What the heck is a MAP

[thrasherfox]

Ok, at the risk of being ridiculed…I would rather know and be ridiculed than act like I know to save the embarrassment and not know something.

WHAT THE HECK IS A MAP!!!!

I have determined (I think) that “mappingâ€￾ has to do with fine tuning your engine / fuel / air / timing to work as efficiently as possible with your specific system configuration.

At least that is what I am presuming it is.

Would someone please take the time to enlighten me, or point me to an area of enlightenment that will teach me everything I never wanted to know about “mappingâ€￾

There are mods I plan on doing soon that I am pretty sure are going to require fine tuning so I want and need to know how to do it.

Ok, let the flaming begin

 

[Blue Streak]

I don't know alot about mapping a bike either but I do know that it is fine tuning your A/F and timing. I also know that it needs to be done on a dyno.

 

[bacharles]

Good answer!!!

 

[ralnsplder]

Actually adjusting fuel/air mixture does not have to be done on a dyno, it is just alot easier to do it that way. There are some mechanics here that can ajust your bike by riding it and actually get better results then from a dyno. the dyno cannot account for ram air. you will only get this by riding and adjusting then more riding and adjusting. Not every mechanic can do it this way though. From my understanding, when you mapp a bikes gears you are setting up the fuel/air ratio for each gear instead of just rpm range. What works in 1st might not be what is best for 6th. Like I said this is just my understanding of it.

 

[Glamisman]

A map is easy to understand if you look at it this way. Imagine that you have a piece of small weave netting. Lay it out on the table in front of you. When looking at the net, the direction you are facing is one axis, the direction 90 degrees to your right is another axis. If you were to reach out an pinch the netting and lift it up, the height above the table is your third axis. What you are looking at is a simple map. Now imagine lots of people lifting the netting off the table a little bit all over the net and some pushing down on other places. Each one of the little lifts or pushes is controled by various inputs from the sensors from the motor. Sensors being how wide open are the throttle plates, how hot is the air, how warm is the motor, what gear you are in, is the clutch engaged or dis-engaged and rpm of the motor. You can see that it gets very complicated very fast. Now to throw this into the mix... there are two maps, one for the fuel delivery and one for ignition timing (advance and retard) that relate to each other inside the ECU.

Now to get really complicated, although slightly off subject but on topic image this... all of the above PLUS the following, Porsche and Audi and others that have all wheel drive autos have the ability to sense if the car is accelerating/decelerating, side G-loads (is the car in a turn or not), is there equal traction to all four driving tires AND is there equal traction between the front tires pulling and the rear tires pushing. The ECU(s) have the ability to adjust HP and torque to each driving wheel realtivly independent of each other. It is a very awesome feeling to be on a cloverleaf interchange and roll on the throttle and feel the front clawing the rear pushing and all the time accelrating into the low triple digits. Dont tell the service manager what you just did. ;.)

I hope this rather long post explains is sufficiently.

In addition, a prior poster, Johhny Cheese if I can remember, is corrrect. The ecu/map YOU have might not be the correct one for YOUR bike because YOUR bike is not the same as HIS bike even with the EXACT SAME MODS. The same map is just a starting point.

btw ... spell checked this thing 3 times and I still am coming up with errors ... sorry



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[thrasherfox]

A map is easy to understand if you look at it this way. Imagine that you have a piece of small weave netting. Lay it out on the table in front of you. When looking at the net, the direction you are facing is one axis, the direction 90 degrees to your right is another axis. If you were to reach out an pinch the netting and lift it up, the height above the table is your third axis. What you are looking at is a simple map. Now imagine lots of people lifting the netting off the table a little bit all over the net and some pushing down on other places. Each one of the little lifts or pushes is controled by various inputs from the sensors from the motor. Sensors being how wide open are the throttle plates, how hot is the air, how warm is the motor, what gear you are in, is the clutch engaged or dis-engaged and rpm of the motor. You can see that it gets very complicated very fast. Now to throw this into the mix... there are two maps, one for the fuel delivery and one for ignition timing (advance and retard) that relate to each other inside the ECU.

