[Diy_efi] Cassandra's relatives: ECU & waste-gate

[Adam Wade]

--- Ernest Buckler <ebuckler at icehouse.net> wrote:

> I lost track, who owns Cassandra, the CX 500 TC? 
> Have you yet built an EFI & Turbo setup to replace
> the stock stuff?

Hi, Ernest.  That's me.  Just was going through my old
inbox stuff and found your email from some time ago,
and have been trying to sort some time out to get back
to you.  This is as good a place as any...

> A friend and I own a couple of these too, and have
> been wondering what our ECU & Sensor options are,
> since Honda no longer supports these very nifty
bikes.  
> Plus we are having continuing problems with the
> factory wastegate setup - the pivot shaft for the
> blow-off flapper (exit of the turbo) siezes up
> in the cast-iron, and there is no repair cited in
the
> factory manual othen than to replace the complete
> assembly....argh.

As to a replacement ECU, there's nothing drop-in.  It
would certainly be possible to improve on the
tunability of the stock unit by adding any turbo-ready
or turbo-capable sequential system.  I've been told
the Megasquirt has two dedicated batch-fire channels,
and so should be adaptable for this application.  The
500 and 650 would need different setups to some
degree, as the wiring harnesses and number of sensors
are different (the 500 has separate spark and fueling,
while the 650 has all-digital spark and fueling
integrated).

The "repair" I've heard for the wastegate, from CX and
other turbo motorcycle owners, involves a lot of
penetrating oil and working the shaft back and forth
once it starts to free up.  Seems to take care of
things for a good long while, from what I hear.

I'm not sure anyone I know has ever taken apart a
stock turbo assembly, but I have more than a few
worn-out turbo units kicking around if anyone wants to
poke at one and posit potential longer-term solutions.

| 82 Honda CX500 Turbo (Cassandra)  90 Kwak Zephyr 550 (Daphne) |
| "It was like an emergency ward after a great catastrophe; it  |
|   didn't matter what race or class the victims belonged to.   |
|  They were all given the same miracle drug, which was coffee. |
|   The catastrophe in this case, of course, was that the sun   |
|     had come up again."                    -Kurt Vonnegut     |
| M/C Fuel Inj. Hndbk. @ Amazon.com -  http://tinyurl.com/6o3ze |

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