WR-250 Grey Wire "Aloha" Report.......

[Hawaii-Rider]

Just got back from riding, post "wire surgery" having the bikes "snipped".
First word......
WOW!:p

Second word......
GOODNESS!:eek:

Okay......'nough of that.
Bikes are: Minor local mods of the jetting, YZ timing, all restrictions removed.....

Flat spot, well it is gone. . . . . . and not only that, the pull and power characteristics are changed quite a bit as well (this grey wire and the ol ignition curve remapping must be pretty close cause the change is really significant).

Bike pulls hard (yes hard) from just above idle, all the way until the local dogs start howling....(hard)
I noticed a big difference right out of the parking area even down low and going slow, almost pipey........(is that really a word?)
No loss in the smoothness at all, no loss of the torgue (rode trails too) in fact its easier to ride now, roots, ruts, rocks etc are easier to loft the front end over; you dont have to worry if you are up far enough into the R's to get the front end up, cause now it dont matter, cause the front end will come up; any gear and throttle position as long as you are just off idle...
The surge at around 5-6k is history....just smooth, hard pull.

On the track the front end lofts with little to no effort, wonderful on the whoops.....(almost got myself in a bit of trouble until I got used to it on a real whooped out section of track....wasnt ready for the ease of lofting the front through the rough stuff, had very colorful visions of new rear fender, tail light..paramedics consuming large quantities of gauze and the like...... :eek:
Before you had to work it, until you were up hard on the 'cam' to do that.
Riding behind my sons, the amount of roost that he was throwing at me was night and day different from last weekend (the little stinker, I will go get my 500 and show him)....big change on how quick the bike gets moving now from before, no hesitation (flat spot), the thing is almost like a two smoke in the way that it pulls and how quick it pulls.......

i thought there was a change with the YZ timing, but now......
I be smiling! :)
14 year old son likes the mod as well........
I went ahead and did the snipping on both WRs and they are tapped off and wont be reset.....

Okay, have to unload now, and get showered all that stuff.......
Great mod and great "detective work" on the flat spot.....
This forum rocks!.....

now
does anyone want about 40 dollars in jets.......?....dont need 'em any more

be good........
HR
:cool:

 

[wrooster]

hey h-r,
you seem a little wishy-washy on this grey wire mod -- tell us what you *really* think. :cool:

the wrooster

ps
can't get the smile off my face either. also, are you running with a vortip or completely uncorked? right now i'm wide open, but after a long day my bean is ringing a bit. i know you don't have this problem, what with you going faster than the speed of sound and all... :eek:

 

[Hawaii-Rider]

Uncorked ? I prefer Merlot......

As far as what do I really think?
I think I am going to have another beer......how about you?
:confused:

Exhaust:
Yes I am, well sort of....I made my own turn down from a 90 degree bend exhaust/auto pipe from Napa, cut it perp to the ground (when mounted), smoothed everything out, painted it black and used self tapping screws to hold it in.
Not as quiet as the actual "Vortip", but it throws all the sound into the dirt and makes a big big difference.......($5.00 total cost as well)

as far as ears ringing......hell I just turn down my hearing aid, easist solution at my age......I ride toooooooo slooooooooooow to worry about it!....

HR
:cool:

 

[Handl-it]

I must have missed something but it sounds good so far. Cut what and where? or where did you see the post? This sounds like free horsepower. Just for the info my Yamaha dealer said they know about the kickstarter but thats it from him. Gald I have a welder, larger tab on footpeg no problem now.

 

[Hawaii-Rider]

Grey Wire. . . We Dont Need No Stinkin Grey Wires........

Handl-it.....
WR-250 US models only:
Under the tank you will see a grouping of wires coming out of the main harness. There is a small black connector with two wires running through it. Black one and a grey wire. (cant miss it, only two wire connector there) Its right behind the coil, right side of the frame.

Cut or ??? this grey wire out of the ignition circuit. It remaps (from the experts best guess here) the ignition on only the US models causes flat spot, does weird things to bottom end (attempt to at one time hope for Green sticker legal in Ca???) who knows......
Dont cut the black its your primary to your kill switch.
Tape it off (or wire nuts or whatever you are into :D )
then this is important.
1. Riding gear.
2. Start
3 Hang on....
4. :)

Snipping is good! (well for the bikes, "mine" wasnt fun :eek: )
but both have the same result when done, both are TONS of fun when it is all over!!!!!!!
be good......
email if you have questions......

