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R1 manifold glowing in the dark at idle
JekRankin - 30/1/19 at 12:33 PM

As per the title, I noticed my r1 manifold was glowing red in the dark last night when warming up from idle. I don’t think the glow would have been visible in daylight, though.

Is this normal? The pipes to Cylinders 1 and 4 looked a bit hotter than the others.

Jek

nick205 - 30/1/19 at 01:34 PM

Not seen an exhaust manifold that hot apart from on racecars and even then they have to be on a fully warmed engine and when the engine's rev'd very hard.

Have you taken the spark plugs out to have a look and see if they tell you anything about the running temperature and air/fuel mixture?

JekRankin - 30/1/19 at 01:39 PM

Not had a look at the plugs yet, but I'll do that next.

Should add that it was a pretty faint glow, and probably only visible because it was dark. Under torchlight, they looked normal.

Jek

nick205 - 30/1/19 at 02:32 PM

Cast iron or tubular manifold?

My MK Indy (2.0 Pinto) had a tubular manifold. It was heat wrapped, but I still would be surprised if it had been that hot at idle.

JekRankin - 30/1/19 at 02:39 PM

It's a tubular stainless steel manifold.

Jek

CosKev3 - 30/1/19 at 02:43 PM

Running lean I would guess.

Turbo charged manifolds glow lovely in the dark,but NA not so much if the fueling/timing is correct

perksy - 30/1/19 at 05:36 PM

Possibly running Lean and needs checking sooner rather than later
Especially if two of the primaries are different colours

Theshed - 30/1/19 at 06:17 PM

Or the timing is retarded - More likely I think.

clive7883 - 31/1/19 at 10:21 AM

it is not unusual for Japanese multis exhausts to glow, in the original bike the exhaust headers would most likely have been double walled so they don't glow, also they are in the airflow which cools them a little, the glowing is due to the port/cam timing, to get the sort of Horse power that these little engine produce they have to run quite radical cams. By all means double check everything and if it is all correct don't worry to much.

redturner - 31/1/19 at 10:43 AM

Do a plug check and also go through the ignition timing. Even cast iron manifolds will glow if the ignition is out a bit...

Mr Whippy - 31/1/19 at 12:15 PM

the pinto in my JBA had a tubular exhaust and it only glowed after a run never at idle

JekRankin - 31/1/19 at 01:58 PM

Thanks for the responses.

Like most BECS, i'm using the stock ECU, so ignition mapping isn't possible.

I can trim fuelling using the Power Commander, but for now it is stock, and I'm sure I've read that the stock fuel map tends to run lean in a car installation.

I've since had a look around a few bike forums, and it seems to be fairly common observation for the manifold to have a faint glow in low light levels. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think any glow would have been visible if it were daylight.

It was the first time I've had the thing hot enough for the fan to kick in properly, so perhaps I'm being over cautious. That said, I'll tread carefully and give the plugs a check tonight.

Jek

JekRankin - 31/1/19 at 02:00 PM

Almost forgot -

There are two small right angled air inlets on top of the throttle bodies which I assume are usually connected to the airbox? It's a 2003 R1... Can anyone tell me what these are for, and where they should be connected in an install with no airbox. They look to have small filters in them.

Jek

nick205 - 31/1/19 at 03:35 PM

quote:
Originally posted by JekRankin
Almost forgot -

There are two small right angled air inlets on top of the throttle bodies which I assume are usually connected to the airbox? It's a 2003 R1... Can anyone tell me what these are for, and where they should be connected in an install with no airbox. They look to have small filters in them.

Jek



Idle air baypass maybe?

I know on Peugeot 205 GTI injection engines they have an idle air bypass. When the throttle butterfly is closed it lets enough air in (around the butterfly) for the engine to idle.

JekRankin - 31/1/19 at 04:36 PM

Hi Nick,

Ah that would make sense, I think you are probably right.

Jek

nick205 - 31/1/19 at 05:15 PM

Would make sense if they're connected to the air box so the air is filtered on it's way in.

x_flow57 - 1/2/19 at 07:33 AM

quote:
Originally posted by clive7883
it is not unusual for Japanese multis exhausts to glow, in the original bike the exhaust headers would most likely have been double walled so they don't glow, also they are in the airflow which cools them a little, the glowing is due to the port/cam timing, to get the sort of Horse power that these little engine produce they have to run quite radical cams. By all means double check everything and if it is all correct don't worry to much.


Agree my unmodified sports bikes front pipes would glow when warming it up before a ride.

[Edited on 1/2/19 by x_flow57]

JekRankin - 1/2/19 at 08:38 AM

That's good to know.

So I had a look at the plugs and there's no signs evidence of lean running.

Hopefully all is well, and I'll get the fuelling tuned properly after IVA.

Jek

40inches - 1/2/19 at 10:25 AM

quote:
Originally posted by x_flow57
quote:
Originally posted by clive7883
it is not unusual for Japanese multis exhausts to glow, in the original bike the exhaust headers would most likely have been double walled so they don't glow, also they are in the airflow which cools them a little, the glowing is due to the port/cam timing, to get the sort of Horse power that these little engine produce they have to run quite radical cams. By all means double check everything and if it is all correct don't worry to much.


Agree my unmodified sports bikes front pipes would glow when warming it up before a ride.

[Edited on 1/2/19 by x_flow57]


My ZX9R engine would glow dark red warming up, after a hard run would light up the garage