Two Stroke Racelab

Some people might spot something out of place in one of the photos and this would be a highly damaged Nsr250 Mc28 stock memory card running the HRC 030 ignition curve! But let me get you back to the beginning. More than ten years ago, my good friend Thanassis bought a few MC28 parts from a bike that had been involved in a major crash. The dash was totally destroyed, the memory card was broken in several places and the PGM4 is nowhere to be seen since the crash. So, I had to... a) work on the memory card and see if it can be repaired???!!! b) If yes, is it possible to match it to work on another PgmIV unit? c) If yes, can it also be reprogrammed to HRC specs? a) The card had an issue with a broken PCB trace for the antenna that the card features to communicate with the main EEPROM, a couple of physically damaged capacitors and a transistor. Parts were renewed, but I still couldn't tell if the card works or not, so it was kept at the corner of the desk for several weeks. b) So, the ...

After 3 months of waiting time, the repair shop said that the Mugen AR PGM is dead and can't be fixed. I received the unit from James(UK) last week and it's already repaired and ready for posting back.  PGM4 units, next in line.  P.s Who would have thought that after so much love and experience on 2stroke engines, I would end up mostly doing electronic stuff.  Regarding 2stroke engines, electronics is my weakest and less understood subject!? People ask why I don't still make expansion chambers, porting and lathe work etc. but it's not easy for a one man show and being based in Greece one does not only has to excel in a specific matter but instead provide something that no one else can, there's no other way around. 

David(AU) and his journey on restoring a RD500 bike. Thanks for your kind words Dave. 

Lazy morning, torturing a Nsr250 PgmIV, listening to Mogwai.

No more ignition issues for Tom's PGM4 unit.  I really enjoyed this repair as I learned tons of stuff about the Mc28 PGMIV unit.  I can certainly help if a PgmIV needs a repair job.  I'm currently working on memory card reprogramming as well. Have fun. Nick 

Quick and dirty modification that allows the use of HRC cards on a stock MC28 wiring loom. Modification is easily reversible by removing the jumpers that were salvaged from a highly damaged Mc21 wiring loom.   For references I've used Matt Patterson's article :  MC28 NSR250 WIRE SPLICE   and also Eric Gietl's similar modification :  nsr-world.com - MC28 no cut wire splice Top jumper shorts Oil switch (Green/ Pink) to Ground. Bottom jumper shorts Side Stand switch (Green/ White) and also GPS - Neutral switch (Light Green/ Red) to Ground.  P.s According to my findings so far, not all three grounding points are needed though I don't have a HRC card to try at the moment and I just started researching PGMIV units so I might be wrong. Have fun. Nick  

It must be about 12 years since the last time that I worked on a PGM4 unit. Back then I repaired a few but I had my own Mc28 bike as to try them out. At some point I had to sell the bike and as demand for Pgm4 repairs was very little, I omitted to keep proper notes of my work and the bike.  Tom(UK) insisted that I should work on his damaged PGM4 unit and entrusted me with all the bits that I need as to do proper research on them, including a wiring loom, stock card, clocks etc.  To be honest, after so many years working on PGM units from Crm250 up to Nsr500 units, repairing the ignition issues on Tom’s unit seems much less daunting than I thought.  Hopefully, I will soon be able to repair PGM4 units as well. Stay tuned. Nick  P.S I would also like to say big thank you to my good friend @Thanassis Karabellas for his continuous support and for providing me with a couple more Mc28 parts that I need.    

 

Time flies while you ride a 2stroke and this blog is now 15 years old. Have fun and keep the two strokes alive! Nick

Two more RD500 bikes will once again ride smoothly soon. Many thanks to Jean(CA) for the photo.