The 848 injectors are on the left with the Paul Smart 1000 injectors on the right.

Ducati Monster injectors.. Before service.

An hour or so later and multiple ultrasonic cleaning cycles, the injectors not only had the same spray pattern, they had exactly the same flow rate. The fuel injector on the left picked up 99.8% flow rate from the “before” flow test. A happy customer indeed, and a happy “Monster”.

After multiple cleaning cycles

This bike has 8 fuel injectors. 4 uppers and 4 lowers. The lowers usually spray all the time, with the uppers kicking in for mid and high rpm. When tuning a bike, it is ideal to have each pair of fuel injectors (in this case there are 2 per cylinder) flowing evenly from one cylinder to the next cylinder. That way you don’t have some lean cylinders, and some rich cylinders. We took out a couple of the customers injectors out and substituted them for a couple we had in stock to make a better, more even set. This is just another example of the fuel injector service we offer at ProFlow Technologies. It’s not always just about fuel injector cleaning service, it’s also checking fuel injector spray and flow rates to ensure they are all the same.

cbr1000 flow rates, after cleaning service but BEFORE switching out injectors.

some additional injectors we have on hand that hopefully flow closer to the others

a close look at the flow rates after substituting some injectors, resulting in better matched set and BETTER PERFORMANCE

“It was awesome to finally come away with a national title after 9 years of roadracing. I have over 30 regional titles but this was my first national title, and on my supersport R6 in a 750cc class no less. Just awesome. And Daytona is one track you don’t want to have fuel injector issues at. Ours flow perfect.”

Greg would like to thank Jim Scala, co-owner with Greg of ProFlow Technologies as Jim built the engines in both of Greg’s R6 race bikes. A big thanks also goes out to Michelin tires.Greg’s other sponsors include Silkolene oils, EBC brakes, Sharkskinz, Pit Bull, Engine Ice, Century Design, JenningsGP, JRi, SYED leathers, Cahill’s yamaha and SIDI boots

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Greg on the ProFlow R6 at Daytona 2012

Notice the 4th injector from the left. Most of the time we see increases in fuel flow rates after ultrasonic cleaning, but in the case of one of these gsxr600 fuel injectors,  it was not closing all the way while it was firing. This resulted in an about 20% more flow rate than AFTER the cleaning. This could have caused a rich enough condition to foul the spark plug and crate buildup on the piston top and the valves. Excessive carbon build up on the tops of pistons can increase the compression ratio enough to case pre-ignition or “ping” that is very damaging to engines. And the rest of the uel injectors were flowing considerably less than they should flow.

After ultrasonic cleaning these in the ultrasonic cleaning tank multiple times (while the fuel injectors are being fired and backflushed) the set came around to within a few % of flow of one another. (We normally charge extra for the additional time needed to service problem injectors as we have to check flow and spray pattern after each cycle of cleaning). On a gsxr600 the lower injectors flow slightly less than the upper injectors. Unlike a 2008-2013 Yamaha R6 that has even flow rate of the 8 injectors, even though the Yamaha upper and lower injectors look very different from one another. As noted above, the 4th injector from the left came DOWN about 20% during a 30 second flow cycle, and the others came UP about 20%. Had these been installed on the bike, it is unlikely it would have ran, or if it did, it would not have run very well.

Needless to say, it is a good thing this customer did not open the box when it arrived, and instal the “new to him” fuel injectors as he would have had more problems that he started with. It is important to service fuel injectors once a year for optimal performance, especially if the machine sits for weeks at a time between events. For daily drivers, if you notice a drop in gas mileage, hard starts, or rough idle and running, send your fuel injectors to ProFlow Technologies for fuel injector cleaning and service.

First, loosen the triple clamp fork bolt. Not doing so will make unscrewing the cap difficult and potentially damage the threads.

Next, loosen the fork cap with a 14mm socket, or better yet, the special Ohlins tool that fits in those 8 small holes around the outside. It is important to not over tighten the cap later as loosening it with the 14mm socket can damage the cap. In a later photo you will see the design of the cap and how that could happen.You can have the bike on a front stand or not on a stand, the other fork leg will support the bike but without a stand it will drop a bit. Do ONE fork let at a time or you will need help raising the bike up high enough to screw the cap back on to the fork tube.

Now with a 19mm flat wrench, hold the inside cartridge so you can loosen the fork cap. You need to get the wrench around the spacer that sits on top of the spring. It rides on a fine ridge on the underside of the fork cap. The spacer is slotted so you can get at the hex head of the cartridge. It should easily break loose. Do not force things, and do not over tighten upon reassembly.

Do not pull the wrench out as you unscrew the fork cap. This threaded tool makes holding the cartridge easy, and speeds the process as the cartridge won’t sink down inside the fork leg. If you do not have one of these. You can still change the spring, you will need needle nose pliers to pull the cartridge up from the bottom. Be careful to not loose the round spacer with 2 legs when you pull the wrench out of place.

Thread the tool onto the cartridge and pull the spacer up and out of the way .. or without a tool, just pull the wrench out of place and allow the cartridge to drop down into the fork leg but don’t loose the spacer.

Pull the fork spring out. This picture looks the same for putting another fork spring in to the fork tube. The Ohlins springs will have the spring rate stamped onto one end of the spring or the other. Most common springs for track use will be .85  to 1.10 . They only come in .5 intervals, so if you are needing a .925 spring rate, you simply use a .95 on the right and a .90 on the left. “Might to the Right” makes future changes easier to keep track of what you use.

