I was told today that the 700 Prairie will now be available with EFI. Apparently it will be at the dealership on Wed. This was the first that I had heard of this, has anyone else seen one?

 

been rumored as a 500 cc & 750cc EFI... IMO, it would make more ( business ) sense to keep the 700 engine at least 1 more year... At your dealership on wednesday Wednesday ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????

 

Yeah, the dealer was saying they are talking about a 500 EFI as well.

 

Everything will be EFI soon. The electronics are so cheap that it is sometimes more cost effective than a carb.

You remember when EFI came on really big? 1988 nearly every car sold in the US was injected. The first systems lacked ability to use simpler diagnostics and some were downright problematic (GM). They also weren't sophisticated enough to really make an engine run well if something was a little off. the first injected mass produced car was a GM in the 50's (corvette?) it was not considered a sucess. The first sucessfully injected production car was a VW (1967 TYPE III). The lack of parts support and.or costs for older VW injection systems makes it more econmical to convert them to carburetion.

All 95 or 96 and newer autos have the sophistcation needed to run better an not be too difficult for a backyard mechanic to maintain. They are just plain awesome compared to the older garbage. Bring me your check engine light, and I will prove that almost any dummy can fix it.

I am afraid that the ATV industry is going to start selling us something that works a lot better than a carb on a stock machine, but is a major pain in the butt for anyone that mods their machine.

If they allowed you to reprogram it in case you modify, that would be better than sliced bread and almost as good as the second coming. That to me sounds to good to be true. If you could install a mod chip, like the auto industry currently does, that would be acceptible. If not, people will be forced to go with Electromotive, Haltech or converting back to carburation.

I hope kawasaki goes down the right path on this. However, I am afraid they will be taking the wrong path judging from past experience. I am 100% sure that Honda will go down the wrong path. They pride themselves on making stuff that isn't what everyone wants to ride, but sells just because it has innovative features like a lawnmower transmission.

 

The earlier fuel injected autos had throttle-body injection. The injector sat where the carb used to and injected into the intake manifold.

I think today's cars inject right into the cylinder head.

I'd hazard a guess that ATVs will have the throttle body type injection. Anybody know what Polaris is doing or Cannondale did?

Mark

 

I also think EFI is the wave of the future for ATVs...but I fear that if its not sealed properly, there could be major problems with the electronics everytime you dunk the ATV into a deep mudhole or plow thru a deep river crossing. I just hope they seal the electronics tight.

Happy trails...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I wrote Kawasaki the other day asking them when the 2005 information would be available and this is what they wrote back


"Thank you for taking the time to contact Kawasaki Motors. We appreciate
your interest in our products.

2005 Model information will be released in September of this year at
Kawasaki's National Dealer Meeting. If there are updates before that time
the information will be added to www.kawasaki.com as quickly as possible.

Please check back periodically for updates."

 

The main disadvantage to throttle body fuel inj is that the intake can still freeze. GM used to have these unreliable heater plates to fix it. The advantage is cost. Less injectors. Less wires. Less plumbing. the heater caused a flow loss, that is bad. the TB system did not send the right amount of gas to every cyl, like a carb. Noone I know if uses it now.

Current autos squirt right into the intake port, aimed at the intake valve if possible.

The V-twin Kawi should never have a single air inlet with 1 injector injector since it is uneven firing. One cyl would get more air and fuel than the other (like the older subarus used to do).

Current autos can take intake and exhaust mods without programming because they use an airlfow sensor (mass air flow systems). The older speed density systems used manifold air pressure sensors to estimate the amount of air being drawn into the engine. They can't accomodate changes to the engine such as mods or even engine wear.

If Kawi uses a mass airflow system, it may be suscpetible to mud and air filter oil. I can't see them doing this.

If they use the speed densitry system, then there won't be any delicate airflow sensor, but the system won't be as able to adapt to modifications.

anyone know if it will be speed density or mass air?

 

I can tell you that, from what I saw being built at the plant last month that they won't be getting an EFI model next week. It takes over a month to go from plant to dc to dealer and 3 weeks ago I saw the P700's going down the line with the same carbs they have now. I bet it will be coming out in 05'. If I had to gues the suki 750 EFI will be cloned by Kawi this fall or next spring.

 

Chrylser Corp. put efi in production midyear 1983 in some models with 4 bangers. 1984 brought on even more and so on. Even the corporate instructors had little idea what was going on. Back then we had throttle body on some and multiport on others. Never had trouble with the t/b freezing up because they plugged up with carbon first. Just like back then, I won't be running out to buy one of the first no matter what type system they try to use.

BTW Can't imagine a mass air flow system in the deep mud.