HR
:cool:
ps: This whole grey wire thread was on Thumpertalk, but it is up/down ?????
so the above is the nuts and bolts of it......

 

[SpokerAce]

I too did the grey wire mod. I had changed the timing but hadn't had a chance to ride it. During the wait I read about the wire.

I took it out last weekend and it is definitely much quicker. Now if only I had the skill to hang on and really ride it like it should be ridden.

I used a very tiny screwdriver (I think they call them jewelers screwdrivers?) to push the wire out of the connector. When you unplug it, push the wire out of the half of the connector that is towards the back of the bike. Not the one coming from the CDI side.

Now to order a Vortip.....

 

[Handl-it]

Sounds real simple to me, the only bad thing is I have to wait to do it. The wife has made plans you guys can guess the rest. Have to make her happy! I have a vortip in my bike and I like it, noise level and performance all in one. One would think Yamaha would have made a performance tip for ISDE competition. Most of us here think it was never really made to run the stock insert.DUH! So why not make a good one that works with a decent noise level? Ran into some horses on the trail today made me gald that I could idle by. Anyway thanks for the tip, hope my arms can hold on.

 

[Hawaii-Rider]

Handl-it.........You will enjoy it........

Let me know when you do the mod......would like to know what you think, especially with the Vortip....I dont have one yet.....but I am moving back to the Mainland in a month (Fort Lewis Washington) and will have to get one......
Where you live.......in Montana?
Folks live in Spokane, and will be that way a bunch once I move off the Island......
Good luck, and yes one must keep "Chief of House" happy......:D

HR
:cool:

 

[z4me]

...so now the question is: Is there value to going back to the WR timing with the grey wire disconnected.

With the grey wire disconnected there is plenty mid and top - I am now regularly bouncing off the rev limiter. But... I would gladly sacrifice some of it for more grunt down low.

Anyone tried it?

- Sean

 

[alfadave]

When I first got my bike (in March) it ran like crap. Everyone said to buy a Vortip and it will run great. I bought one and it ran a LOT better but still like crap - just a more refined form of crap. Then everyone said to change to YZ timing and I'll love it. I made the change and it did run significantly better but was still in the crap range. I was VERY disgusted with the bike. Then everyone said to pull the grey and I would love it. I thought, "Yeah right! I've heard that before!" I figured the grey wire was just another dream and did not pull it.

I went out last week but just couldn't ride it. I couldn't concentrate on riding, only on how crappy my new $6k bike ran. After 5 miles, I returned to my car, pulled the seat/tank off and disconnected the grey wire. It was either that or get a for-sale sign!

The grey wire was the red pill! The bike is pretty much PERFECT now! How the hell could Yamaha have sold the bike with the grey wire? Before I pulled it, I was all set to sell the bike and vow to never buy another Yamaha, now I think the bike is fantastic.

 

[JasonJ]

I wanted to buy a 01 wr 250F but they sold out before I could get the scratch together so I got a used 99 WR 400. I know a guy down the road with a wr 250F, maybe if I dont tell him about the wire he will get all mad at the bike and I can Weez it off him cheap or trade for my 400 :p ??????? Sound like a plan or what?

 

[DR. DOOM]

What's the difference on which side of the connector that you disconnect?
I disconnected the CDI side and taped it off, Should I remove the wire completely?
Thanks for the replies.

 

[WIthumper]

SpokerAce - I disconnected my grey wire like you did, but I pushed out the gray wire on the CDI side of the black connector and tape everything up real good. Are you recommending that the other end be removed? I rode my WR250F for 40 miles yesterday without a single problem and had a BLAST . :)

I just want to make sure I did it right...

 

[JasonJ]

I think the idea is to remove the no powered side of the wire so if for some reason it shorts to ground it wont hurt anything and the powered side is safe and cozy in the dead connector, cheap insurance for the CDI, grounding the wire will cause the over riding power killing map to engage but should not hurt anything but your ego, best to be safe I think is idea I think.

 

[SpokerAce]

I went with the backside wire based on comments/suggestions from the original post on thumpertalk. Although I'm no mechanic or electrician, I'd have to agree with the "powered" theory if it's really powered.

I'm not sure if that's the "right" way or not, I followed the lead of others once their testing was done....

I had read that the Euro models had the wire from the CDI to the connector and then no wire going out the backside.

 

[WIthumper]

Thanks guys. I must have missed that part of the details on the TT post. :think I will have to check it out and do the switch. I would rather have the piece of mind rather than taking the risk.

