I'm anxious for this project to get done too but I wouldn't rush him. Let the guy get it done perfectly. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

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Bike is still not running. I had to repeatedly call the machine shop and he still took 9 weeks. Then, a few days after I picked up the head I got in an accident with my other bike. I spent 2 days in the hospital with 4 fractured vertebrae and a lacerated kidney...and excruciating pain from my sciatic nerve that lasted about a week. It's been a month now since the accident and I'm about 85% healed. I started working on the bike last week and got the motor in the frame and various things attached. Main problem now is the gear position sensor adapter doesn't match up at all. It's nothing like my current one so it won't attach to the main harness. Internally, where the sensor mounts on the motor, it's very different too so can't just swap my old one in. I think I'm going to cut the adapter from the old motor and splice the wires to the new sensor...and hope for the best. New sensor is top 2 pictures.

* Last updated by: rep94401 on 5/7/2020 @ 6:44 PM *

Started it up in the garage earlier today. I had to crank it over for about 10 seconds before it started but afterwards it ran like normal. When I started it a 2nd time about an hour later, it started right up. The RPMs went up to about 1500 and then dropped to 1000 as the motor warmed. I didn't hear any strange sounds and no leaks, but...I'm getting a flashing FI error on the display and it says I'm in 6th gear all the time regardless of which gear I'm actually in. It also is belching a little extra smoke out the exhaust. I thought some things might need to burn off because it's been sitting over a year but I ran it for about 10 minutes to bring it up to operating temp and it still seemed like it was smoking too much. I'll give it a couple more starts and see if it goes away, otherwise I'm guessing it has to do with the FI error. The smoke smelled a little like it was running rich.

As far as fit, it was like a glove. All the motor mounts lined up and my '06 cabling had all the necessary attachments, except for the gear position sensor I mentioned in my last post and also the ground cable coming off the back of the motor. The ground cable on the new motor is lacking the blue adapter that's tucked away beneath the battery tray cover so make sure you use your Gen1 ground cable.

Both the old and new gear position sensors have 3 wires but when looking at the shop manuals for both years, the old has one of those wires running to ground while the new doesn't. I best-guessed which one should be ground so I'm going to swap a couple wires and see if that solves the problem with it always saying it's in 6th.

While I had it running, I revved the motor up to 7K a couple times and it accelerated smoothly and quickly without any lag. I probably won't get to test drive it until next weekend but so far I'm pretty happy with the results.

That's awesome, rep, especially about the fit to the frame. It sounds like the GPS you cobbled together is acting like a TRE. It might have different resistance than the Gen2 GPS. I would expect 6th gear mapping to be leaner than N at idle speed and if your GPS is displaying 6, that's what the ECU thinks it's in. With the larger displacement Gen2 motor running on the Gen1 mapping, who knows? I don't think you will have a problem at low rpm even if it's lean. I'd put an AFR gauge on there before doing a run to ~3000 rpm just to see what's happening with fueling. Being stuck in one gear map is not necessarily a bad thing for tuning purposes and 6th or N would be the best ones for ignition restriction and flies. You could always go with a GIpro gear indicator.

If you are running on Gen1 6th gear ignition mapping, I'm quite sure that is nonrestricted as well.

I'm glad you're moving ahead with this but take care of yourself. Sorry to hear about the wreck. You got f-ed up more than just little so be careful until you're back to 100%. How's the other bike? Not so good, I'm guessing.

* Last updated by: Rook on 5/9/2020 @ 8:54 PM *

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Welcome to Clubroken. Yeah, you'd think green with green and swap the other two. Kill the 6 that way. I have both books so they both read the same resistances for those 3 wires. The book's abstract reads like this:
Connector not connected... Can't be that, all 3 wires are attached.
Wire out of connector... Nor this. See above.
Short/out of range/ flow broken inside...:
a. Can't be short or you blow the fuse.
b. Can't be some wire strand is rubbed to ground to send it out of range.
c. Can't be broken inside if all 3 wires read out their book resistances.

However, we can read the abstract this way:
Connector not connected = Codes 6.
Wire out of connector = Codes N or 6, [depending on wire].
Out of range resistance/short at harness/short inside unit = Codes 6.

Will it hurt performance? Yes. Read that code page talking about 'we take measures to save the engine' is lower the HP some. If say you closed your eyes and sat on a stocker, then swapped to a code 6'er, you'd come away picking the 6's little grunt move.

Go on the Green

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I crashed on the shoulder of an off-ramp that was covered in ice plants. I think that saved both me and the bike from a lot worse damage. The bike is a '16 Aprilia RSV4-RR and only had a broken rear brake pedal as far as anything mechanical. It's got some scratches on the right side but they aren't that noticeable until you get up close. Everyone's told me how fortunate I am that I didn't end up paralyzed due to the fractured vertebrae. With the roads so empty these days, I've been triple digits every time I hop on the freeway and I took the off-ramp at too high a speed for my skill level. It's an off-ramp I haven't taken in years so I had forgotten how sharp the turn was.

