20FHK02

Not easy here Buell, as they are in Hong Kong. When you add the back and forth shipping and insurance cost, you'll end up pretty much the same price. And, as a foreigner it's still better to stick with brand names for better QC .

20FHK02

The truth for our car is: the ECU continuously adjusts the A/F ratio in real time, so under normal driving there will be no difference in stage settings. Only at full throttle the A/F ratio is set at that preset stage setting level, so if you floor your car a lot it is not a bad idea to set it to stage II. Otherwise leave it at base.

Buell's car lost power because at dyno runs the enige is at full throttle. Stage II brings the engine back to safer A/F ratio, but sacrifies in power gain.

BTW, I was from Hong Kong so I go back there every year or two.

pcbchow

so if i wanna change to stage II (just to make sure no damage is done to my engine), how do i change it? i was told that you need to have the merc computer to change it? even if i doubt the local dealer has any idea to do it.

is it risky to leave as it is whilst i always full throttle the car??

bajaiman

Kleemann "steel" pulley is a replacement for original crank pulley, it is lighter compared to stock crank pulley hence required less power to rotate the pulley which results more power for your car....
I think the "steel" pulley is made from alumunium alloy, I'm not too sure about this maybe Kleemann can explain better.

These are the pics on how to set the fuel setting. Someone in this board has produced all the pics, so all credit goes to him/her...certainly not me

Pic 1/5

bajaiman

Pic 2/5

bajaiman

pic 3/5

bajaiman

pic 4/5

bajaiman

pic 5/5

pcbchow

bajaiman very impressive.......

you know what!! i reckon one can find everything he/she needs to know about merc here, its even more informative than the owner's manual

anyway i have received an e-mail from the kleemann usa dealer today, the pulley kit still out of stock!!!! no idea as to when i will get it, getting a bit impatient

one more thing i note from the pic that it has changed to stage III, any particular reason for that, for my case is stage II enough???

bajaiman

Hehehehe .. I'm just passing some of the info available on this forum. I agree that this board has been very helpfull and its got tons of info too .

Even with stage 2 Buellwinkle experienced some power loss, I guess theres no point of changing to fuel quantity to stage 3 when stage 2 is enough. I haven't actually dyno the car after I changed it to stage 2, maybe I should do some dyno runs and see if I lost any power....

pcbchow...I know that feeling when you want something so bad and its not available on the market. Well I can tell you that they're worth the wait

Buellwinkle

Don't dyno your car, it will just lead to dissapointment and sorrow. Imagine all that work and stage 2 offset any gain from the pulley, how sad would that be. Let it go, your perceived gain is far more important than any real gain.

bajaiman

Buell....have you ever checked your AF ratio during dyno runs?.... I've just checked my dyno sheet again (it was done at stock fuel quantity setting), at cruising speed I've actually got 14.4:1 and 12.9:1 at WOT .... I was just wondering if 14.4:1 AF ratio would be safe for the engine as I normally driving the car easy....

Lynn

Are you taking the A/F measurements before the cat? Measurements made after the car are incorrect.

Buellwinkle

Yes, you will get about 14:1 after the cat but it's probably a little richer at the exhaust manifold as Lynn noted. Also consider that it's lean only for a very short amount of time and actually gets richer as the RPM's go up. So for the 1 second that it's a somewhat lean, I can live with it. Keep in mind that during high speed crusing you a/f ratio may be in the 14-16:1 range anyway. The only way you will be able to smooth out that bump properly is with software, the Stage 2/3 does make it richer across the board, not just that peak, the problem is it makes it too much richer everywere else, that's why you lose power. So if you are worried about this, get an ASP 10% pulley, that will give you about 2/3 rds the power gains of the pulley you are currently running without the a/f ratio problem. For example, say you get 30 HP gain now, turn on stage 2 and you gain will drop to about 18 HP, stage 3 and you'll be running a very nice 12.5:1 but net out only 13 HP, or you can just run a smaller pulley for a 20 HP gain, less heat, less a/f issues. Not what I would do but several people have gone this route.

bajaiman

Yes it was after the cat...I think I might do dyno soon...I wanna see the fact myself, if it is endeed about 12hp loss then I might go to stage 1 or even back to base.....who else have done dyno runs with different fuel quantity settings apart from Buellwinkle??

