I don't have a problem with heat off my 14. In fact, I kind of like it. I wonder if I should just have the midpipe and muffler ceramic coated because I like that look? Does the header stay hot enough to maintain good flow for performance? I guess it's a little late to ask because I am ordering an exhaust today. Can't hurt to have the facts.

rook whatcha end up ordering?

I have read that there are performance benefits from ceramic coating. It contains heat to create a faster exit due to hotter gasses. I have my headders coated but I have nothing to compare to since I removed the cat and coated at the same time. I feel the additional power but can't say how much might be from the coating.
I might get my midpipe done. I like the look too. What you can see of the headders looks good.

^^you might be feeling the cat gut more than the ceramic coating. I asked Greg at HPC this very question today when ordering. He was straight up with me and told me in his opinion, the header does stay hot enough to move the exhaust and any performance gains would not be measurable. Ceramic on the midpipe and muffler is more important to performance. He told me the system I am ordering should look like new, header and all, even after 3 years so don't bother ceramic coating to hide discoloration or corrosion either. 'Go with ceramic because you like the look' was his advice. I thought that was pretty cool coming from the guy who was selling the service. I went ahead and got the whole system coated anyway. I guess I like to look under the fairings pretty often. lol The pipe is the Tsukigi Cannon and I ordered a quiet baffle for it.

Also had the Autotune bung welded in. I picked up the PC5 LCD at the same time. This is going to be a blast.

Rook finally got a pipe!! Good to hear mate - looking forward to hearing what you think of it once installed. Also the autotune etc.

All the best with your new purchase.

Thanks, Aussie. Yeah, after all the thinking and asking and reading it was the Cannon. Good performance, light enough, loud when i want quiet when I don't, looks pretty good. I was almost set on those CT duals but the price was too much and I really have slight preference for a single megaphonish pipe now. I may just be turboed one day anyhow. Still a great price from HPC until end of month, I believe. Better check if anyone is interested. About $300 less than what my stealer was selling for.

I'm looking forward to playing around with the Autotune. We'll see if it does a lot of good. Really, my guess is that if I have a good map for the street, I am not going to notice huge changes. I can see how it would be more valuable for track/strip performance where every 100th of a second counts. If you are unable to find a map, then there is no other way other than a dyno tune and that will cost the same as Autotune anyway. It will be a good learning experience. I don't know beans about tuning.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/17/2009 @ 11:17 PM *

Rook said >Also had the Autotune bung welded in. I picked up the PC5 LCD at the same time. This is going to be a blast.

Hi Rook

you got an LCD for the PC V????????

when I asked DynoJet directly yesterday when the LCD would be available for the PC V they said not until early 2010... how did you lay your hands on one, and from where?

I was talking to DynoJet as turns out I have a dud O2 wideband sensor, did all the diagnostics when I enabled the autotune in the PC V software, and got the error code 9.99 constant AFR reading. Did all the diagnostics, not the wiring, so DynoJet is now sending me a new O2 sensor.

Paul

Yes, laverda. The Liquid Crystal Display unit is for my PCV. Greg at HPC did ask me if I wanted the LCD for a PCV or PCIII. It gave me the impression that there is a LCD specific to both models of the PC. I would call HPC if you are interested in an LCD. If you order, I would chech on some sort of bracket to mount the LCD with. I do not believe the LCD comes with a bracket and I am going to have to order or rig one myself. I will get you a link to HPC's site. They are not easy to google (and to tell you the truth the website is not all that easy to navigate - best to just call).

www.hyperbikecenters.com

Click 'online store' then click 'more' on the bottom of the window that drops down then click 'ZX-14' in the white box then click 'electronics' in the white box and scroll down just a bit to see the LCD. The phone # is there too.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/18/2009 @ 10:39 PM *

Well Rook ya finally went and did it huh I think your choice was a good one as I have made the same choice thing is I woud like to know how she performs with the pcv and the A-tune as I am going another way with my set up let us know if you have any mapping issues or if it is hard to find a good one to start with and if your going with stock fiter or after market COOL CHOICE man ...xxx's

People are still listening to that moronic P.O.S. Greg??? Not knocking you Rook. If you got a good deal from the P.O.S., good for you. But take ANY of his advice? No way!!!! Besides his own, how many bikes has he blown up with his mystical tuning ability now, LOL!! Besides the fact he is a class A-1 jerk, ask why he has been banned from all the true performance motorcycle sites? OK, sorry. Rant off. But please, please dig a little deeper before you listen to ANYTHING he has to say!!!

Yowza, Phil! Well, HPC is exactly where the map is coming from and I anticipated that it would be adequate at the very least. It shouldn't take long to install Autotune. If I see what looks like radical fuel trims, I will be alarmed but perhaps not too surprised. I know nothing of Greg's tuning abilities but he does answer emails very promptly and in two separate instances, he and his wife/partner gave info to save me money on purchases from them. I mentioned the ceramic coating on the header that would have cost them $150 but they also called back and gave me a $150 lower price on another item after I had already agreed to the first price. They seem honest. You've always been a lot of help to me in the past, Phil so I respect your opinion. Caution taken with a big grain of salt. I'll post about my experience with HPC in the Providers and Vendors forum. I know we have another member who recently ordered a similar exhaust from HPC.

xxxses, I have a BMC race filter but I probably will not be running it on a consistent enough basis to map for it. I may do that just for kicks after i have recommended fuel trims with Autotune. I have always heard any air filter you put in will not increase flow enough to make a huge dif in f/a. I'd love to find out how much dif it makes but I ride too much in dusty conditions to keep a race filter in the 14. I'm still a bit reluctant to use the BMC in town where I do 1/2 my riding.

