Riding a Turbo in Heavy Rain?

Audiomaker

Registered
Ok guys, sorry for posting this in a new thread, but I figured the post title might help a newbie like myself out some day.

Basic question...

Does anyone see any issues riding a Turbo bike in heavy rain?

I'm not talking about traction, I'm talking about that exposed air filter getting soaked.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, so it might be good to know.

Thoughts?

Sean
 
where you live at in the NW, maybe you can make out a list of questions and we have a face to face over coffee, and discuss your turbo plans..
 
Goldenchild,

That sounds great.

However, I already purchased a turbo busa. It had to deal with a trip I was already taking and a bike at the destination that I could ride back.
I've always wanted to take this kind of adventure.

I'm down in Coos Bay, and I am planning a move to Portland in the next 6 months or so. I will be riding up there often to get my feet on the ground prior to moving so it would be great to hook up or go for a ride.
I'm sure you'll become my go-to guy with my new turbo.

By the way, I own a strip club in Coos Bay, and that's likely what I'll be doing in PDX....or some kind of bar.

It would be great to have some friends up there. I don't really have any at this point. Again...will be there a lot exploring in the next months so I'm sure we'll meet soon.

Oh, by the way (this should have been in the introduction that I never did), before owning a bar, I was a machinery dealer and I actually have a pretty respectable machine shop from that.
My shop is 8000sqft and I have some really high end machines (I was on the aerospace/exotic end of the business). I am set up for prototyping and one-off machining...not really for production though.

It will be fun trying to move it up there and finding a place for it.

I doubt I'll see any rain during this trip... more likely to hit a cactus as its through the south in July, but still....can this air filter get soaked?

I keep looking at the thing thinking it would work better if it had some sort of shroud...or cowl...or scoop..or whatever you would want to call it. Seems like it would be better protected from the road and not have low pressure at the rear of it at speed. Dunno...might have to make one.

Also, are these air filters the first thing to meet the ground in a left corner? They sure look like they would be. Without having the bike yet, I can already see some things I'd prototype. On the other hand, I did see some sort of air route for the turbo that appeared to use the stock intakes up front....or maybe I was hallucinating (hayabucinating).

Anyway :-)
Sean
 
I WANNA GO!!! i'll use any excuse for a ride. NW mini meet n greet?
 
If you get caught in heavy rain with the outboard air fiilter what is the regular effect?

It should block some of the wet air...would it be better to pull off or ride it out?
 
Ok...this is a test response. So far all of my responses get sent to the moderators even though I created the topic.

Let's see if this gets through...sorry guys.

Sean
 
If you get caught in heavy rain with the outboard air fiilter what is the regular effect?

It should block some of the wet air...would it be better to pull off or ride it out?

Leave it on, filter has oil on it to repel some of the water.
 
+1000, I also made a similar suggestion to the OP in his 1st post.


Not quiet sure but I am guessing NOOBs need to wait for their threads/posts to be reviewed/approved/released by modmins before we actually see it.

With that said, I owe SEAN an apology...completely forgot that moderators keep NEW MEMBERS on a short leash and their posting privileges are quiet limited until they reach a certain post count.
 
Yaaaaaa! Looks like my posts finally arrived, yet of course screwed up the whole flow of the thread....really sorry. If this one goes through instantly, I'll see if I can delete the others.

Update: either there is no delete button, or I can't find it.

I'm really sorry folks, the only way for me to see if a reply would go through was to submit one, and by then it's too late.

Either way, I can finally respond. Thanks to the powers that be!

Sean
 
Ok...well since I can post... here's some thoughts....

The air filter on these turbos seems to be semi or completely exposed. I'll do some assuming and guess that outside the fairing is a mix of high pressure at the front and low pressure at the rear of the filter. I doubt this amounts to a complete neutral situation, but there's probably less positive atmosphere than the stock "ram air" setup. Inside the fairing might be a little different, but without having it in front of me, I can't tell if there is any way that air entering the front of the fairing has anywhere to go? If it doesn't, that would build positive pressure except for where it was escaping around the filter through the fairing....resulting in lower intake pressure coming from outboard.

So, does it matter? Well that is one question. being forced induction, one could argue that all you have to do is adjust the boost to make up for it. This isn't a ram-air NA setup after all right?

Where is this leading? Scoops, cowls, whatever you would like to call them. A forward facing cowl would give you a ram-air effect and potentially a slightly cooler air source since more air comes from outboard than inboard of the fairing (where the air has to pass all this hot stuff). It would also give a slighting higher atmospheric pressure the faster you were going....thereby making the turbo system a little less linear.
It might also let you run a slightly lower initial boost, although I don't know if that's easier on the turbo or not for the difference?

Downside, it would also catch bugs and water like crazy so low to the road.

But... what about a full round cowl? Excuse me if I don' t break out the CAD/CAM but just imagine setting your filter in a pot of only slightly larger diameter and height?
Yes, this does negate the high pressure at the front of the filter (motorcycle front), but also eliminates the low pressure at the rear of the filter.

