In the beginning....

There was a boy. Me. I grew up riding small dirt bikes, never really lost the passion for riding but life got in the way for a few years and I was bikeless. One day my wonderful wife simply said,"just buy a damn bike already!"

She'd seen me drool at the riders every spring, knew I loved to ride.

I ended up buying a Honda Valkyrie and rode EVERYWHERE on it. Over the years I gradually made it into more of a sport tourer than Honda ever dreamed....

For comparison, here's a stocker...

Ended up in Seattle, where I met a great friend and fellow rider. He, however, rode a sportbike. A pristine Yamaha R1. After seeing what I did and could do on the Valk, we eventually switched bikes. A revelation. The big six cylinder in the valk was quick, but the R1 was altogether a different beast. I was hooked.

I'd always liked Kawasaki's reputation about the original bad ninja, the 2004 zx-10r. Twitchy, ridiculously powerful,  and always willing to bite your ass if you were stupid on it. Sounded like my kind of ride.

Finally saw the black one I was looking for at the right price. I snapped it up, and spent the next 4 years touring, ripping, cruising, monowheeling, and generally enjoying the bike immensely. A set of helibars lifted the grips from wristcrushing territory, it came with a powercommander and ignition retard eliminator. I added a pipe, a seat cowl (as it really isn't a 2-up ride), a heated gear wire harness and rode the wheels off it. The tires, anyway. This thing EATS tires. 185 crank HP, 162ish rear wheel. 480 pounds. Yeah.

My toy...

  Glacier National Park

Roadside on local twisty run.

Mount St. Helens

Like everything, though, familiarity breeds contempt. I caught myself eyeing the new crop of sportbikes every year, with more power, better electronics, etc. Problem is I really like my bike, I'm just used to it. More power, now, that'd be fun.

So, more power. 

Nitrous - naw. Expensive bottle fills, carry around a scuba tank, limited to short bursts.

Turbo - intake charge heating issues, exponential boost that makes the bike's dyno graph skyrocket with attendant driveability issues, oil/scavenge pump plumbing.

Motor work - Pricey, not a huge bang for buck as these engines are pretty optimized from the factory.

Supercharger - Very few available, drive pulley issues, but linear boost and tuneable.

 I run another blog, and back in 2007 a guy named Dan caught my eye. He'd supercharged his VFR.

Beautiful work, quality.

Here's the Post.

He uses the clever Rotrex unit, with it's unique traction fluid drive. Here's a cut-n-paste from the Rotrex site...

Key to the Rotrex supercharger's unique compactness, efficiency, low noise and reliability is its state of the art traction drive technology.

Great speeds and low noise are just some of the advantages of traction drives over traditional gear transmissions. Traction drives transmit power through friction forces between its rolling elements.

The Rotrex patented traction drive uses an elastic annulus with a small pre-span to secure contact between the roller planets and the sun shaft with a reasonable force. The patented "ramp effect" increases efficiency and reliability in the transmission by regulating the torque transfer capability on demand through self-adjusting planet geometry.

To enhance performance, the Rotrex traction drive uses a special traction fluid. These fluids are a new family of synthetic hydrocarbon oils and greases offering a series of unique performance advantages. Developed specially for its use in Rotrex superchargers, the SX100 momentarily increases viscosity under high surface pressure, enhancing the traction drive performance by securing the optimum friction between rolling elements while cooling and protecting the system.

This traction drive combined with the latest technology in centrifugal compression, characterized by high adiabatic efficiency and low noise, gives Rotrex superchargers an exceptional competitive edge over any other forced induction solution.

Imagine my surprise when in 2009 he announced he was developing a blower kit for the zx-10r!

His Website, aaperf.com 

What you get...

What it does....

Yep, 220+RWHP

And, it hides under the stock fairings.

IN!

The rest of this blog will chronicle the installation of the Rotrex supercharger kit on a 2004 Ninja ZX-10r.

In preparation of the install, I built a platform that fits onto my bike lift, making an adjustable table. I HIGHLY recommend doing this or buying one, as the hours of bending/lying on concrete, twisting, cursing and generally being miserable are all now things of the past. Parts----lagbolts, two 10foot 4X6's and a 10foot 4X4, 3/4 inch plywood decking, deck screws. Two 6foot pieces of 2X4 for the outrigger/tiedowns. Four eyebolts and two ratchet straps.

Valentine's Day present....

Got a compact but surprisingly heavy box in the mail. The kit has arrived.

The blower... Don't spin it without oil, especially not backwards.

Exquisite machined bracketry/tensioner.

CNC intake plenum. Wow.

The manual leaves the sticker placemnt as one of the last steps, but I couldn't wait....

