Ducati S4 MONSTER WITH DUCATI PERFORMANCE POWER KIT

Ah yes. The much awaited DP Power Kit. This kit consists of a pair of Termignoni carbon fibre mufflers, an open airbox lid ( std one cut up at the factory ), an aftermarket reusable air filter ( maybe a BMC – not a K&N ) and a remapped 5.9M ECU to suit. The 5.9M management system used on these bikes is even more compact than the 15M system used on the SSie models. They use flashload technology, just like the 15M, and have no replaceable chip. Not even enough room for one, actually.

Trev decided our shop demo S4 could use a power kit, so I convinced him we needed to go to the dyno to see what we would find as we added bits. Below are the power curves for the 4 different combos tested. We ran the bike as std ( purple ), with the Termi’s only fitted ( green ), with the open airbox lid/filter and Termi’s ( blue ) and the whole lot – Termi’s, airboxlid/filter and remapped 5.9M ECU ( red ). All runs ended at the rev limiter, so you can see the DP ECU has a 500 RPM higher rev limiter. As many people just have to go all the way, this will make them very happy. The torque chart is right under the power chart.

The increase with Termi’s only is quite small, but given the tiny air intake these bikes have in the std airbox lid, I’m not surprised. It just depends what the main problem is, in this case the air inlet. The other area aftermarket mufflers effect is response, and it is much improved on these bikes with any good brand of muffler. Just as with the STAINTUNE from the previous report, and the MADAZ Duane has on his S4, the on road difference is felt beyond any dyno power gain.

There is a bit of info missing from this chart, however. The difference between the red and blue lines is the ECU only. Not much in it you think? Waste of time replacing it? Check out the power curves below with the lambda traces added. All colours are the same as above. It amazes me that the huge lean spot in the middle didn’t cause a lean misfire. Goes to show just how well the chamber works and copes with mixture variation. Certainly wouldn’t want to ride it around for any length of time like this. A good fast ride through the hills could get very nasty. Although, I think most would notice a flatness here even if the dyno doesn’t show it.

So, with the full kit fitted we have a nice increase all thru the rev range. I haven’t actually ridden this bike before or after ( distracted by R1100S and 851 ), but am told the on road response is also much improved. Harold was using it very enthusiastically ( and beaming afterwards ) on a recent ride so there must be quite a bit of good in it. The fact the power curve goes flat above 8,500 RPM is a bit unusual for the 916 range as it was, but this engine runs smaller header pipes and a reduced duration inlet cam as compared to the 916 Strada and ST4. The midrange is plenty good though, and 5 hp above 9,000 RPM is pretty hard to notice. Especially with the front up or when judging gaps between cars on the ride home ( it is a Monster after all ).

The other point is that fitting aftermarket mufflers without replacing the ECU hasn’t thrown things totally out of whack, at WOT at least. Given the lambda trace from the DP ECU fitted run ( red ) is much the same as the trace for mufflers only ( green ), it obviously falls into the area Ducati Performance feels is ok. I personally would have expected better from a "factory" effort, but it’s not too bad I guess. A well remapped ECU would certainly make a nice improvement in the every day feel of the bike, however, for those who have purchased other brands of mufflers without ECUs. We just need to wait for one to become available.

Or you could just fit an ST4S engine. Now that would be fun.

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