Lone Star Racing is waiting for us to tell them what we need/want for the DS650, so speak up if you need some aftermarket parts. Their website is lsracing.com and e-mail info@Lsracing.com

 

Scooby- what up? Where exactly did you weld that air/fuel sensor on the wood pipe? Was it hard to mount? How do you like that wood rotax tach, I'm thinking about buying one. Later!

 

If you are looking for a tach, you can get one that works off of the spark plug for about $40 from most autopart, boating and tractor stores. If the Ron Wood tach works off of the same principal, then I wouldn't get it, especially if it costs more than the above price.

These units are usually a tach/hourmeter. My dad put one on his. Works fine, expcept that there is about a 1 second delay on the tach, so it's not as good as a mechanical tach. It really helps for tuning, though.

Is it any different?

Thanks,
CRT_Leech

 

LUBA, What's up - I'm in need of more power for the DS!

I am running a 4 wire heated oxygen sensor so I wasn't too concerned about positioning the sensor real close to the exhaust ports. I had the sensor boss welded on the header pipe, but towards the end of the pipe under the seat at a 45 degree angle towards the right side of the ATV. It cost only $20 and was done while I waited for it. You may need to touch up the ceramic coating near where the sensor boss is welded. I called a local perfomance street bike shop and they referred me to a guy that does this type of welding for them. The wiring takes some time and electrical parts, but I have the service manual that shows the color codes of the wires and the DS circuit wiring diagram so it wasn't too bad IF you can understand the DS circuit wiring diagram. I am an Electrical Engineer so it was relatively easy for me. The actual meter itself didn't come with the appropriate hardware to mount the meter in a good place. I still need to go to ther hardware store and rig something up. The meter is small and light so it is held in place with tie straps for now. Finding time to work on the DS is a challenge. If I'm working on the DS I can't ride it and enjoy it!

The tachometer is real nice. It mounts to one of the handlebar bolts and extends above the handlebars for easy viewing. July 2000 4-wheel ATV action has a review of RW stage II and they have the TACH installed also. It is an autometer tach w/o memory like the 19201 model shown here, except it goes up to 10,000 RPM: www.autometer.com/procycle/index.html The face is water resitant, but the rear is not and water will ruin it unless you somehow seal it or prevent water from directly spraying on the backside. A better mounting scheme would be nice. It could also get broken if you rolled the DS because it extends out above the handlebars. Ron has the wiring harness setup so you just plug it in and connect a ground wire. I did notice that the meter reads a random RPM when you shut the motor off which bugs me. Also, at idle the needle seems to move around a bit, maybe due to a poor signal amplitude or noise. On my car I have a tach and the needle is rock steady at any RPM. I'm sure you could rig up something cheaper. Maybe it's worth looking into the mounting to figure out if there is a better size tach to go with. It works great though - instant response. I have had it above 9000 RPM and quite frequently glance at it to see where I am at. It also helps when playing around with when to shift gears during drag races to try and maximize your acceleration.

 

One note about those air/fuel meters - there is a lot of debate about there value. People will argue that an EGT sensor is better. Basically the air/fuel monitor is only one more piece of the puzzle and does not tell the whole story because the oxygen sensor is temperature dependent. For my O2 sensor, I have some curves for different temperatures. I have been guessing at what temperature the sensor was at to determine the air/fuel ratio. Also, the meter might read in the rich range, but in that range is near where you need to be for maximum power - i.e. air/fuel ratio of 12-13:1, where as the theoretical ideal air/fuel ratio is 14.7:1

 

What is the diameter of the gauge? It looks like it is about 4". I want to get a White face gauge with an orange needle and I would like to mount it in the stock gauge cluster. I might try to get a Ski-doo or Sea-doo tach for it. I have the K&N air/fuel monitor and I have to install it. I think I will buy the turbo/EFI, I sure want it.

 

I think it might be the 19202 model that is 3 3/4 inches in diameter. The tach is VERY deep and does not easily mount into the guage cluster without some custom housing. Let us know if you find a guage and/or housing from Sea-Doo that will work. A speedo would be nice too!