For anyone who owns a pumper, many places who sell themalso recommend installing some sort of hot start system that bypasses air around the carburetor to get you started in ahurryin case you take a spill and stall/flood your bike. It's not absolutely necessary, but if you want to get back up and started in a hurry, ala hair scrambles ora group of riderswaiting on your slow azz to continue a ride, it can come-in handy. A very popular aftermarket hot start system is made by Terry Cable, but that requires that you run hoses up to your bars and mount an air valve or run a cable from your bars to the valve. I decided tothrow together a system that is electrically controlled.

Ireceived the connector for my electric hot start valve in the mail last week, so I went to work running the wires this weekend. The valve is actually an EGR valve control solenoid forGM products. I used NAPA/Beldin wire and put heat shrink around the splices to help prevent corrosion. I ran the wires along the wiring loom branch on the RH upper frame to the main loom where I ran them under the tank, then behind the head light. The hose routing starts at the air cleaner where the air suction systemused to connect to then goes to one side of the valve. From the other side of the valve, another hose goes to the engine side of the carburator where I hooked it to a port that was originally intended for a vacuum operated petcock. If you don't have such a fitting on your carb, the only other option is to follow the procedure at planetKLX where they drilled a hole and installed a nipple in the intake runner. All hosesarefuel supply grade andpurchasedat a local hardware storefor something like $1.00/meter.




I spliced the wire for the valve into one side of this bar mounted,spring loaded momentary-on switch, which is actually a kill switch for a KX. The other side of the switch was spliced into the 'ON' side of thekey switch(Brown wire). I was a bit too closeto be usinga flash, so the colors got washed-out, but the switch button is actually red.



To test it out, I killed the motor several times during hard acceleration, immedately closing the throttle. For good measure, I even gave it five full accel pump squirts to make sure the engine was good and flooded. Without pushing the hot start button the engine would spin-on forever without starting. When the hot start button was pushed, the bike would start in 10-15 seconds every time. It started immediately if you held the hot start button while cracking the throttle open to just before the accel pump range (slightly less than 1/4 open).

Keep in mind that it's possible to start a severely flooded bike without this system, but it will require you to wait awhile. Ifyou'reimpatient -like me- you might just drain your battery in the process of trying to get'er started right away, so Iconcocted this just for my own peace of mind.....and for anyone else who has no patience.
[/b]
P/N’s[/b]
[/b]
-Valve: [/b]DELCO-REMY PART NO.1997240 or AC-Delco 214-565
-Connector: [/b]No part number, but is a[/b]vailable at http://www.tpiparts.net/inc/sdetail/4298
-Switch: [/b]Kawasaki PN: [/b]27010-0022

 

That's cool I saw it work several times a the races this fall. Several riders had hot start buttons and the difference between getting the engine started and getting ran over was amazing. Nice job Dean.

 

Very cool Tremor38 - ingenious and very nicely implemented!

 

Dean,

How's the hot start system holding up? Do you use if often? Can you provide a P/N for the EGR valve. Thanks.

 

It's holding-up great; no issues. I haven't used it nearly as much as I thought I would though.
[/b]
P/N’s[/b]
[/b]
-Valve: [/b]DELCO-REMY PART NO.1997240 or AC-Delco 214-565
-Connector: [/b]No part number, but is a[/b]vailable at http://www.tpiparts.net/inc/sdetail/4298
-Switch: [/b]Kawasaki PN: [/b]27010-0022

 

Thanks Dean,

I'mgoing to makethis addition to my bike due to the hard re-starting after dumping the bike on the trail. As you previously stated, with a pumper carb, it just makes matters worse by opening the throttle in an attemptto get more air in since it squirts some more fuel in when you do so.

 

Hey Dean,

I think that your EGR valve might be hooked up backwards. I just received a Delco Remy 1997240 that I bought off of ebay for $10.09 (including shipping) and am testing it out before I install it. I've noted that one port holds a vacuum while the other port does not when the valve is deactivated. In your installation photo, it appears that you have connected the non-vacuum-holding port to the intake. I wonder if you've seen any vacuum leak symptoms? One way to test this would be to pull the air hose off of the airbox and put your finger over it while the bike is running. If there's a backwards leak in your configuration, it'll suck down on your finger. ...or maybe it bleeds so little air in this direction that it doesn't matter.

I plan on installing my valve opposite to how you have yours connected.

 

Installed this system today. It turned out very nicely. Here's a link to the write-up that I post on my web site:

http://klx250s.suncup.net/HotStart/index.html

 

Awsome work, Dan! I guess that's why I don't do that sort of thing for a livingI'm gonna copy your work with the fittings as soon as I order a tap and dye.

I haven't noted any symtoms, but I believe you and will switch the hoses at next opportunity. I can get the engine to speed up by depressing the switch (lean cond.), but there still may be a very slow vac. leak.