Modern Vespa

Does any one have any info on programming or adjusting the fuel injector for a richer mixture? I'm installing an EMGO Universal Dunstall-type reverse-cone megaphone/muffler. Reason: safer to make some noise when splitting lanes in rush-hour freeway traffic. Heck of a deal on this megaphone from JC Whitney!

Not if you want your scooter to still run right. There is one out there but have heard nothing but trouble and everyone has taken it off.

Wayne B

Wayne,

As long as I can richen the mixture to prevent burning the valves I'm content to make a little more noise without sacrificing any loss of power/torque. Do you know if the injector is computer-programmable?

California is on the brink of enacting a smog test law for motorcycles/scooters to raise revenue. Modified exhaust systems will probably prevent smog-checks. There will be a lot of unhappy petrol-heads in CA when this law passes.

Alan

Get shot of it. No point. The ECU may cope (if the Lambda sensor was inserted properly in the new downpipe) but all other bets are off.

You may have extra noise, yes, you will annoy people. Me included.

You can't get the ECU reprogrammed to deal with it. It will do its best. quite well. But your performance (yeah MAN) will be worse.

Another victim of after-market attraction...

Sheesh.

SAG

If you disconnect your battery for 30 minutes or so before you fire up that gattling-gun looking, JC Whitney special EMGO exhaust, the ECU will compensate and richen-up just as JimC says....but it needs to be disconnected to re-find it's baseline and adjust accordingly.

I believe the motorcycle smog bill is dead now....

Your gonna hang that pipe on a beautiful Mp3? Beauty is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder !

Don't believe all you hear about disconnecting batteries to reset ECUs. Some bits will get reset - but it isn't 'back to factory'. At the moment no-one has found out, or 'leaked' exactly what does happen. It does have some beneficial effects for some fault conditions, true. It won't cope with a change of exhaust parameters, honest. However the ECU does 'learn' so give it time perhaps.

Leo Vince's website specifies to disconnect the battery when installing their pipe, Banks Engineering recommended the same when installing their cat-back system on my Son's 2008 Toyota Tundra, and Borla recommends the same thing for their aftermarket systems. I don't claim to know what happens when you do, but I don't believe the ECU "knows" you've fundamentally changed the breathing habits of the engine if you don't. By disconnecting it, the ECU starts it's learning process from ground zero, and can make the proper calculations accordingly.

Since they all seem to follow this line of thinking, what does one have to lose by spending 30 seconds to pull a lead off? I would think it would be MORE important using a universal style pipe like this EMGO one, since even the LV is actually designed for the bike and they still recommend doing so. Anyway, what do you have to lose by doing so?

From Leo Vince USA: No. At LeoVince we ENGINEER our exhausts to be plug and play! For street bikes our slip-ons will bolt on and offer a substantial performance increase without any further work. The same holds true for our full systems. We suggest disconnecting the battery and leaving it disconnected for a few minutes after installing either pipe, then reconnecting the battery and starting the bike. This allows the ECU to reset and adjust its own air/fuel parameters based on its sensor readings. Should you want to add an air filter, change fuel maps, adjust the ECU or make other performance enhancements we suggest you invest in dyno time with a professional facility. This will ensure you only further increase the significant performance gains a LeoVince full exhaust system will give you. For dirt bikes we always recommend the stock jetting. Our pipes perform very well with stock jetting and rarely require any changes.

I love it! One-third the weight? In fact, that heavy EPA/California Air Resources Board compliant OEM belongs in the dumpster, but I may need it if California starts requiring motorcycles to pass smog.

I dunno man - when we rode the Dragon I was actually appalled at the stink from several MP3's in front. Dang - can't imagine without! Just because a scoot is small doesn't mean it needs to be nasty - or has a right to be.

BTW, I've "heard" from other riders and friends that the odd thing is that the emissions on a scooter are actually WORSE than on a car(quality wise), BUT...its the fact that the amount they put is lower (volume wise )that allows them to be road worthy.

http://wweek.com/editorial/3240/7867

I don't think they tested anything that was Fuel Injected, that really cleans up the exhaust.

Wayne B

Alan what does the exhaust sound like? can you post it on you tube and give a link so we can hear it? It does make the right side more sleek looking. Can you feel the weight difference in the rear end?

That and two stroke vs. four stroke.

Installation of the megaphone did NOT affect performance. I disconnected the battery for an hour or so to reprogram. It didn't lean the bike out. I pulled the NGK Iridium plugs after a hundred miles or so and checked them. Really great sound (like an old factory CB92R Honda road racer), but way too offensive for my neighbors and the cage drivers when I'm white-lining the freeways. Didn't really notice the weight reduction while riding, but the megaphone weighs about a third (or less) that of the OEM. Back to stock. May buy a Leo Vince strictly for aesthetics.