* Last updated by: Rook on 9/20/2009 @ 7:59 PM *

Rook you got your stuff and got advice from the right person Greg has forgotten more about building and tuning fast bikes in the last 10 minutes than anyone on this forum will ever know. I'm sure you have been to his site and I bet you won't see anyone asking question like should "I buy a map from a guy over the Internet and assume its custom". If want entertainment and general chit chat this is the place to come if you want real tech info without all the BS go to that site. The problem some people have with zx14.net is you are not allowed just to pass on anecdotal, “seat of the pants” BS what you state must be based on fact…..yes facts can be a good thing from time to time.

got my pipes and pc from hpc. they loaded up a dj map that was NOT for my bike. check your map

got my pipes and pc from hpc. they loaded up a dj map that was NOT for my bike. check your map

Wow, Greg messed up??? Impossible, LOL!!!!

Willi, I'll ask you the same questions. If Greg is so hot why has he been banned from all the "REAL" performance type forums? If his tunning is so great, how many bikes has he blown up, INCLUDING his own? Why isn't Brock and Kerry beating down his door for advice? Why isn't he "allowed" to sell their products? It's not because of his claims he only sells the best, LOL!!! If you proclaim yourself an expert and shout it long and loud enough. If you create your own little Utopia. Then dis-allow any statement of fact, or opinion, that is contrary to your own. Eventually some will start to believe it. All I ask from you or any other Greg fan is to be careful of his advise. Research his claims, as well as Greg himself. If you do this and you are still comfortable taking his advice, good for you.

My map is coming on CD so hopefully I will at least know what bike it is supposed to be for. So far I'm happy with the service from those guys. The quiet baffles I ordered were not available in the US but they communicated that and the order should be here soon. They offered to send the baffle separately.

Got the pipe. Looks nice but sheeze, is that ceramic coating ever thin. I envisioned it to be a bit more like ceramic glaze on pottery. Well not quite that thick but thicker than this stuff. There were a couple spots on the headers that were scratched off in shipping but the muffler looks great. I don't really trust that it will stay looking new long. Imagine a single coat of spray paint that dries as hard as glass. That is not a very durable surface at all.

Seems to me someone had recommended double ceramic coating a long time ago. That would be so expensive, I don't think it would be worth it. This stuff is so fragile, I may just spray some high temp paint over it right away before I even run it. I'm sure a paint with any kind of binder, no matter how brittle, would be a lot more resistant to scratches than a thin coat of ceramic.

What do you think of that idea?

Wow, Greg did a piss poor job packaging your exhaust? I thought Willi said he could walk on water, LOL!! OK, smart ass off.

Rook a couple of years back when you first started to debate coating your stock header you insisted the thickness would inhibit air flow. I tried to tell you then it was hair thin. As far as the rub marks, that is only cosmetic. It is my understanding the coating actually binds with the metal changing it's property. That's why you have to do any welding before you get the part coated. You would have to grind pretty far down into the metal to remove it. You can paint over the coating with a Hi-Temp header paint. That's all AirBorn did with my header. But it won't last very long. That's the reason I wish I could have a do over. I'd have taken it to another company that uses actual black coating. Run your bike then turn it off. Wait a few SECONDS then touch the part with the rub marks and the area's that are good. You shouldn't be able to tell any difference heat wise.

Rook a couple of years back when you first started to debate coating your stock header you insisted the thickness would inhibit air flow. I tried to tell you then it was hair thin.

Yeah, i have heard so much info it's hard to keep track of it all. Especially back in the beginning when I knew nothing at all. It seemed to me it was you who told me about ceramic back on the other forum but it wasn't until i saw how thin that stuff is that I sort of started to get a foggy recolection of posts made last year. I don't recall debating my point to ardently. All I know about is art. Not much about engine mods.

Far as bonding with the metal..........maybe? Black ceramic is probabley made with black iron oxide pigment so it would have a simiar flux temp to steel. Sure doesn't seem to have bonded from the light scratches i see. I could be wrong. I am not about to try peeling it off. I will probabley run it a while and if I see any chipping, i will take it all apart and give it a good coat of paint.

Really, my only suggestion to Greg was that he not ship the headers with the mounting plates on the pipe because that is what scratched. The rest was quite minor. Could have been from wire hanging the parts to spray them with the ceramic. Everything was packed in bubble wrap.

Sure doesn't seem to have bonded from the light scratches i see. I could be wrong. I am not about to try peeling it off.

I did try scraping with my thumb nail at one of the spots on the header and it comes off a lot easier than you average paint. I would say this stuff does not bond to the metal. Perhaps if the metal were scuff sanded first to give it a little tooth. I'm not real impressed. Oh well, live and learn. Still a beachin' zaust and i can probably remove the ceramic pretty easy some day if it starts looking really bad.

Rook I wpuld contact him and let him know pretty sure he sends that work out to be done like 99% of all shops do so he may not be aware this happen.

Yup. I let him know about it. He said he doesn't coat the Tsukigis real heavy any more because they fit so perfectly that thicker ceramic requires sanding to allow for fitment. He did offer to recoat them to my spec but I decided i would trust his judgment and if the coating holds up poorly, I'll ask to send them back for a re-coat.