New to Turbos - Lots of Questions

[MN72Busa]

So are Turbo bikes reliable enough to ride everyday? What is the life expectancy of a turbo?

I hear Velocity is the way to go, any comments on this? Should I shoot for numbers like 250, 275, 300. Intercooled or not?

Do I need to build a family relationship with a turbo tuner if I have a turbo setup?

Any good reading on what to expect from a turbo in aspects of performance, reliability, maintaince?

Thanks in advance for your input, I really want to do some informative research before I consider putting out 3 to 4K on a system over the winter or next spring.

 

[fstbusa]

very reliable.... some have over 60k miles on them

velocity is a very good turbo builder, but do some research, ghetto, NLR, mcexpress, hahn, mr turbo are all available kits and can be just as good as a velocity if tuned correctly.

If you want the most reliable bike (as per motorhead, inventer of the ghetto). He says lower your compression, put a 10lb spring in it and run an innercooler.

You should research good installers in your area. Looks like your in the cities. I would drive to cleveland and have dennis do you up a kit. I did back in march and it was worth every cent and lost hour of sleep I had. Amazing power. I run 7lbs, stock compression, water injection and have about 260-270 rwhp.

a turbo bike well tuned can be as reliable as a stock bike. It will take slightly more maintenance being changing oil more frequently and making sure all bolts are tight and checking on things periodically.

do a search here in the turbo section and check over at suzukihayabusa.org

do plenty of research before deciding and you can't go wrong.

 

[STUNNAH]

Other than ride everyday do you have the desire for the bike to do anymore???

Which ever system you choose you had better factor in motor work...

 

[MN72Busa]

Other than ride everyday do you have the desire for the bike to do anymore???

Which ever system you choose you had better factor in motor work...

I guess I dont get your question about the bike to do anymore?

 

[fstbusa]

what do you want to use the bike for is what he is asking? just cruise around, drag race, ride the twisties?

 

[MN72Busa]

Cruise around, with lots of reliable power. I dont mind tightening bolts, changing oil, and small adjustments. I feel about 2 hours of personal tuning on a turbo would be reasonable to me every week, but not much more. I dont want my bike to spend countless days at a dyno/tuner/ profesional adjustment. I want power on tap, but to be honest would only be used on occasion ( like 1 to 4 times a week - meaning very rapid acceleration), otherwise I need a turbo that will work with my riding style of 8 to 10 thousand miles per year.

 

[STUNNAH]

Well you might want to consider NOS...

 

[gtrpimp76]

Well you might want to consider NOS...

+1

If you're hardly going to be on turbo, it's not exactly money well spent. NOS is the easiest and cheapest way to achieve rapid hp. A good reliable turbo+tuning is going to cost MUCH more than 3-4k.

 

[NearDeath]

Copy / Paste from my other recent post...

1. I have an intercooled 450 HP setup and the intercooler sits in front of the radiator which definetly caused the engine temp. to rise since circulation to the radiator isn't as good... I run very lean on anti-freeze, plus 2 fans, and she still runs about halfway or higher... The biggest thing causing me heat is the intercooler... IF you are worried about heat, stay away from intercooler and go wet injection like my buddy did... Intercooler does not = daily driver and that is my opinion... It just runs too hot in town and you may reach overheating temps. real quick...

I will tell ya one thing... When you go turbo, be prepared to dump some cash into the bike... Figure cost of trubo plus 50% in extras and everything else... Going turbo is not cheap in ANYWAY and if you go turbo, things are bound to go wrong and when they do, they are expensive...

Don't get me wrong, if its setup up perfectly and tuned right, you may not have any issues ever, but I see more problems then not especially when someone is doing the install that doesn't have the experience...