Step one - ditching the air injection system...

The kit comes with two pretty copper anodized block off plates that allow you to remove the popping deceleration from the valves allowing air into the exhaust. Also, as the intake tract will be pressurized, you wouldn't want all that boost just being diverted into the header pipes, right. The componentry also lives where the intake piping will, so away it goes.

Remove the airbox lid, the filter, push the rubber tubes in on themselves so they tuck into the frame holes. Remove the air temp probe from the right lower corner, ziptie this down so the tip rests just above the clutch cable, in as much free air as possible.

Unbolt the airbox from the baseplate, twist it out of the frame and remove. Now pull the rubber ram air tubes out. Undo the clamps holding the baseplate to the throttle tubes, unclip the air injection hose from the upper left hand side, and remove the baseplate.

Now unplug the two harness connectors to the air valve assembly, the grey gets plugged back together and simply pushed out of the way, the white other may be left unconnected, as no ecu faults will trigger.

At this point, I removed the air valve covers and reinstalled the pretty copper plates, but the manual and, in retrospect, I recommend waiting until the radiator is removed in a few steps as space to even turn the bolts is very limited. You can see here the rightmost cover is on, the left still has the stock cap with hose barb bolted on.

Remove the computer controlled secondary throttle blades...

Many vehicles now come with two throttles, one you physically control, and one which the computer controls. For emissions, for fuel economy, for safer acceleration, think of this system as you asking for something, and the computer deciding when and how much to give you. 

For example, you want full throttle on a cold day, with a cold engine. If you simply whack open the gas, the motor will stumble, as the airflow that was trickling in at a steady velocity now has a huge gaping maw to rush down. As a result, intake velocity drops to near zero, the engine stumbles until the airstream eventually gets back up to speed in this new size of intake. Anyone with old flatslide racing carbs knows you can't just go to instant full throttle for this exact reason,

Now, give the computer a set of throttle blades. It's manifold sensor sees this rapid change in pressure, and it decides to shut off your ham fisted attempt by closing it's own throttle, then opening it at a rate of speed that allows  some semblance of intake velocity to be maintained. The result - better acceleration by a slower opening of the throttle.

But, now we can change things. My Triumph rocket three, a 2300cc motorcycle, uses it's computer controlled throttle plates to hobble it's power output in the first three gears as someone somewhere made the decision that it would be too much power to handle. I didn't buy a 2.3 liter motorcycle thinking it would be a gentle pussycat, I hope no one does. So, out come the plates, some fuel mapping to suit, a more controlled throttle hand, and it's an infinitely better motorcycle.

Also, stock MAP sensor maps are often confused by boost, so we'll just take them out of the equation.

Thankfully, the computer plates are the uppermost ones.  Use a WELL fitting screwdriver, heat if necessary, and patience to remove the 8 tiny brass screws. Also a very good idea to stuff rags ( I spray mine with a bit of chain lube for that extra tackiness) down the intakes. Anything falling should not get past the lower plates, but twist the gas and they'll open, letting that tiny chunk of brass go get intimate with a cylinder wall. Not worth it.

You need a Power Commander

Just remembered, as you'll be pushing much more air into the motor, you need a way to meter more fuel as well. 

My bike came with a Power Commander, which is a piggyback device that messes with the ECU and fuel injectors to allow you to modify the air-fuel mixture. You can download and install maps from the powercommander website using their free software.

The stock injectors are apparently pretty good (AAperf does highly recommend sending them out for cleaning though), and with the addition of the bigger fuel pump(included in kit), the powercommander map (also in the kit on a CD) allows all the extra fuel in while on boost. 

From the  Website, 2004-2005 zx-10r owners need...

Power Commander III USB

212-411

$359.95

Radiator surgery...

If you haven't already, lose the fairings. The bellypan, both side pieces, the inner side pieces that carry the front turnsignals. I didn't remove the outer side panels under the mirrors, but it's much easier to work if you do remove the mirrors and at least loosen the panels.

Get a bucket. Really. Undo the coolant hoses, drain as much coolant as possible, remove the overflow tank on the L side of the rad, then unbolt the rad and remove. Undo the lower bolt attaching it to the front of the engine, then the upper mounts bear mentioning, the right-hand side is an actual bolt, but the left actually just slides onto a peg welded to the frame.

P.S. - all left/right annotations are from the perspective of you sitting on the bike. For example, the clutch lever is on the left side of the bike.

Scary part - cut your radiator. The inlet pipe has to be shortened to a 1/2 inch stub and flared with the included flare tool. Go slow. Deburr. Use multiple light tightenings on the tool to get the flare done and uniform.

