My Karizma Mods & Ideas!

[fieroid]

I have been using freeflow filters in all weather conditions on my Fiero for over 4yrs. No airbox stuffing part. Just direct bolt on the carb. NOthing can beat that.
On the Karizma, water drips from the side panel and dampens the filter under heavy rains if the filter is directly bolted. Solution, use an extension to route the filter right under the tank. Remove the airbox and u'll have so much of usable space to do this.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by fieroid

I have been using freeflow filters in all weather conditions on my Fiero for over 4yrs. No airbox stuffing part. Just direct bolt on the carb. NOthing can beat that.
On the Karizma, water drips from the side panel and dampens the filter under heavy rains if the filter is directly bolted. Solution, use an extension to route the filter right under the tank. Remove the airbox and u'll have so much of usable space to do this.

I've been using Green Cotton & K&N filters on my Bullet before this. And have used UNI filter in my RX. UNI filtered Rx was never subjected to any heavy downpours and it worked well as long as i had the bike with me. K&N and Green withstood the harshness of the rain and didn't give me any problems. Problem is when Foam filters are used in heavy rains, foam absorbs water, even if it's oiled well. K&N, Green and other cotton sandwiched filter does not absorb water. So there's a difference. So based on my experience i would say cotton sandwiched filter is good for use in regions expereincing heavy rains. Foam needs to be protected from water or used when weather is fine. mild rains doesn't matter.

The Filter was routed under the tank to the space where original airbox had been before. I installed the filter like that first time itself.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by fieroid

I have been using freeflow filters in all weather conditions on my Fiero for over 4yrs. No airbox stuffing part. Just direct bolt on the carb. NOthing can beat that.

Well its been close to two years for me. Recently had given my bike to my friend, who had parked it in the rain for two straight weeks. bike started in the 5th kick, no probs at all.

Kinda same problem on the RX too, water drips from thetank and seat directly onto the filter for me, but neverhad any probs. Just make sure the filter is well oiled, you'll never face probs of water getting in.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Kinda same problem on the RX too, water drips from thetank and seat directly onto the filter for me, but neverhad any probs. Just make sure the filter is well oiled, you'll never face probs of water getting in.

It's due to the thickness of the foam filtering layer. There's lot of space for water to get trapped inside foam(not to mentions foam is a good absorbant). If we oil the foam so as to keep all the water out then it will not flow well.

In K&Ns, the filtering layer is thin and if oiled properly will not let water in and there's no real space in the filter for the water to get trapped.

Foam is almost 85% to 90% empty space, open cell design. (It filters differently than how a K&N or Green does). Water will get trapped in if those open space is not filled by oil. From my experience I wouldn't advise foam filter to anyone who's intending to use it exposed to water. My K&N & Green (earlier before it got nicked) equipped Bullet never used to give me any water related issues, of course if it's completely drenched the Bullet used to be hard to start and sputter for a while but it will soon recover after some 15mins of riding.

And yeah i've been trying out filters since 2003 UNI, HP, Green Cotton, K&N and now UNIFILTER. My Favorite of them all is Green Cotton.

[deepclutch]

@sankar:I read in another thread about your choice of karizma from rtr and the likes.but isnt zma a rare thing in kerala? I dont know about the circumstances in trivendrum though.
zma spares availability is an issue now. I too am interested in keeping a zma. but it is sooo rare makes felt something is wrong with the bike? also its mileage of 25-30kmpl will make my bull electra 4s feel proud (35-40kmpl) . do let me know your experience regarding service and spares for zma

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by Sankar

It's due to the thickness of the foam filtering layer. There's lot of space for water to get trapped inside foam(not to mentions foam is a good absorbant). If we oil the foam so as to keep all the water out then it will not flow well.

Well oiling a filter does not mean drown it in a tub o oil. I hardly use 5ml for both foam layers when i'm oiling mine. What i've observed is, water droplets simply run off a oiled filter instead of being absorbed.

[Sankar]

deepclutch, Nowadays I can see lot of Karizmas on the roads here in Tvm. I'm seeing more R version Karizma's than the older ones. The sales might have picked up once they launched their R version. Regarding spares i cannot say anything with authority since i never bought any for my bike till now. Carb spares are not in stock, but they said they can get it in one month if we place the order. Similar might be the case regarding other slow moving parts. Cables are in stock. Mileage you'll get anywhere between 28 and 40 depending upon the way you ride.

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Well oiling a filter does not mean drown it in a tub o oil. I hardly use 5ml for both foam layers when i'm oiling mine. What i've observed is, water droplets simply run off a oiled filter instead of being absorbed.