Now to get really complicated, although slightly off subject but on topic image this... all of the above PLUS the following, Porsche and Audi and others that have all wheel drive autos have the ability to sense if the car is accelerating/decelerating, side G-loads (is the car in a turn or not), is there equal traction to all four driving tires AND is there equal traction between the front tires pulling and the rear tires pushing. The ECU(s) have the ability to adjust HP and torque to each driving wheel realtivly independent of each other. It is a very awesome feeling to be on a cloverleaf interchange and roll on the throttle and feel the front clawing the rear pushing and all the time accelrating into the low triple digits. Dont tell the service manager what you just did. ;.)

I hope this rather long post explains is sufficiently.

In addition, a prior poster, Johhny Cheese if I can remember, is corrrect. The ecu/map YOU have might not be the correct one for YOUR bike because YOUR bike is not the same as HIS bike even with the EXACT SAME MODS. The same map is just a starting point.

btw ... spell checked this thing 3 times and I still am coming up with errors ... sorry

Dayum...


Thanks for the explanation.. so let me summarize to see if I understood it correctly..

Take it to someone that knows what the F they are doing? is that pretty much what you said?

Ok, so should I do whatever fricken Mods I want (headers, pipes, airbox mod, etc etc)

and when I am finished take it to someone and have they tweak it?

Is there anyone in the Central Valley (Fresno Area) that any one would recommend?

 

[whzyrd]

suzuki uses 16 differnt maps in the fi system it reads from what ever one that is appropriate at any given time there is also one for sensor failure that will allow you to get the bike to a dealership unless it is a sensor like the crankshaft sensor then it doasent go into the relief mode it just stops
Rich

 

[FloydV]

suzuki uses 16 differnt maps in the fi system it reads from what ever one that is appropriate at any given time there is also one for sensor failure that will allow you to get the bike to a dealership unless it is a sensor like the crankshaft sensor then it doasent go into the relief mode it just stops
Rich

So, when people talk about getting a custom map, are they talking about several maps, or one in particular. My engine education ended with carburetors, so maps, ECUs, etc. are all greek to me. People keep referring to the busa as having 5 maps for gears 1 to 6. Are they really talking about one big map, 5 maps, what are they buying?

From the long description somewhere above, it would seem maps control fuel, timing, and other things?

 

[nitrousjunkie]

suzuki uses 16 differnt maps in the fi system it reads from what ever one that is appropriate at any given time there is also one for sensor failure that will allow you to get the bike to a dealership unless it is a sensor like the crankshaft sensor then it doasent go into the relief mode it just stops
Rich

So, when people talk about getting a custom map, are they talking about several maps, or one in particular. My engine education ended with carburetors, so maps, ECUs, etc. are all greek to me. People keep referring to the busa as having 5 maps for gears 1 to 6. Are they really talking about one big map, 5 maps, what are they buying?

From the long description somewhere above, it would seem maps control fuel, timing, and other things?

Yep , you got it! Dang this is an old post!

 

[FloydV]

suzuki uses 16 differnt maps in the fi system it reads from what ever one that is appropriate at any given time there is also one for sensor failure that will allow you to get the bike to a dealership unless it is a sensor like the crankshaft sensor then it doasent go into the relief mode it just stops
Rich

So, when people talk about getting a custom map, are they talking about several maps, or one in particular. My engine education ended with carburetors, so maps, ECUs, etc. are all greek to me.  People keep referring to the busa as having 5 maps for gears 1 to 6. Are they really talking about one big map, 5 maps, what are they buying?

From the long description somewhere above, it would seem maps control fuel, timing, and other things?

Yep , you got it! Dang this is an old post!

Yep, it's so old, I decided to post my question somewhere else. Didn't really think anyone would see it here anymore. Just playing catch up with all the electronic stuff.

 

[da busa guy]

people always talk about getting a map done on a dyno, the map may be perfect on the dyno but does not take into account the ram air effect at speed, basically i'm saying a good air fuel mixture setting on a dyno may be lean with a ram air effect at higher speeds. i also have another post asking about horsepower at the wheel on a dyno and what hp would be at high speeds which can't be measured except maybe trap speed at the drag strip. just wondering, any experts?

 

[da busa guy]

i did not notice how old this post was either

 

[Catch me if you can!]

No,No,No, guys, ya'll wrong!!!!! the map that comes with the bike will tell you the highways and Interstates plus shortcuts incase of backup traffic, if that does't work then you have to remap....

 

[Toyz]

Map

 

[Skak]

It's that thing that Dora the Explorer carries around in her backpack...