Thanks for the info, Hub. As you've said, It doesn't seem like I have any of the problems that would cause the code 6...except for maybe having the wires crossed. I'll attach them differently this weekend and hopefully have better results. I remember one of the posts I looked at where someone had done the Gen 2 swap, he said he had a problem with the GPS not reading correctly either but he fixed it. He didn't say how.

With the roads so empty these days, I've been triple digits every time I hop on the freeway

Be careful, dude!

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I’ve tried 4 different wiring combinations so far and still can’t get it to recognize when I shift gears. A couple say it’s in neutral all the time - no change when I shift up or down through the gears. The only good thing in that configuration is the FI error is no longer displayed. With another config, it says 4th gear constantly and the FI returns. With the Gen1 sensor, 1 wire goes to ground, 1 goes to the meter, and 1 goes to the ECU. With Gen2, they all look like they go to the ECU. So so far I’ve had it display:

-6th gear with FI error: no change when shifting
-Neutral with no FI error: no change when shifting
-4th gear with FI error: no change when shifting

Regardless of the display issues, I did take it around the block and it ran smoothly. Having a clutch issue though where I have to pull the clutch lever all the way in to disengage the clutch. I adjusted it to position 1 - it was at 3 and wouldn’t disengage, it would still creep forward even with lever fully pulled in - and that helped but not much.

Both the old and new gear position sensors have 3 wires but when looking at the shop manuals for both years, the old has one of those wires running to ground while the new doesn't. I best-guessed which one should be ground so I'm going to swap a couple wires and see if that solves the problem with it always saying it's in 6th.

I’ve tried 4 different wiring combinations so far and still can’t get it to recognize when I shift gears.

I know this is a lot of writing but just to get my thinking process clear...

I wonder if you're focussed on the wrong problem? If the wiring is the same for both gens as HUb said, there shouldn't be a problem with it except the color coding. You've tried four wire combinations, there a total of six possible combinations. Either you're had bad luck at guessing or the wiring is not the problem. It seems to me that at least one of the wires from the main wiring harness to the GPS must have positive current. The GPS has different levels of magnetization for each gear and that magnetization effects the resistance of the positive current flowing into the GPS. The positive current then flows out of one of the other wires and goes to the ECU telling it which gear the transmission is in. Then the current goes to ground from the ECU. The third wire is a secondary ground, perhaps reserved for the Neutral gear position. Anyway, the GPS is like a 7 position switch that varies the level of resistance and the GPS for both gens has the same wiring coming out. Chances are the wiring transfers between both Gens perfectly provided you can guess the correct connections between the three wires from the sensor and the three wires to the main wiring harness.

The wiring is identical. Both GPSs work on the same principle but just looking at them, you can see they are not identical. Not only is the GPS mount different between the gens but the sensor itself is different. If the sensor is different, whatever tone wheel (or whatever the GPS takes it reading from) that is inside the gearbox might be different too. I think you need the Gen2 sensor with the Gen2 motor in order for the whole GPS circuitry to function properly.

Just put the Gen2 sensor on there, it fits perfectly to the Gen2 engine. Pull the wires from the Gen1 harness and fit them to a Gen2 connector. Hook the connectors up and play your guessing game again. It may not be of much help but you should at least be able to identify which of the three wires is positive using a test light.

I don't think cutting any of the wires or using jumpers would be a good idea since either of those might effect resistance enough to throw the signal off.

What do you think?

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I am using the Gen2 sensor on the Gen2 motor and spliced that into the Gen1 harness. The Gen1 sensor won't fit on the Gen2 motor. If you look at the picture of the Gen2 sensor, there's a slot in the middle that matches up to a protrusion from the Gen 2 motor. That black part of the sensor where the slot is freely rotates. Not only are the sensors different, but the internals of the motor are different. I don't think I have a choice other than to try the last couple of combinations and see if one of those works. If not, will have to look at an aftermarket gear indicator.

Gen1 sensor/connection:

Gen2 sensor/connection:

You might be fighting a losing battle.

I'm not sure about the GPS, but most of the sensors on Gen2's have
been changed over to communicate over the CAN bus via ODBII protocols. broadcasting
packets of info containing PID numbers and data from each sensor on to the network
which the ECU then deciphers by calling on the PID number of the sensor.

For the most part the old days of using a straight signal from a sensor straight
into the ECU are over. It's all communication networks now, Makes things simpler.

If the GPS is a ODB sensor, you will need to use the Gen2 ECU to communicate with it.
No other way.

Well, there are other ways, but it's a whole other project building your own micro controller
and clocking in the packets, etc.

This is also the reason you will not find speedo healers for gen2+

I'd be surprised if the GPS was not on the CAN/ODB network.