Well, actually that is exactly what you should do with a foam filter. Drown it in oil and squeeze the excess out. That is what the UNIFILTER recommends. I have tried it and found it to leave excess oil in the filter, so what i do is i mix their thick "Filter Fix" oil in lil amount of petrol and dip the filter in petrol and make sure it's applied everywhere, then it's squeezed lightly and left to dry, when the petrol evaporates the oil is left behind in the filter in a uniform manner. I use their Filter Fix oil.

I guess we are using different foam filters and different oils, so it's not a straight comparison.

[fieroid]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Mileage you'll get anywhere between 28 and 40 depending upon the way you ride.

.

OT
Well this reminds me of our Karizma will full works. Bike belongs to Kushanth.
I prepared his bike for the Hill climb race in less than 7hrs (even built an megaphonic exhaust). Lowering the ride height, handle bar, stripping and what not. I got to know about the race just the previous day. 4pm got the bike and completed everything myself by 11pm. Woke up at 3am and off to mysore for the race. Got a podium finish too . Had never even seen a hill climb race ever. LOL
A pic

..It ran the stage 3 cam and everything we wanted to try.
The race was at chamundi hills, mysore. I remember only filling 700 bucks gas...to ride to mysore, race and then come back to bangalore. And I did some 4 practise runs at the hills, all out. And I never ride such bikes with any mercy. The total distance covered was around 430kms. Gas costed 55/ltr. So do the math now
I've always seen that our works bikes are more fuel efficient.
My Fiero 200 would return 40+ in city and 45 on highway rides. And I'm talking about holding throttle well over 7000rpm everywhere. Only after 6000rpm would my fiero enter that intoxicating power band. On a set-up which clocked 144.4kmph.
My RTR returns around 44kmpl in city and can kick a p220.
Never checked my R15, so cant comment..but I know its better than other bone stock bikes.

Joel

[gt_mustang]

ive read a lot about kushants bike thats one beast
would like to transform my old age zma into something similar

[Sankar]

Fieroid, come on man post some better pics of the bike... er.. technical pics
I have noticed the increase in fuel efficiency of modified engines, the Bullet used to give me 30+ regularly.

[Sankar]

I had to replace the headlamp relay of my bike because headlight suddenly stopped working, both beams were kaput! I was using a TVS relay and this time i thought i shall try my luck with Bosch relay.

When the tank was removed it was evident as to what caused the problem. While thw bike was in motion the tank used to rub against the outer portion of the relay and the outer plastic of the relay was grinded down by a nice margin by the tank. The relay was getting pressed and eventually it failed.


The relay was replaced with Bosch relay, it's interesting to find that the Bosch relay consist of two seperate relay units for the high and low beams. The units are clamped together. It's nice since both beams won't fail together if something happens to the relay.


You can see the blade fuse box taped on to the frame tube. It's kept in such a way that if a fuse blows i don't have to lift the tank just to change the fuse. Separate fuse for high and low beams.


And this is a picture of the horn relay. It was not replaced or added recently. I thought i'll put it here since we are talking relays here


The Bosch relays are installed in a place where the Pulse air pump was mounted previously. I remoce the air injection pump and welded closed the air feed pipe to the cyl head.

[muneemmk]

Exactly what i was looking for and at the right time , Where can i find such relays ? that is single head lamp relays for bikes , what is the cost of such a H/L Relay ? is it avilable or do we simply use the dual headlamp relay from cars ? and how have you wired the head lamps ? direct from the battery or from dynamo ? If from the battery would it in anyway put load on the head light wiring/switches if i go for a 55/60 or 100/90 bulb and what bulbs are you using on your bike ?

Edit: - just noticed that it is a dual head lamp relay , how have you wired that directly to just a single bulb , left the other side alone ?

[Sankar]

The two Bosch relay units you see clamped together in the picture is for High and Low beams. TVS relay had both relays in a single blue case. The relay kit is meant for automobiles, they don't sell any relay kit specifically for bikes. So i bought an automobile TVS relay with wiring kit and adapted it for my Karizma, the TVS relay unit failed and is replaced with a Bosch unit. Since this relay is for cars, there were two holders and two set of wires meant for two headlamps, i removed one holder along with it's wires and converted it to a single headlamp unit.

I bought it from the Bosch authorised dealer.

The Karizma headlamp is powered by the battery. Actually you can make any AC powered headlamp into battery powered, without cutting any wires, with this relay kit. Just make sure the battery has enough juice to power the lamp and charging system can keep up with the drain. If you install the relay kit and use a high wattage lamp it will not put any load on your stock wiring.

[muneemmk]

What headlamps are you using on your bike ? and what was the cost of the bosch relay ?

[Sankar]

Phillips Xtreme Power 55/60W.

Bosch relay cost me 250 bucks.