Revisit turbo bikes?

[canuckxxxx]

Almost all of the new cars offer turbo engines. There's a Jeep Renegade with 1.4 L, 160hp. My neighbour just bought a new Civic with a 1.4 L, 170hp. :shock:

Will we see a revisit of turbo'ed motorcycles? Seems like the technology has been nail down pretty good. How about a 1.8 L Turbo GW with a nice tractable 200hp? :Egyptian:

Or for oldwings maybe these small turbos will become readily available for hotrodding.

Thoughts?

 

[slabghost]

Turbo's have been adapted to a variety of vintage bikes. Maybe a 1200 motor using 1100 crank and rods would be a good candidate. However the extra plumbing takes a lot of space and isn't exactly an attractive look.

 

[RussL]

The problem I see adding a turbo is the lower end of the motor... Just about any motor will take 5 lbs of boost... But who wants to stop there... My Hayabusa drag bike was running 6.5 compression with a 40 lb turbo... The lower end of the motor had to be custom machined to withstand that amount of boost... With all that done,,, the sky is open...
Unless you are going to be traveling at high altitudes,,, why even??? I got back from the BRP area and my 1200 had no problems...

 

[joedrum]

i was thinking turbo for awhile ...but hooch proved there was no need too ...they make some nice small turbos now days ..for someone that wants to try it ....

 

[canuckxxxx]

I can see, with fuel injection, that the pressurized air can be forced through the FI where fuel is added. But with a carb. is the carb. ahead of the turbo so that fuel/air is compressed? :headscratch:

 

[slabghost]

With turbo the carb will need pressure and equalized at the float bowl as well.

 

[joedrum]

yes ...there two ways it done pull through and blow through ... and v is basiclly right ...many problems pull trough designs ....blow through involves building a box around the carb so everything get pressurized ....quite a task really it must be sealed up tight ....only thing really coming out of box would be throttle cable.......i look into doing it when i seen turbos prices were not that bad on internet ...but as said hooch just didnt need any help so i drop the idea

 

[ekvh]

One point of bad fuel mixture with a carb'd turbo and the motor can be torched in a second. New cars have so many computer controlled features that they can run a turbo without as much risk. I would love to see it on a wing, but I think your talking a couple grand to make a sophisticated swap over. I'm with Joe on this one. Big boost in both torque and hp by doing the 1200 with early heads.

 

[Terry]

I followed the story of a couple of guys on the east coast who successfully turboed a GL 1800.
The GL 1800's are of course fuel injected, but with minimal boost and a stock engine it produced good numbers like around 200 hp.
There was a lot of potential customer interest until the installed cost came in at around $8500.
That was the death blow for the project.

https://youtu.be/9gMB04-nMiY

[video]https://youtu.be/9gMB04-nMiY[/video]

 

[slabghost]

That would do it for sure!

 

[Ansimp]

I don't know if it would go on an 1800 but Fstsix's supercharged Valkyrie seems so much better. Normally that length of plumbing would produce plenty of turbo lag.

 

[Omega Man]

Terry » Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:05 am[/url]":146om066]
I followed the story of a couple of guys on the east coast who successfully turboed a GL 1800.
The GL 1800's are of course fuel injected, but with minimal boost and a stock engine it produced good numbers like around 200 hp.
There was a lot of potential customer interest until the installed cost came in at around $8500.
That was the death blow for the project.

https://youtu.be/9gMB04-nMiY

[video]https://youtu.be/9gMB04-nMiY[/video]

A very well done one off.

~O~

 

[detdrbuzzard]

if a manufacturer produces a new turbo bike I don't think it would be installed on any litre plus bike

 

[julimike54]

Why not supercharge instead of turbocharge? Like Kawasaki H2?

 

[ekvh]

I think the enticement comes from turbos being fairly cheap now. There is a small supercharger on a 1.3 litre Subaru Pleo that has promise. (Never seen a Pleo here but they are common in Asia) Around $250 used. Not sure of rebuild costs.

 

[joedrum]

sheesh the reality is ..a good motor and cam is a supercharger or turbo you almost have to make a motor like sub par for them to boost safely ...

 

[Omega Man]

Could a turbo bike do that run-away thing? like wastegate fails, whatever.

~O~

 

[slabghost]

Not very likely. Ignition can shut it down. Runaway is most common on diesel.

 

[joedrum]

its fair to say it like using nitrous ...dragsters blow the tops a lot ...on gas motor a errant spark is all it takes along with to much boost ...touchie deal all and all...but V right diesel ca really run away

 

[Terry]

Now this is related but just an incredibly weird and impractical creation:
[video]https://youtu.be/humZvaGnlsw[/video]