finding the sparkplugs

[Crazyninja]

Hey fellas,
I am trying to get to the plugs on my 2008 zx6r.
I removed the seat, gas tank, top part of the air box etc.
How do you get the lower portion of the airbox off the throttle bodies?

I can see some clamps on the bottom. Do these have to be taken loose?

I did see the coil on cylinders 1 and 4 below the air box.

I wanted to look at the plugs to check their color after gutting my cat and stock can. Wanted to be sure it was not too lean.

[ZX6Ray]

I can already tell you are are running way too lean with that setup. Get a PCIII ASAP and get it custom tuned on a dyno at a shop. You will do some damage long term if you keep riding around like that.

Ok I will tell you how to get to the plugs.

1) The lower portion of the airbox has a 10mm screw at the top towards the steering stem. Remove that.

2) Next... The back left side of the lower half of the airbox has a crankcase vent tube and an oil catch tube on the left side. Detach both of these. Slide the clamps down a little to slide the hoses off. It will be difficult so I use something to pry the tube off to break the airtight seal.

3) Pull up on the lower portion of the airbox to slide the velocity stacks off the throttle bodies. This might be hard to do if this is the first time taking it off. Just so you know the lower half is held on by the velocity stack collars slipping over the throttle bodies.

4) When you finally pop that lower air box portion off there is a reed valve hose that connects to the right side of the airbox on the bottom. Take this off as well.

5) Now that you have the air box off you will see the valve cover with each individual coil for the spark plugs. You may need to temporarily disconnect the T-fitting and reed valve assembly to leave room to work on getting the coils out.

6) Disconnect the stick coils and pull them out. Remember the orientation for each stick coil and how it was positioned on the valve cover. Draw it out if you have to.

7) Take out the spark plugs using a suitable spark plug socket and extension.

8) You may want to check the gap on your new plugs even if they tell you they are pre-gapped. The service manual states between 0.7mm - 0.8mm or 0.028in - 0.032in for the 2008 ZX6R.

9) Remember when you get your new spark plugs apply a small amount of anti sieze compound on the threads. This will ease removal in the future.

10) Using the spark plug socket and extension place them in each cylinder gently and fingertighten until it stops turning. Take a rachet and tighten to a 1/8 turn but no more than that!!

Install everything back todether in reverse and in case you fucked up I have some service codes for you:

#51 = Stick coil cylinder 1
#52 = Stick coil cylinder 2
#53 = Stick coil cylinder 3
#54 = Stick coil cylinder 4

Why would you gut the cat before getting a PCIII and especially without getting a more free flowing air filter?

[Crazyninja]

Air filter was next on my list of stuff and a pcIII. Exhaust smells very lean at idle, does seem to fatten up when I gun the engine but returns to very lean at idle. I can tell because of the high Hydrocarbon content odor of the exhaust.

[ZX6Ray]

Originally Posted by Crazyninja

Air filter was next on my list of stuff and a pcIII. Exhaust smells very lean at idle, does seem to fatten up when I gun the engine but returns to very lean at idle. I can tell because of the high Hydrocarbon content odor of the exhaust.

In the meantime I would do the jumper mod to richen up the fuel mapping until you get the PCIII.

[Crazyninja]

Jumper mod is done. I rode one of my buddie's new zx6r with the exhaust all stock and no jumper mod.

I could tell quite a difference in the way the throttle feels on mine vs his. Mine feels a lot more snappy and mine feels like more power comes on around 8K and up.

[Crazyninja]

Do you think the jumper mod is rich enough on the mid and top? I can tell the mixture gets fatter when you gun the engine, I thought about rigging a wideband in the tailpipe to see what it's doing. I have a wideband in my car.

[sanamadapaka]

hey guys where do you order k&n air filter? i had my full exhaust installed last friday, did the jumper mod and i do smell lean at idle. i got my pc iii today and will be installing it tomorrow. for the mean time i need to order a filter.

do you have favorite websites that you order it from?

thanks in advance!

[Crazyninja]

My pcIII is ordered and will be here end of the week.
I am not riding it until pcIII is installed. I have not looked for an air filter yet.

[ZX6Ray]

Originally Posted by Crazyninja

My pcIII is ordered and will be here end of the week.
I am not riding it until pcIII is installed. I have not looked for an air filter yet.

To tell you the honest truth the jumper mod isn't enough to richen up the fuel mapping on a straight pipe. When I brought my bike in with a PCIII and a custom map downloaded from their site I was still running lean before 8K and runnng too rich after 8K. If you want I can give you my map which is for a gutted cat, akra slip on, K&N filter and that SMOG crap which I took out.
Let me know, I have the map until you get yours dyno tuned.

[SLIDER]

Originally Posted by Crazyninja

I can tell because of the high Hydrocarbon content odor of the exhaust.

You do realize that HC is raw fuel, right? And you know you usually only smell HC when an engine is rich. How are you smelling the exhaust while you're riding?

[Crazyninja]

It's actually when I come to a stop after running it up in the rpm. Hydrocarbon emissions increase with lean mixtures not rich. CO goes up with rich mixtures along with black smoke. Excessively lean will make HC's and Nitrogen oxides in the exhaust increase.

That is why most cars and vehicles are mapped to try to maintain stoich mixtures of 14.7:1 This is considered to be the great compromise point of air fuel ratios that give the least of both allowing a catalyst to work the most efficiently.

Of course on most cars that have a real fuel injection system unlike these bikes, they have mass air sensor and o2 sensors to trim or add fuel as needed.

I couldn't believe these bikes have a primitive speed density system that just measures throttle position, intake air temp, engine cam postion, engine temperature.

These bikes have no way to compensate on their own for increased amounts of airflow.
No wonder power commanders have to be used to modify the injector pulsewidth.

I was surprised at how the power commander just takes input from the stock ecu injector pulse width and modifies it with a long pulse width.

It is nothing more than a 4 channel injector driver. Glad they made them.