Buellwinkle

Please do and let us know. Sometimes I feel like I'm the bearer of bad news when I do dynos that don't always go the way people think they should go and there aren't any other dynos to compare to.

pcbchow

i am still a little bit uncertain here, after all these discussions is it advisable to change to stage II or the stock setting is good enough even though i have the new pulley installed...........

for those who have installed a new pulley do you guys change to stage II???

Buellwinkle

We can't make that choice for you, there pro's and con's, your choice. I chose to run my ECU stock, no changes.

pcbchow

my friend told me if the air inceases as a result of the large pulley whereas the fuel remains unchanged it is possible that the cylinder will overhead

as i understood there is a sensor to monitor the air & fuel ratio and adjust real time, is that right??? but can it cope with the the larger air intake??

in light cf conflicting info its pretty hard to make a rational decision

20FHK02

There are theory and practice. Theory gives you a peace of mind while practice tells what's happening in reall world. What your friend told you was theory. What Buell told you is what he observed from his car. It all depends on which one you believe.

Buellwinkle

There are no rational decisions to be made, performance mods are irrational, that's why I love them so!

What you understand is partly true. The ECU runs in 2 modes, open and close loop mode. In closed loop mode (most of the time) the ECU monitor various sensors to determine how much fuel and timing for that moment. There are times when it considers the input from sensors such as the O2 unreliable like when you first start the car, the O2 sensor is cold and does not give accurate readings, also at full throttle because the O2 sensor can't react fast enough so the ECU goes into open loop mode and relies on fuel and ignition maps to figure out what to do. So for the majority of the time you are in closed loop mode the a/f ratio is being constantly monitored and adjusted, no problems their. For the few mad dashes where you are at full throttle the ECU uses preset fuel and ignition curves that will be leaner with the additional boost. The issue is will it be so lean during that short amount of time that it will cause damage and IMHO my answer is no, because it's only lean for a very short amount of time at about 4,000 rpm and not throughout the rev range and it's really not that dangerously lean. Will your CHT (cylinder head temps) rise to dangerous level? If it does and detonation starts the motor will pull back timing to save the motor. I've monitored my car on the dyno and the street and have never seen the timing advance drop because of this so it's not likely to the point of detonation.

Like I said, your motor, your choice, do what makes you happy. Power makes me happy and stage 2 does not give me power. Like I said before, if you are uncomfortable with this situation, try a less aggressive pulley like the ASP 10%, no a/f ratio issue there but then again less power but still a better solution than Stage 2.

pcbchow

guess what!!! I was told by the Kleemann USA dealer that the all-alloy boost kit is out of stock, but they can sell me the ring type boost kit instead, so what exactly is the ring type? is it a lot difference from the all alloy ones??

i presume the all-alloy ones are better......

does it generate the ourput as the all-alloy ones??

bajaiman

The one that I've got is a ring type, if you search on this board you'll find the picture of it. Basically instead of a solid crank pulley you'll be getting a "ring" attachment to your original crank pulley. It is the same diameter of Kleemann solid steel pulley.

Some good thing is about ring pulley are that it is significantly cheaper and easier to install as you don't have to remove the crank pulley. The only downside is that you'll be getting about 10hp less (I think) compared to the solid steel pulley as the ring pulley added more mass to the crank pulley hence required more power to rotate it.

If you can't wait then ring pulley is a good alternative. I've been very happy with my ring pulley

Buellwinkle

If you want a cheap ring then get the Kleemann ring from MagmaSLK. His fell off, caused a bunch of damage and Kleemann gave him a new replacement which he obviously didn't put back on. He hasn't been able to sell it in a about year but I'm sure he'll sell it to you cheaper than any Kleemann dealer. Good luck.

pcbchow

...........i was thinking the ring type is a very alternative given that it is cheaper and gives almost identical output, i hope this is just an isolated event, cos i am pretty interested to get one since i cant get the alloy type now