* Last updated by: piken on 5/17/2020 @ 1:27 PM *

With the Gen1 sensor, 1 wire goes to ground, 1 goes to the meter, and 1 goes to the ECU. With Gen2, they all look like they go to the ECU

...and you are hooking up to a Gen1 main harness so your Gen2 sensor is going to the ground, the meter and the ECU. The setup you have will either work or it won't. Yes, your last hope is that one of the two remaining combinations work with the Gen1 wiring. Otherwise, there might be some other way to make this work by sending all to the ECU but that seems a bit doubtful. I'd check what circuits the Gen2 GPS wires go to on the Gen2 ECU and see if the same circuits exist on the Gen1 ECU. If so, splicing in those two extra wires to the ECU instead of to ground and the meter might work. Matter of fact, you might only need to splice to the meter circuit. I'd think you could ground the ground wire anywhere. Sounds like a possible ECU barbecue.

As far as an aftermarket gear indicator, you'd need one that came with it's own sensor. The only ones I know about hook inline with the stock GPS.

I hope you get the stock sensor to work incase you want to tune/gear but I'd be happy enough to have the ECU on 6 or N mapping and I would want a gear indicator of some sort.

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I have both gen books. They both still have that can-bus wrapped line in the harness. Both gps use the same values to test the gps unit. It is possible to have the other ECU match, but we haven't heard back from the wire swap to get that variable out of the way.

Even if it locks to 6, who cares it runs like stink no matter.

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I didn't get a chance to try the 2 remaining wiring configurations. If those don't work, I'm going to leave it in one that gives me neutral rather than 6th. I wasn't able to start the bike without the clutch pulled in in 6th, and the kickstand being down would kill it immediately. At least in N I can start it while on the kickstand and not have to pull the clutch.

Put it in gear, clutch lever out, sit on bike, start it. If it creeps in gear, lucky you didn't try it with the stand down. Safety [in gear] system is gone. Now you'll know if it's safe if no start in gear, or it takes off on you.

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When it's reading 6, it won't start unless clutch pulled in and kickstand up, so I think safety system is good. I took it out on the freeway today for a more proper test drive and it certainly isn't lacking in power, although I don't know what a 1441 should feel like. I wicked it up to 120 mph and the acceleration definitely put a smile on my face. If I can just get this gear position thing figured out, I'm going to be a happy camper.

If that's the only thing to figure out before it's done, I'd say go for it. Otherwise I'd get a Wideband2 on there and tune away or bring it to a good tuner for a dyno tune.

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I was trying to find more info on the GPS and came across a facebook post from earlier today. It looks like up to 2015 they used the old-style GPS, so something to consider if you're going to do the swap. I was looking for the newest motor I could find with low miles when I purchased mine and of course, the posts I found at the time were all several years old so they probably all used pre-2015 Gen2 and didn't have my problem.

I tried the last 2 wire combinations today and no good, so I'm leaving it in one that gives me Neutral.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/186546582100481/?f=9&t=3307

Good info, rep. I think I would go with a newer engine even with the GPI problem. I see a number of universal GPIs on amazon. No idea what they use for a sensor but they say they work on anything with a gear shift lever.

I was actually hoping to get a brand new 0 miles engine but all I have heard so far is that kawaski won't seel an engine unless you buy the whole motorcycle. Why does the Gen1 owners manual say to replace the engine at 60,000 miles if they won't sell you an engine?

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"Why does the Gen1 owners manual say to replace the engine at 60,000 miles"..kidding,right?I'd have to ask...WHY?That sounds totally not right.NO one replaces a zx14 engine at 60K unless it was blown up.Yes?That's crazy.I had a gen 1.I don't remember EVER reading anything remotely hinting at replacement.Musta missed that one lol.I had 55K on mine.Ran like a raped ape..certainly didn't need a replacement.
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?TID=68438&FID=27

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 5/20/2020 @ 10:43 PM *

My 06 has 77k on it now...

Mad

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"Why does the Gen1 owners manual say to replace the engine at 60,000 miles"..kidding,right?I'd have to ask...WHY?That sounds totally not right.

I haven't seen anything about engine replacement in the service manual. It's been years since I've looked at the owners manual that came with the bike but I am quite sure the engine is listed on the replacement parts table scheduled for 60,000 miles. It probably is because they expect the engine compression to fall below spec at that mileage. Mine was barely in spec at 50,0000. I can' tell that compared to the busa which has much lower miles. I've heard of people still doing top speed on a regular basis after 100,000 miles.

If the engine is listed as a replacement part, you'd think you could buy a brand new engine. If I had time right now, I'd dig that owners manual out and verify this.

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Rook, I looked into the GPI and they connect to the diagnostic port.

I hope that's good news. Wouldn't the diagnostic port get its signal from the stock GPS?

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From what I read, it looks at RPMs and speed to calculate the gear. I saw a lot of people who used them had ninja 250/300 and they don't have a gear indicator, which I'm assuming means no GPS either.