Slide the spacer on and pull on the tool that is threaded on to the cartridge (or go down inside with needle nose pliers). If you use pliers, it is likely the damping rod will come out a little from the middle of the cartridge. Gently push it back in. Sometimes you have to turn it slightly before it will go down flush with the top of the cartridge. Again, don’t force it.
As you can see looking at the bottom of the fork cap, there is a smooth ridge that the two “teeth” of the spacer ride in. It is very important as you thread the cap on, to ensure the “teeth” find this ridge. It is easy to see looking from below and up toward the bottom of the cap as you screw it on to see if it’s in place or not.

With the wrench still in place, use the 14mm socket (or toothed Ohlins cap tool) to gently tighten it down. You do not need to use much force. Just snug it on. With the front triple tree stand still in place from earlier, raise the front of the bike up. This will put the cap threads right on the fork let. Spin it on, again not very tightly, and torque your triple clamp allen head bolt and you are done with that leg!

Don’t forget to send your fuel inejctors out for ultrasonic cleaning at least once a year to keep your bike running smooth and at the optimal air to fuel ratio. Having a cylinder running lean could cause engine damage.

The BMC air filter has a few different model air filters. One has a removable snorkel that needs to be in place if you race in a supersport class. Or if you are not worried about that and it’s for a superbike class, or for the street, you can leave the snorkel off or get the cheaper model that does not come with the snorkel. Another option, is just cut the plastic restrictive snorkel off of your stock air filter.

The real test was on the dyno, and yes, it makes more power. I don’t have the actual dyno sheet, but when we first heard about this modification back in 2006 when the 3rd generation R6 came out, we tried dynoing with it, then without. Even before any tuning for the extra air was done, the dyno showed a 2 hp increase at peak power. Some noted professional tuners (real race engine builders and tuner) have indicated as much as 5hp gained up top from removing the restrictive snorkel. So, addition to having the fuel injectors serviced, make this simple and free modification to get a little extra power.

Here is a BMC filter, with the snorkel that attaches on the right. Notice how much smaller the opening is than the actual filter area?

Here is a stock R6 filter, on the left is the bottom of the filter in the airbox, on the right is the top of another stock filter. Again, notice the difference in the area air can pass.

With the snorkel in place, you can see where it is located within the intake area. Again, notice how much this device blocks air flow. The two black diverting fins just inside keep rain from hitting the filter media directly and should not be cut out.

Here is a photo just like above, but with the snorkel not screwed into place. Notice now how much more open the air intake area is. You will notice more intake noise with this modification as the rpm’s rise, but you will also have a few more horsepower. It is ideal to let us at ProFlow Technologies ultrasonically clean and flow test the fuel injectors, and then dyno the bike to ensure it is not lean after increasing the air flow.

Remember, a good tune for any machine starts with a professional fuel injector ultrasonic cleaning and flow test.Get Started Here

2005 gsxr1000 fuel injector spray patterns before ultrasonic cleaning

After about 45 minutes of ultrasonic cleaning, while the fuel injectors are being fired at various rpm from 600 to 15,000, and other little “tricks” we use to get the broken up deposits out.. the spray patters were significantly improved. Flow volume was also more even, but was not as significant a change as the improvement in spray patterns. As many modern sport bikes have 2 intake valves, the spray pattern must be in a “V” shape to shoot fuel down each each intake port. If the spray patterns are not correct, you get fuel washing down the sides of the intake ports, or hitting the divider of the two intake ports. Both cases result in large droplets of fuel washing down into the combustion chamber, instead of a proper atomized spray. Lost horsepower is likely restored! One more reason fuel injector cleaning is so important.

Do not make the mistake of mixing upper fuel injectors from the 2006-07 R6, with upper fuel injectors from a 2008 or newer R6. The injectors look exactly the same . The 2006 and 2007 Yamaha R6 looks the same as the 2008 to 2012 R6. It would take a rider or mechanic, who is very familiar with these machines, to notice the difference. However, there was a significant change that gave the 2008-12 much more mid-range power. The variable height velocity stacks. The velocity stacks consist of a fixed stack, then the variable stack that are mechanically raised and lowered depending on the engine rpm. At lower rpm’s, the top stacks are lowered on top of the bottom fixed stack to make one tall set of v-stacks. This aids mid-range power. At higher rpm’s, the v-stacks are raised to allow the air into the throttle bodies faster. This gave the 2008 and newer R6, nearly 10 horsepower over the 2006-07 model R6 in the mid-range. It is REAL power you can feel on the track.

A change in the upper fuel injectors on the 08 and newer model was needed, due to the fact that the injectors are higher and further from the throttle bodies than the 06-07 R6 model. The spray pattern of the 06-07 upper fuel injector is wider than the narrow spray pattern of the 08 and newer upper fuel injector, yet they all look the same, and are the same blue color.

Anyone needing spare parts from a crash could mistakenly buy the wrong air box that contains the upper fuel injectors in the cover. Hopefully this post will help prevent that from happening to someone. Remember to send us your fuel injectors for service.

Here is what the spray patterns of an 2008 Yamaha R6 look like. The lower injectors that are on the left, as they are very close to the 2 intake valves, the spray goes to either side (as there are 2 intake valves). The upper injectors are on the right. The 2006-7 R6 upper injectors are a wider spray pattern as they are closer to the intake. Again, if you ever need to replace injectors in your R6, be sure you get the right injectors. Checking the spray patterns is one fuel injector service we offer in addition to ultrasonic cleaning.