Now that you have the rad out, you have plenty of space to install the air blockoff plates on top of the cylinder head, and change out the sparkplugs (also included).

If you've never changed zx-10r plugs, it's an ordeal. The stick coils that sit atop each plug are usually glued into place by old grime/corrosion, and they're plastic. They do simply pop-off by pulling upwards, but it takes a lot, so much so it seems like they might shatter before they release. Blow out the recess with air, the plugs are way down in the head. The hinged removal tool in the original tool bag is the way to go. A universal joint on your socket wrench helps a lot too. Adding to the fun is the fact the outermost plugs won't come out without unbolting the side frame pieces and rotating them away. Even so, it's a tight fit but they'll come. Use a piece of hose to start the new plugs by hand, imagine the horror of crossthreading a plug buried this deep in an engine. Gently.

Since I had the bike up on the lift, I went ahead and installed a new clutch. HD springs and new fiber plates. Pay close attention to the way all the plates align and come out, take pics, and then reverse the order to reinstall. The slipper ramps add to the fun, there's only a certain way to reinstall the pack so it sits right, so pay attention during removal. Soak the fiber plates in oil for a few hours to allow them to swell so your free play adjustment/takeup will be much smoother and easier.

Heavy springs on right, stock on left. Also a good idea is to lay out the bolts in the shape of the cover they came from, as often they aren't all the same length. If it'll be open for any length of time, popping them through a piece of cardboard in the covers' shape makes a good keeper, or just rethread into their respective holes.Putting a too long bolt into a crankcase casting is a recipe for a cracked block. Not good.

Foolin' the ECU...

Install your powercommander if you need to. Basically you jack into the throttle position sensor, the injector harness, and ground to battery. Don't yet load the supercharger map, you'll need one suited to your bike for a few tests later on. Lots of maps available for free at the Powercommander website.

P.S. you have to have power to the powercommander module to upload a map. As in having the bike running or applying a 9v battery. New ones come with a 9V adapter plug, but you can make one up easily, here's the pinout....

Key must be on, kill switch on. Bike running if you don't have the 9v jacked in. now connect the mini usb to your laptop running the software program. The mini usb must be fully seated to work. Push harder than you think...it'll click.

Upload your map. Done.

Now you have to fool your ECU into thinking it's still controlling the exhaust powervalve if you bike still has one. Simply remove the cables connecting the servo motor(under the passenger seat area) to the valve. This leaves the valve open (good for boost) but still lets the computer spin it's little servo motor and think it's controlling the valve, so, no error lights.

Under pressure....

Get your injectors back, nice and clean? There are 4 spacers that sit between the injector body and the  injector port sealing o-rings in the kit. Put them on, reinstall the injectors onto the rail, reinstall the rail. 

Now, messing with the MAP. There's a t-piece in the kit, vacuum tubing, with a check valve at one end. Remove the vacuum tubing at the map sensor(it's the black center connector in the pic below, tubing's underneath) and t - in the check valve, reconnecting the 3rd end back to the sensor.

Now to find a place for the Blow off valve signal. Right beside the MAP sensor, between it and the throttle cables, is a small capped nipple. It's used to synchronize the throttle bodies. We'll use it to trigger the BOV. There's a necked down area just inside the nipple, used to make it easier to get a steady signal, but we want an accurate signal. So go ahead and cut the first 1/4 inch off. keep the bit in a labeled ziplock bag so you can put it inline when you sync the TB's. Deburr and attach the BOV vacuum tubing, ziptie to the nipple. The BOV will sit in the area the R intake snorkle occupied, so route the other end in that general direction.

While we're here, you'll notice the crankcase oil breather tube now has nowhere to vent. Clamp one to the small filters included in the kit to the end of the tube(one filter has a metal post-that's the one to use). Oil the K+N with the included filter oil as specified. (Lightly pink).

Covers and brackets and bolts....

Getting ready with the hardware...

The timing plate is held on with 5 bolts. Underneath you'll find an o-ring in it's groove. The ring will be reused in the timing cover machined into the lower portion of the blower bracket. Very little oil in here, no need to be concerned if you just changed your oil. You did just change your oil and filter, right?

You'll find the timing wheel and the M8 crank bolt. Makes sense to take a pic of the position of the wheel as the magnetic pickup is extremely strong and can pull the wheel off the splines when the bolt is out. Splines are keyed but this picture sure made me feel better when mine went clanging to the floor....

 You'll also notice my best friend in my whole toolbox, a manual impact driver. This little sucker turns a hammer blow into rotary motion, breaking free parts without cursing or damage. Cheap and effective.

There's a little o-ringed bolt up directly across from your rightmost exhaust header too. Pull it out, it'll be replaced by a longer version as well.