Assuming this "pot" (no I'm not smoking any) fully surrounds the filter and goes through the fairing, you also have eliminated high pressure warm air from the inside of the fairing.

Because it is forced induction, does anyone expect any performance differences?

The upside might be that the front of your filter no longer sees 50mph rain and road dirt/grime directly to the filter. I can tell you from quite a lot of traveling that this stuff hits the front of my vehicles and sticks. Sure, the turbo vacuum will still pull some in from the side, but ride in the rain and tell me what part of you gets the most of it....the front.

I think I'll call it...."The Filter Fairing"...lol!

Any thoughts?

Sean
 
Ok guys, sorry for posting this in a new thread, but I figured the post title might help a newbie like myself out some day.

Basic question...

Does anyone see any issues riding a Turbo bike in heavy rain?

I'm not talking about traction, I'm talking about that exposed air filter getting soaked.

I live in the Pacific Northwest, so it might be good to know.

Thoughts?

Sean
Sean, my boosted 14 has the turbo tucked inside the fairing, so water isn't a prob for me. I think I've read that some of the exposed filter guys have had issues with heavy water, but I'm not sure. Hopefully they will chime in for you :thumbsup:
BTW, I like you, you're a thinker like me. Never hurts to ask questions and try and figure out a better way to do something :thumbsup:
And welcome, I can already tell you're going to be a great asset to the board :beerchug:
 
Ok...well since I can post... here's some thoughts....

The air filter on these turbos seems to be semi or completely exposed. I'll do some assuming and guess that outside the fairing is a mix of high pressure at the front and low pressure at the rear of the filter. I doubt this amounts to a complete neutral situation, but there's probably less positive atmosphere than the stock "ram air" setup. Inside the fairing might be a little different, but without having it in front of me, I can't tell if there is any way that air entering the front of the fairing has anywhere to go? If it doesn't, that would build positive pressure except for where it was escaping around the filter through the fairing....resulting in lower intake pressure coming from outboard.

So, does it matter? Well that is one question. being forced induction, one could argue that all you have to do is adjust the boost to make up for it. This isn't a ram-air NA setup after all right?

Where is this leading? Scoops, cowls, whatever you would like to call them. A forward facing cowl would give you a ram-air effect and potentially a slightly cooler air source since more air comes from outboard than inboard of the fairing (where the air has to pass all this hot stuff). It would also give a slighting higher atmospheric pressure the faster you were going....thereby making the turbo system a little less linear.
It might also let you run a slightly lower initial boost, although I don't know if that's easier on the turbo or not for the difference?

Downside, it would also catch bugs and water like crazy so low to the road.

But... what about a full round cowl? Excuse me if I don' t break out the CAD/CAM but just imagine setting your filter in a pot of only slightly larger diameter and height?
Yes, this does negate the high pressure at the front of the filter (motorcycle front), but also eliminates the low pressure at the rear of the filter.

Assuming this "pot" (no I'm not smoking any) fully surrounds the filter and goes through the fairing, you also have eliminated high pressure warm air from the inside of the fairing.

Because it is forced induction, does anyone expect any performance differences?

The upside might be that the front of your filter no longer sees 50mph rain and road dirt/grime directly to the filter. I can tell you from quite a lot of traveling that this stuff hits the front of my vehicles and sticks. Sure, the turbo vacuum will still pull some in from the side, but ride in the rain and tell me what part of you gets the most of it....the front.

I think I'll call it...."The Filter Fairing"...lol!

Any thoughts?

Sean
The busa's ram air has been tested by several mags over the years, and it doesn't build any useful pressure over atmospheric until low triple digits speedwise. And then its still a little under 1psi of boost......in the vicinity of a 10hp gain. The ram air does have a bigger effect on keeping positive air pressure in the airbox all the time, and giving better throttle response. Plus you get the big benefit of cool air versus heated air like the older bikes with intakes behind the engine.

I'm not sure how much, if any, power I'm losing running my turbo enclosed inside the lower left fairing, compared to it being ran outboard exposed to fresh air. The comparisons I've seen with 14's running the same boost as me, on a stock engine like mine, with an outboard filter didn't seem to show much diff in power output, so I doubt it would make a noticeable diff. I purposely bought my kit because it tucked the turbo and filter inside the fairing. I'm a corner carver, and a low slung outboard filter would never have survived on my bike for long. If I was you, and you had the room, i think I would route some tubing off the end of you're turbo and relocate your filter either up by the now open ram air tubes, or somewhere that you can get fresh cool air. You can get very low profile filters also that will give you alot more cornering clearance.

I think I remember reading about a guy with a turbo busa that tried to make a "cover" of sorts for his outboard filter....don't remember the results tho.
I have family in oregon, maybe on one of my trips up I can stop in and say hi :thumbsup: .........just try not to get me in too much trouble at your strip club lol.......I do have a jealous wife :laugh:
 
My turbo is a Hahn with the mushroom filter that is tucked in under the faring. Once in the 7 years that I have run in and of the hundreds of times that I have ridden it in the rain it swamped/ Even then after about 2 minutes it restarted and returned home with out incident.
 
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