a question to the masters of turbo out there

[jch364]

I have a question about adding a turbo to my bike. I understand that the obvious answer is yes but you can turbo a weedeater but whey would you...right? ok. a turbo weedeater would be totally cool... but i digress. Can it be done in a safe, practical and reliable manner with the configuration of my bike as it is now. the bike configuration is listed next.
1 2006 with a 1397 kit with j/e pistons and a brock intake cam.
2. adjustable cam sprockets.
3. adjustable cam chain.
no head work was done that i know of. might have been milled slightly but no race porting or anything like that. my friend did the cams and tuned it on his dyno at 195hp at 120ftptorque. on 89 pump gas.

so if it can what would i need and what should i be careful of?

 

[dadofthree]

Come on experts

 

[oldgixxer]

Im definitely not an expert,but the 1397 pistons raise a red flag. Whats the compression? You may need a spacer to lower CR. Also,most scoff at having a 3mil block when adding a turbo but I know a few people have done so here;it can become an issue on bigger boost applications.

 

[POWERHOUSE]

I have a question about adding a turbo to my bike. I understand that the obvious answer is yes but you can turbo a weedeater but whey would you...right? ok. a turbo weedeater would be totally cool... but i digress. Can it be done in a safe, practical and reliable manner with the configuration of my bike as it is now. the bike configuration is listed next.
1 2006 with a 1397 kit with j/e pistons and a brock intake cam.
2. adjustable cam sprockets.
3. adjustable cam chain.
no head work was done that i know of. might have been milled slightly but no race porting or anything like that. my friend did the cams and tuned it on his dyno at 195hp at 120ftptorque. on 89 pump gas.

so if it can what would i need and what should i be careful of?

Your higher compression would be the biggest issue . . . if you are at 12:1 right now, you would only be able to run 4 pounds of boost on pump fuel. If you have higher compression than that, you are even more borderline. Hardly worth the effort. If you are going to take the leap, put lower compression pistons on your list . . .

 

[jch364]

which is why i come here to axe questions. Good info fellas thanks.

 

[Boosted Cycle Perf]

Everyone's on the right track here, compression is the issue followed by the significant decrease in head gasket area between cylinders.

Depending on compression, you could get away with just a base spacer, but even after that you will need to keep the boost low. Even with a 10.5 or 11:0 compression I'm willing to bet you would see some where's around 270-280whp with that "big" of an engine. Even with lack of clamping force between cylinders you should still be able to get some reasonable life out of it as long as of course tune is on point, but also keep your peak torque in check. Lots of ignition timing at peak torque is usually what bends rods, but more important in this case damages head gaskets. I feel like in the bike word ignition timing in that area is widely ignored, and with good reason as overall the ignition tables work very well at any hp level. Simply removing some timing before peak torque and then ramping back in after smooths the torque "hit" if you will making it much easier on the engine parts to handle what's going on. This is the same strategy we use on turbo 1000whp stock bottom end v8 cars and get them to last.

This would be a great project, with interesting results. A little bit of restraint in the tuning department would yield a very fun bike to ride on the street. Plus if for some reason that engine combo didn't work out, you could easily trade those pistons and cylinders for stockers and get some money out of the deal. Can't lose either way.

 

[Johnnycheese]

for the average JOE lower the comp and stock bore

if you know what to do mine was a 1507 with 14.2:1 base spring was .8bar ran great till the fuel pump went. but you have to know what you are doing.
PS not pump gas either

 

[jch364]

think it might be safer to leave well enough alone. ive been toying with different ideas of how to get more hp out of it and it would seem that the only reasonable choice would be a full cnc race port and polish. not sure if i will go that way or not but its a thought. turbo seems out of the question under the circumstances. seems just too risky