JasonJ, thanks for the insight. :)

 

[SpokerAce]

I forgot to add one thing.

When the wire is removed from the connector it leaves a nice little hole there. I added a dab of silicone to keep any water out of there. Figured I went through the trouble of taping off the wire, better close off all avenues for water.

 

[Hawaii-Rider]

Well at least I wasnt dreaming........

WROOOOOOSTER...........
Well, at least I am not the only one that is impressed what the snipping does.....

anyone can get happy when a snip of a wire has the same effect as having a tw0-smoke ported or a new pipe........and......it was free.....
(HR REALLLLLLLY likes free.......... :confused: )

Now who has the article on the Methanol Carb swap I read about for these bikes.......?
;)

HR
:cool:

 

[wrooster]

h-r,
rode last weekend with the neutered wrf, kept pace with my brother on his yzf. you're right, this is like free power.

but stop screaming so loud about it, everyone is gonna get a wrf and that's going to clog the trails etc. keep the rest on whatever yellow, orange, or red POS they are on. plus when you are out in front you don't get roosted AND you don't end up smelling like two stroke smoke when you get home. :p

so in summary, the wr250f sucks, it's unrideable, don't get one, a sears mini-bike is faster over level terrain and in the rough stuff your grandmother could walk faster with her cane. the 250f engine makes less power than a cake mixer, plus the bike weighs more than a 9-cu-yd cement mixer. and i know all this because i have one, you definitely don't want one, i won't even sell you mine-- it's that bad.

the wrooster

ps
is this what your exhaust thingy looks like? -->
http://www.thumpertalk.com/yamahawr400/Technical/End_Cap/end_cap.html

pps methanol carb for the wrf? i think you're the one on alcohol! oh yeah, that's right, you're used to that cr500 with the morton-thiokol solid rocket boosters on it. go the other route, increase the power:weight ratio, i.e. shave some pounds from the bike, like substituting the Ti subframe for the stock steel one, that'll get you 3-4 lbs right there. oh, whoops, it's like $500, nevermind.

ppps anyone know where to a get a good but inexpensive inductive tachometer suitable for a single cylinder four stroke, and which reads up to around 14K rpm? i saw a nice one on the web made by stihl (yeah, the orange chain saw guys) but i can't seem to figure out how to get one here in the USA nor do i know if it has a 4 stroke compensation (1/2x) setting.

 

[SFO]

WR Rooster,

How about just putting a shift light on it?
You can change the RPM the light goes off at.
And you don't have think at all while you rippin through the woods with your cement mixer.

 

[JasonJ]

I have seen optical tachs, you put a reflective sticker on whatever and a laser counts the rounds. I know guys that use them on Electric RC jet fans and they spin up around 250K /m so 14 is good. I dont know if they are bat powered or if you can get a remote type pickup or display for them or not.

 

[Hawaii-Rider]

Wrooooooster you're Right.....

THe bike stinks........no power (going to a pw-50 as an upgrade this weekend) mushy suspension, in fact I have operated fork lifts with better!:(
The end cap is very similar, but I cut mine so that it is perp to the ground when mounted, helps with keeping H20 out of things etc (with the exhaust pulses the dirt is kicked around right next to the rear tire).
If you would like, you can buy me a Vortip and I will run on my bike and let you know how I like it.......DEAL??? :confused:
Okay so the methanol was extreme.....but I think I can adapt a supercharger to it with a little metal work........what do you think....

HR
:cool:
Why yes I ride every weekend, why do you ask?

 

[Handl-it]

Runs better? not much? GEEEEEEZZZZZZ How could Yamaha blow it any worse? Buy bike, cut wire, no wait we will do it so it runs right when you buy it. Thanks a bunch Hawaii Rider! now I am not thinking about jetting the carb just jetting on the bike. It runs clean no bog, strong and steady. Vortip is a great performance part with a reasonable sound level it works on my Honda too. Some of the magazines say this bike has poor low end power, what have they been smoking? Its every bit as good as the Xr 250 down low with a lot more on top,plus the suspension is mx like. Not that the Xr is a bad bike it is a good mount. I still get killed out of the hole, every larger bike pulls away at the start. So I guess Im waiting for the big bore hop up kit to solve that problem. But then I didnt buy it for drag racing, and it works well for me. I will take it up into the mountains this weekend and see how it does. My home elevation is 3200 ft and the hills go to just under 10,000 ft. Hawaii Rider my brother in law lives out of Tacoma and likes to ride! and from there Im about 12 hrs away. Good riding!