Bolt On Horsepower or Snake Oil?

[Rich Rohrich]

I learned about Magnecor from some WICKED SMART car guys. One of those not so well known premier companies :)

 

[x2fast]

I was given an iCAT at an outdoor national for my 03KX but have yet to install and try it....I will try to do a dyno run and seat of the pants and give a report

 

[DEANSFASTWAY]

Guys : one of my pals JUMPIN JOE( 250 ex/mx )has one on his modded 02 CR250 and he swears that he could ride third gear turns easier and bike ran much crisper. his bike was probably a bit on the rich side to start with so now burned fuel better ? Anyway he had it on for like 3 weeks until he tried a 2 hour H/S and something went wrong and the bike was breaking up midrange/accel. The B8EGV electrode was burned down real far so he doesnt know if the plug burned up or the ICAT failed. since then hes running stock ign. How about the Fitch fuel catayst?

 

[DEANSFASTWAY]

Friends: Im not bashing ICAT by any means just saying what happened.

 

[DEANSFASTWAY]

I know they claim it only really works best on 2 strokes , but has anyone tried it on a Thumper?

 

[Tom Dixon]

I have one of the Fitch Fuel Catalyst and I think that it makes a difference. By no means will it give you a ton more HP but, the EX/C does run cleaner, crisper, and throttle response is a little bit better.

 

[markymark77]

OK so is anyone going to provide some real world research and facts on this product? Im curiouse to see how well it works. Still waiting.............

 

[marcusgunby]

Im dynoing a ICAT on friday-i will let you know.

 

[steve125]

Marcus it will be interesting to hear if the I-Cat perfers a richer setting? :think:

 

[bclapham]

i would be very wary of that sparkplug/ignition issue on the RM!:)

 

[DEANSFASTWAY]

Marcus next time you dyno a Honda 125 , check the difference between steel clutch plates and running aluminum. a friend of mine was playnig with pipes one day with a 03 and was playing with timing etc and changed plates and said he found a difference with a wee bit more running the alum plates. I thought baloney but hey you never know?Less parasitic drag I guess.I told him to drain the gearbox and see what shell make but he wisened up to that one. His shop also had an exhaust fan that sucked the exhaust out of the pipe or atleast helped . I wonder if that could contribute to some of his gains. Stock test = fan off / Mod test= fan on, Extraction , Eh?

 

[nephron]

Marcus--I'm probably wrong again, but I'll bet zero difference in torque & hp (peak or auc) . You'll notice RPM seems to be missing in their data graphs. The YZ250 graph was hp vs. time. Therefore, a quicker revving motor (excuse the term) is always going to make more power at any point in time during acceleration , since hp is a funtion of rpm (but not time ;) ). What you're seeing on that graph is a 4-5 horse difference, simply because their motor is revving more at that point in time--something they purposefully neglect to share.

So, I'd bet:

1) you'll probably see no diff @ same rpm
2) A standard dyno (hp or torque as a function of rpm) will probably show no more difference in hp than billet butt bolts do.

...not that good throttle response isn't worth something, I would just rather someone design a multi spark CD unit that both gives fatter spark and transforms voltage up.

I'd also like to see what happens to coil voltage and current with this device.

 

[Dragmeistr]

Well, I put one on my 03 CR250. The only thing it seemed to do was make the bike rev faster. The articles that I read said that if your jetting is off, it might help clean that up, but I believe that I have mine pretty darn close and have been running the ultimate 2 fuel. So I cant say I saw any improvement other than it being quicker revving. Im no expert obviously, just my 2 cents.

 

[TheJunkMan]

I am a TWMX subcriber and they did a product reveiw and they gave it a 9 !!!?? they said nothing but praise about it. I am more inclined to beileive Rich or other DRN'ers than them(twmx) so why did they find some horsepower increase, since most people here(DRN) have not seen a definate performance gain or advantage?

 

[bclapham]

Originally posted by TheJunkMan
I am a TWMX subcriber and they did a product reveiw and they gave it a 9 !!!?? they said nothing but praise about it.

thats the same issue where they said something like, you cannot ignore the fact that more noise means more horsepower. :silly:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Originally posted by bclapham
thats the same issue where they said something like, you cannot ignore the fact that more noise means more horsepower. :silly:

Does that mean if Swap eats an extra serving of beans with lunch that he'll holeshot the second moto every Sunday? :eek:

 

[marcusgunby]

WOW this has fired people up:)ive heard claims of 5hp on a 250 but i couldnt find the dyno chart on the net, i know originally it was designed for forklift trucks, to help clean up the emmisions and it worked, so it must do something, if it produces more power i will be impressed.

 

[TheJunkMan]

Originally posted by bclapham


thats the same issue where they said something like, you cannot ignore the fact that more noise means more horsepower. :silly:

I was going to point that out too... I guess 15 year old kids will believe anything cause sometimes I think that is their target readers.

 

[nephron]

A twin turbo 750hp Lingenfelter vette isn't very loud. It probably sucks bigtime.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Originally posted by marcusgunby
ive heard claims of 5hp on a 250 but i couldnt find the dyno chart on the net.

5hp, that's like a 10% improvement. Very unlikely. I'd be suspect of any dyno report that showed a 5hp gain from a stronger spark.

My guess is that the only thing an i-cat will get you is shorter life from your spark plugs. Really, if the bike is jetted correctly and the ignition system is working properly, what else can a hotter plug offer.

Think about it. The manufacturers (Japan, Inc.) test all possible effects of timing and ignition output. Their choice is determined by many factors, but mostly performance and reliability. If they thought that there was a way to gain 5hp from a hotter spark they'd install a more powerful coil because 5hp IS worth a trade in reliability of a $2 spark plug.

I'm thinking if your bike performs better than it did with an i-cat, you had/have another problem.

 

[markymark77]

Well it seems everyone has some speculation but still no facts. Looking fwd to the DYNO test results . Thanks marcus.

 

[marcusgunby]

Well we tested and im sad to say it showed no gain on power or torque.

 

[Senior KX Rider]

Thanx for that info Marcus :thumb: At last we get some REAL WORLD feedback. The magazines owe their existence to the people that advertise so trusting anything they say is hard to do.

 

[Senior KX Rider]

Would you rate it slightly lower than the 9 that TWMX gave it :p

 

[marcusgunby]

Now all i can say is i havnt actually rode it-way too wet for that, but the dyno is a tool and it says no change.