of the brotherhood and relieve you of that POS. I won't charge the usual disposal fee and I'll even give you a ride home as long as you're buying the roadies. One time offer and it expires when I sober up and come to my senses. You've done a fair bit of checking and tweaking and may have already fixed whatever was wrong.

Don't know of any ECU updates for the Bird. Some, maybe most, have a lean spot just off idle that can make them a little jerky, it's a fairly common thing with may bikes. Mine doesn't have it at all. I don't know if that's a 2001 programming thing or if I just got lucky, or maybe just don't feel it. I think the Duc's idle adjustment also involved a computer connection and gaining access to "sealed for emissions" screws. It pisses me off to need a computer to make adjustments, but on the flip side, proper adjustments on an old school car engine involved a timing light, dwell meter, a propane enrichment device, and CO meter, and doing those adjustments every 30k miles. Then we look at non-Italian bikes and they put an adjustment screw where you can tweak it while riding, even tho it never needs it. Valves that rarely or never need adjustment and timing chains that last forever. Japs also provide automatic cold start high idle instead of a fucking lever, might as well have carbs if you're gonna have to use a manual cold start device. The lesson here isn't to avoid modern stuff, it's to avoid Italian stuff. That said, I miss my Duc.

Funny, we recently had a root cause conversation going as well as some carb vs injection stuff. Many hate carbs, a few rather have them. I don't care either way, but carbs generally won't suddenly crap out like injection can and aren't reliant on fuel pressure so they can be more reliable. Other than the cold start I didn't notice any real difference between my '97 and '01 Birds' performance. My Ducati had a little bit of a rough idle/low throttle issue, not so much to know something was wrong, just seemed like it could be better. I reset the TPS and it was cured, I think I also did some adjustments but don't remember. I think Aprilia has a similar issue where the idle position tends to 'drift' out of spec. I got a wire harness & software off ebay that let me plug the laptop into the bike to see what was going on and do the re-set, pretty sure they have them for Aprilia also.

Mine often change after a few drinks, that last being one example. His last post read completely differently than the previous ones. While I coulda just asked why, my half drunk .orgness came out so I got right to it.

I had a NOS stock one once, about a decade ago, and it went to someone here, so it does happen.

Your voltage readings are good, nothing to worry about there. Did you drink, smoke, snort, or inject before that post? Just curious what it was and how much was used. No judgement.

Fingers crossed. Assuming that alarm system had an engine kill that could mess with it. I've had a couple cases of abandoned but still connected alarms giving no-starts because the "kill" relay contacts started going bad. In one case it would randomly not start in early morning, but would always start after 11 am or so. After the sun had warmed the cab enough to warm up the relay a little causing the contacts to shift just enough to conduct. That one took a few visits to figure out. Your confession is unaccepted without an inventory list.

To pull codes there's an empty two wire connector by the ECU. You stick a wire in it to short the two connectors and turn the key on. The FI light will then flash 2 digit fault codes. When my test connector was corroded I had a bunch of codes. I didn't suggest this earlier since it appears you have several electrical problems that probably stem from one fault somewhere, but no harm in pulling codes just to know. I think, but not sure, that the codes get erased every time you turn the key off. If so, it may show none 'till you run it and the problem develops, then gotta short the connector before turning it off. If you're close enough and wanna bring it by I can give you a hand, just PM me for contact info.

I did have throttle issues with my Ducati 999s. I think a combination of the throttle sensitivity plus mostly my riding position using the handlebars to hold my body weight instead of supporting myself.

Other than the gauges, your symptoms are similar to what people get with the ground/test connector is corroded. If you don't see corrosion on that connector you should be good there, no need to take it apart or cut anything up. Mine had obvious corrosion on the terminals and it had started traveling up the wires so I cut & soldered. My bike came from the Arizona desert to my SoCal desert. No clue where it lived before Arizona and it shows signs of having lived outside in the weather. Washing the bike can also put water into stuff. From memory the connector is just a copper strip with a plastic cover that all the wires plug into. I'd be tempted to remove the plastic just to make it easier to seal it up and then tape back onto the harness to keep it clean looking. Bad connections at the battery, chassis grounds, rectifier mounting, and any other 'main' connections could cause multiple issues. I've read that there's another multi wire connection near the instruments that can also suffer corrosion issues, but I've never dug into it so no details to share. Others have had bad contacts at the stop switch cause issues similar to the test connector. The ignition switch could maybe do this too. What I would do is take the seat off and with the engine idling wiggle connectors, fuses, relays, switches, etc. and hopefully you'll find the culprit. As far as the throttle, I don't have issues with it and haven't read about others having them. Maybe yours has a defect or some modification that's making it more sensitive. It could also just be you, your riding position or something. Where in SoCal are you? If you're not too far we can get together to compare your throttle feel to mine. I also have a manual you can borrow if you'd like.

Friend's daughter, she loves me, loves taking a ride, totally innocent, but it's fun to sell the creeper story. Last time we took a ride was to buy her sweet 16 cake, sad how time flies by. We spent about 4 hours chatting and I had more typed, but if I'm going to drag it out it deserves its own thread.