In another post I mentioned that I had to "borrow" a fuse from something else so I took it out of the EBC. The bike would creep when in gear, but the belt did not bark and it seemed like more of the power was going to the wheels, not lost in the tranny.

Also, I did not notice any loss of "engine braking" when going down hill. The only drawback was that it also disabled 4wd

I would appreciate any thoughts on this.

 

Just a thought, but the EBC works by placing resistence on the drive gear. It would make sense that if this was disabled, that you wouldn't have that resistence, but don't understand why your engine braking was still working. This calls for more knowledge than I have.

2fatformoto or nyroc...any thoughts?

 

The engine braking is caused throughout most speeds by that helix thing in the secondary pulley. It is solid mechanical and can't break or wear very easily. It is just a spiral slot that affects cvt ratio depending on whether you are pulling or pushing the belt. If the engine is not pulling, it gears down. No electronics, no bull, no nothin.

The KEBC only tightens the belt so that the belt does not let go under clutch engagement speeds. You only notice it working when you are going real slow.

Jlpier, I really don't think that KEBC does a whole lot for us. If you had one more 650 going really slow downhill with you, you could tell the KEBC was making it go slower.

A 650 without the KEBC has the mechanical equivalent of a polaris engine brake. Lets all save weight and take that thing off and put goop (with a little black paint mixed in) over the hole. Maybe I will leave it there until I have my first problem with it.

I guess I believe that Jlpier's comments about less power loss could be explained by the fact that if he was slowing down and stabbed the gas, the lag time for the KEBC fingers to move away would not be there. Thus, Jlpier felt a difference in the power response at takeoff.

Other than what we can guess, we have to take jlpier's word that his 650 works as well if not better than it did with the KEBC.

 

Nyroc,
Thanks again for a great explanation. Maybe it just felt different and "better" becasue after a while you get used to things the way they are.

If you haven't tried it, sometime when you are out tweaking things, you may want to pull the EBC fuse and see what I am talking about.

I also thought it was really neat that it removed all of those annoying clicking sounds in the pully bellhouse.

I put my fuse back in and it is back to normal. Was just curious of the mechanics of the whole thing.

I have a Kawasaki shop manual for it, but it doesnt explain things like you can!
Thanks

 

I agree with NYROC. I think the engine brake is a waste of engineering. When I am going slow down a slight grade around the yard, it runs in the dead zone between kicking in and out and starts that chatter and jerks the atv. It rolls fast enough to kick in, then the application of the engine brake slows it just enough to kick it out and so on. You have to make sure to throttle it above the kick out zone. I miss the predictable and smooth action of the one-way clutch device on my old Grizzly 600. It seems like when I am creeping down a steep grade and the front end just drops over a step the KEBC kicks in and I almost roll over forward and did one time. When I say steep grade I don't mean rolling hills stuff, I am talking about "The Wall" and Trail 233 down Blue Rock kind of steep. I want to disable the KEBC system, but I think the controller has to read back a voltage form the servo to prevent it going into the error mode. I thought I might try to wire the correct voltage into the controller so that when the controller tells the brake servo to move and reach the "learned" voltage (The thing it does when you turn off the key), it will think it has reached that position. What do you think about this idea NYROC? Also, would it hurt anything to relay the cooling fan so it could only run if the ignition is on. I have to stop sometimes to listen for things and the fan won't stop for a short while. It seems that since the water is not circulating, the only thing the fan will help cool is the coolant in the radiator. Am I wrong to assume that on any water-cooled engine that is shut off, the actual coolant will experience a short rise above normal running temperature as it absorbs heat from the engine and the coolant has stopped passing through the radiator? Sometimes I stop and 20 seconds or so go by and then the fan kicks in and runs for a minute or two. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have any other quad for where I ride, but the engineers never get everything right the first time. Some ideas sound great but really don't work well in actual practice.

 

I sorta wish that Kawi used the centrifugal clutch and one-way bearing that yamaha uses. Longer belt life.

However, Yamaha's make their oil dirty a heck of a lot faster with that clutch. Those clutch particles wear out oil pumps faster. It appears to me after working on a griz, that the 650 is approximately twice as easy to work on the belt and pulleys. Not that the griz is all that hard, there is just a bunch more stuff to do to change the belt or add a spring kit.

I really wish Kawi used a metal link belt (like audi does) so it would be sealed from water, and be electronic controlled instead of centrifugal so we would not have to change springs when we get huge tires. It would accelerate faster and get better mileage.

 

I forgot to answer you. I have not looked at the wiring and signals yet on the KEBC, but I am sure that you can do what you are talking about.

I would rather take the thing out and correct any signals that are needed for other components. Then sell the parts you don't need to people that break theirs.

I think you could fix the existing wiring so the fan works off the key. Don't know for sure yet.

Yes, the coolant temp rises in the engine when you shut it off. It still convects, and flows a little due to density variation. I don't think you need to care about that. I do believe that the hottest and most vulnerable parts are cooling down when you shut off, so if you killed the fan with a relay, I don't think it would matter.

I think the only real difference is that your coolant and engine would be hotter for the next time you start up and the fan would have to go again sooner. Possibly the carbs would be hotter and the engine might not start as easy. Maybe it would cool plenty just waiting for you to drink a soda and eat some jerky.

 

KEBC is about like K-TRIC on my ZRX. Just a fancy name for old school technology with wires hooked to it. nyroc is sharper than me when it comes to technical advise. New technology is out of my league. K-TRIC is supposed to adjust timing on my ZRX every milosecond according to throttle position. If you unhook it, it runs the same, even on the dyno. Go figure! If it were me, I would keep it hooked up. If it makes a difference, I doubt you could feel it & I doubt you would see a difference on the dyno.